Reflection On The Film Race: The Power Of An Illusion

The first topic that I learned in this class was about race. I define race as categorization humans into groups, based on their skin color. However, my view on the race changed when we watch the film " Race: The Power of an Illusion". The film really had an impact on me. I thought race was biologically, but I found that from the film that isn't true. The DNA workshop that students did was interesting. When the compare their own DNA to see who is more genetically similar. The students were surprised by the results, genetically they were are not that different from other races. A race is a big issue in the united stated. I identify myself as African American but when it comes to my ethnicity I identify myself as Eritrean/Ethiopian. I was confused …show more content…
Growing up we never disused race. But when we moved America to south Sacramento low-income area, the population were more minorities. I remember asking my parents why black people were getting treated badly?. I was not allowed to hang out with my black friends, which is I found it really weird. I used to ask why can hang out with my black friends?. They never gave me a satisfied answer. Which I don't blame them for not giving me an answer because they didn't know the answer themselves. But I remember them saying that black people were bad they are into drugs. They don't work or go to school, lazy, that they gonna be a bad influence on me. I remember my parents being so disappointed with my older cousin because she was dating a black guy. Didn't make sense to me because since black people are African, I thought were the same people. They believed the negative stereotype because that's the only thing the media …show more content…
C.Wright Mills, the author of The Sociological Imagination, believes that a personal trouble can be connected to public issues. Personal troubles are issues that affect an individual and public issues are those that affect the community as a whole. The purpose of the sociological imagination idea is to help to see the problems that we face in society. Troubles are problems that we deal with the personal level. We deal with troubles in our daily life and are continuously working on them. The sociological imagination allows people to be open-minded and take a look at the larger picture rather than be focused on our own personal view. When I was 16 years old, I moved to the United States. Although it was a dream come true for me to move here, I had to face the same personal trouble of being a foreigner in a strange land, much like I did in my childhood. Since the USA is known for its vast opportunities, I was looking forward to getting a better education than what I could ever have gotten in my native land. Although I was excited when I arrived to the United States, it was not how I expected. I experienced a culture shock in many ways. Besides the language, the diverse environment, food, and the culture were different than where I grew