I think watching Spike Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing” was a great last assignment for this course. The film, for me personally, was a great visual summary to the many different ideas of ethnic diversity that we learned in this course. Even more so, just like the many readings assigned in this course, the film was extremely thought provoking. I…[Read more]

This week’s topic of refugees has definitely been thought-provoking more than anything, and has in fact got me thinking a lot about the more discrete flaws of our country’s approach to refugee and immigrant matters. I greatly appreciated Barber and Misra’s readings for highlighting the concept of the “double-edged sword” that we discussed…[Read more]

Sanctuary cities, while their intentions are on the right track, do not currently seem to be the best thing for illegal immigrants. These cities claim to draw a divide between federal and local powers to give more direct support to illegal immigrants within their community, but with Trump in charge of America, it seems these cities only make him…[Read more]

In regards to this week’s topic of immigration, it is satisfying to see all of the themes of previous weeks intertwine to set a foundation for tackling matters of racism and, even more so, xenophobia. It is definitely beneficial to have Albert Saiz’s article provide statistical information regarding immigration, while Mai Ngai’s article focus…[Read more]

This week’s theme of gentrification provided a reading that could not upset me more: “What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones?” Many readings assigned in this class are meant to frustrate and intrigue the reader; the disappointing part with this reading is, the reporter writing the article probably didn’t see his own work as frustrating. Charlie LeDuff…[Read more]

Continuing into this week’s topic of segregation, it does not appear that societies anywhere in the United States comprehend the importance of the integration of all races and cultures, even to this day. The need for compassionate cities, as mentioned in Teresa Mathew’s piece in week 1, proves more necessary than ever after reading this wee…[Read more]

In regards to this week’s readings in conjunction with this extremely controversial theme of segregation, it is difficult to read with a quiet mind. Many history and English courses discuss the severity of African American segregation in the 20th century, but these courses don’t justice to the cruelty of Whites exercised towards African Ame…[Read more]

In regards to a central theme of modernizing cities, all of the authors’ works parallel each other in that they take the concept of modernization to a greater extent than its vague association with commercialism, industrialism, and technological advancements. Seeing as how so many people in today’s society are only concerned with modernizing and…[Read more]