The Darker Side of FNL

Today when I woke up, I decided to flip on the television and pick up where I left off in the series, Friday Night Lights (plot summary). I was on an episode where one of the main characters, Brian “Smash” Williams, who is African American, takes his girlfriend, who is white, on a date to the movies. However, Williams feels obliged to take his little sister along as an excuse to go, because his mother and his girlfriend’s parents told them they weren’t allowed to see each other because of racial differences.  When they get to the movies, Williams’ little sister decides to sit alone, a couple rows above the couple. However, there are a group of white boys behind her who decide to harass her the whole time and make racial comments. Williams hears this and decides to stick up for her, but they attack him too, saying he shouldn’t be allowed to mess around with a girl on their side, and their two “kinds” shouldn’t be mixed.  Williams throws a punch, and is later on charged with assault; the authorities not caring what Williams has to say about what really happened in the situation.

         When I watched this episode I honestly was pretty shocked. The series was only produced a few years ago, and I would have never expected one of the main conflicts throughout the shows to be a racial conflict. It really confused me because being in the generation that I’m in, I’ve never really experienced any types of racism that extreme. To me, it seems more of an issue relating to the past, not present. It especially shocked me that this was a main conflict throughout the season for Brian Williams, it took a big toll on different aspects of his life; instead of playing a smaller part in the season, racism seemed to be what many of the issues in Williams’ life circulated around.

         What do you think about this? Do these kinds of issues still seem relevant to what’s going on today in American society? Or did you think it was a little out of the ordinary to put it in as the main conflict?

Remember Your Papers When You Leave The House

         I was recently reading an article from Time Magazine discussing that the Arizona law, which allows police to pull over certain people due to suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant, is finally being put in to action. Although I see it as a form of racial profiling and very discriminatory, the Supreme Court saw it as "constitutional”.

         Because I’m an immigrant myself, being from Canada, I understand that the process of obtaining a citizenship is very difficult. My family decided to not even get one and just settle with the status of being “permanent residents”, with green cards. So I know that, being able to be granted with an American citizenship is very lucky and hard to come by. These immigrants who come here see America as the land of opportunities and equal rights, and after putting in so much work to achieve the status as a citizen, they probably feel like they finally belong. But with this law in place, it really doesn’t grant them the citizenship they deserve. It implies that a citizen of America has to go have a certain look to really be seen as a citizen, which to me seems discriminatory. It implies that these immigrants who have come here don’t have the same rights, and are judged by the way they look.  

    Also, it may target the people, like me, who tend to be forgetful. By forgetting a driver’s license or proof of citizenship to show to a cop anytime they ask, should that mean someone is suspicious of being undocumented? It seems kind of extreme in a way. 

       I know it is a way to help the undocumented immigrant population issue in the U.S.. But I feel as though we could help that in so many other ways... securing our borders more or helping more immigrants in the process to getting a citizenship. Although it could help the issue, I feel as though we need to be reminded of how to really treat a person.

          But what do you think? Does this new American law seem a little extreme to you? Does it seem like it’s bringing back dark racial times in American history that should be forgotten?

Powderpuff Football No More?

DiMeglio and teammate
(www.nytimes.com)

I'm sure for many of us; when we think of football, we think of massive, scary, muscular men, dedicated to knocking people down and being able to take a hard hit. Whenever I watch it, I mostly think to myself how I would never want to be put out on that field and would be scared to death if a 6 foot 180 pound guy was running straight at me. However, for Erin DiMeglio, that isn’t the case.
         In an article I found on the New York Times, they write about a teenage girl named Erin DiMeglio who is the quarterback for her high school football team. It says “She is believed to be the first girl to play quarterback in a Florida high school football game.” When I first saw the article, I was in complete shock. A girl playing football? Wouldn’t she get hurt out there with all those boys? However I kept an open mind and the more I read on, it seemed to make more sense. DiMeglio was described as always having a strong arm, as her throws were too strong for any girl to catch. Also her coach described her build to be bigger than some of the guys on his team, so it made sense to just let her play.
         After reading the article, I began to realize that the reason this came as such a surprise to me was because of how sports are ran in America. I couldn’t think of any sports in the U.S. that are coed. And then there are also sports, like football, that are barely even an option for girls at all. It just seems that traditionally, sports in America were more meant for boys but as time has passed, more sports have been opened up to girls. The article made me wonder if by DiMeglio playing, more boys teams will be open to letting girls on the team… or maybe just more opportunities being offered to girls who want to play sports like football… what do you think? Could DiMeglio make a difference in the way sports in America are ran?