03 June 2010

What Would You Do Part 2...

After watching the second round of 20/20 "What Would You Do" Race experiments - please address the following questions. 1) What would be your reaction if you witnessed an act like this while shopping? 2) What would you do if you were the one being persecuted? Thoughts...

6 comments:

yelda17 said...

After watching "What Would You Do?" back to back episodes in class, i realize that so many things happen in our surroundings that we should speak up for, but we dont. If i witnessed someone being treated that way in a shopping store, i would definitely speak up because its wrong to be jugded by your race or religion, and especially because im not american it couls happen to me in the future, and I would want someone to speak up for me. I would be very upset if I was the one being persecuted because its a sign of racism and also people come to this country for freedom, not to be judged more or mistreated and i think I would take it very seriously if I were in that situation.

Svigo said...

well first of all i am firmly against any sterotyping and or discriminating against other races or religions. That being said i belive i would have stood up for whoever was being treated unfairly. I think that it is our moral if not civic duty to stand up for others when they are being discriminated against because under our laws of the constitution and among many other important documents all humans are created equal under god, therefore not making one man/women higher than another. What astonishes me the most is that knowing that we are in the year 2010 and still people dont have the courage to stand up for whats right is still shocking to me. It also amazed me when there were very few of white colored people sticking up for either the young black woman and the couples that were looking at a house. to my knowledge this still shows me that many whites believe that their race is still a superior race to others, but thats just my opinion.and if i were the one being persecuted i deffinatly would have stood up for my self knowing full well the rights that i obtain as an american citizen and a person as well. i also probly would have reported the people for being racially discriminitory and racist.

Brett B said...

Even though all the experiments done in the "What Would You Do" series were all staged under supervision and performed by actors and actresses, I still get perturbed by the level these people take the experiment to. Sure, in our everyday lives we may see varying levels of acts of discrimination, this experiment could actually take place. If I witnessed this in real life I would take action after watching this episode. Would my answer be the same if I never saw this? Possibly, depending on the actions taking place. Unfortunately, being a white male, I do not see this happening to me because of how I display myself. If I walked into a store with my pants on the ground and acting like a fool, then I would probably be scoped out. However, I do not do that, thus I doubt this could ever happen to me.

-Brett Bishop

brett m said...

After watching this in class. If I saw this while shopping I would most likely step in like that one person did and tell the employee that what they are doing is wrong. You can't judge everyone by their color of their skin. Like Brett said, if I doubt that I would be the person be persecuted because I am a white male, but if it was the case, I would get really angry. People came here for freedom, and sadly, not everyone gets freedom. So if I was in this situation, I would hope that someone steps in and gets angry at the employee who is being racist.

Octaviaaa said...

My reaction if i witnessed an act like in the episode "What Would You Do", wouldnt be too surprised that people in a retail store are approaching the black women becuase i see it happen to black women all the time and there are many cases that also have been caught on camera that i have seen. I would most definetly speak up if i were there and i wouldnt allow these white people working in the store to discriminate to the black woman when she had done nothing wrong. I would speak up because, my self being a black woman, this could have been me. It has been me in a mild case not so much approached by a store associate but i was watched and stalked through-out the store. If i were the one being prosecuted i would remain calm, i wouldnt cause a scene because that would give them the benefit. I would calmly tell them what i think about the situation and would most definetly want someone to stand up and defend for me because i would do the same to them.

Andre M said...

If I witnessed an act like in the experiment while I was shopping, I would probably not say anything. I just think that if anybody if being confronted like that by a store attendant, it is probably for a good reason. It has never happened to me, so if it happens to other people it is probably because they are doing something bad. If I was the one being persecuted, I would definitely stand up for myself because nobody has reason to think that I am doing anything bad while shopping. Also, I would not want anybody to stand up for me because I would want to handle the situation myself.