Hidden Bias

The results to my race IAT was that I slightly favor European Americans over African Americas. Which means that I have a small hidden bias towards white people. I was completely surprised by these results, although I do not believe I have a hidden bias. One thing that was hard about this test is that it puts you in a distinct rhythm, so without thinking about it you click the letter. When the test changes, its hard to get out of the rhythm right away so the first few words are put into the category that it fit with in the first round. With that said, I don't think this test could really be that accurate. I did read the frequently asked questions, and that question of how accurate the test is because of the rhythm was brought up. They said that it is possible that these are not 100% accurate but for the most part they do show the hidden bias.
I believe that prejudice and stereotypes are around everyone all the time, and those things definitely influence what one believes and feels about a certain subject. Ones environment will influence how the feel about a situation. For example, if someone lives in a predominately white area, like me, they might have a slight or moderate bias towards white people, just because thats what they are around, and accustom to. my environment that I live in my be why my results were the way they were.

I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine #5

Finishing the book, I realized that a lot of these inmates have the capabilities to change. I didn't realize this because they left jail and never came back, some of them did come back, but I realized this from what some of them said. These kids do have things in their life that are more important then breaking the law. Dario who really was a smart kid, found himself in the SHU, which was the "special housing unit, a maximum security isolation block for the worst inmates"(Chura 190). To me this would be the scariest part of the prison. But when David Chura had to go to the SHU to give Dario a english test so he could get his High School diploma if he past, the scariest people there were the workers, not the inmates. These people who were supposed to be the scariest inmates in the jail, were quiet for the hours it took Dario to finish his test. They all wanted him to succeed. One guy named "old Cal" told David Chura, "Smart, too. You tell him I'm gonna keep these guys real quiet for him so he can think"(207). The people in the SHU helped dario pass his test. They worked together like a family. Old Cal saw someone in jail who he didnt believe should be there are he did as much as he can to help get him out and keep him out, because so many of the people in jail could be succesful in the real world. They have the capablities they just need to try their hardest. Some of the inmates are very intellegent and talented that if they used their brains they wouldn't have to be in jail.
I really enjoyed reading this book, because I got the chance to read about real people stories. Real reasons these people are in jail. I learned alot from this book that I would have nevered learned or thought about.

I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine #4

For the post I want to focus on the idea of loss of innocence because obviously these kids who are in jail loss their innocence in one way or another. Throughout this whole book, I have been meeting different people in jail and reading their story's. The one thing I've been most interested in as how these people made the leap from innocence to committing crimes. For almost all of the people mentioned in the book, they have no had the best childhood. Ranging from their parents being involved in gangs, to their parents dying when they were very young, to being in and out of foster homes. None of that is easy. But their was one kid who everyone went to so he could write their letters to the judge, Eddie. He was not from the ghetto, living pay check to pay check, and involved in a gang, selling drugs. He was from a rich suburb of Scarsdale, and his father was a big lawyer there. One thing from his past that was hard on him was his mother disappearing when he was six. The most interesting thing I read was that he really was not fit for jail, "He had to remember to yank his pants down his butt, not pull them up;to slouch and shuffle when he walked; to curse. And he had to work on not calling out the answers in class or getting interested in a lesson"(Chura 132). He did not lose his innocence because he got caught up with the wrong group of people. Instead he lost his innocence waiting and wishing for his mom to come back, "When he was younger it as as though he was being bad in order to force his mother out of hiding and straighten him out"(Chura 132). Eddie was an intelligent guy who cared about people. He wanted to help the other guys, he listened to them and he cared about their future. He really didn't have much of a place in jail. He knew better, but it almost seemed like he lost himself trying to find his mother. When his mother left and he became old enough to understand, he tried to be someone he was because apart of him was missing. So he sagged his pants and got ready for his future in jail, helping the other inmates out.

I Dont Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine Post #3

The Chapter that im going to write about is titled, "The Things They Carried," which in jail is not much. The things the prisoners were allowed to carry with them inside of jail was nothing they brought with them, they were allowed, "one orange uniform, one pair of slip-on blue canvas sneakers, and an ID"(Chura 105). The prisoners didnt even get their glasses. Besides from the three things they are allowed to have with them in prison, they carry no other tangible objects. It seems that in prison they are not even allowed to carry dignity or a sense of individualism with them. Everyone carried the same three items, in fact everyone looked the same while crrying them. One thing that was impossible to be banned was the idea of carry tattoos. Tattoos could not have been taken away the way peircings were or glasses were. Tattoos were the only difference between the inmates, considering most of the inmates did carry some sort of tattoo with them. Prison is  a place were inmtes do not deserve to carry anything. They lost their chance of this, when they carried to many tangible and intangible objects with them. They carried, drugs, violence, gangs, stolen property, anything illegal a lot of them have once carried. With that, why should they be given freedom to carry anything else when they absued their chance of being their own person. So if the prisons make such a huge statement by letting these inmates have virtually nothing with them, why is it that these inmates will go through so much trouble to get a new tattoo while in prison? The author david chura said, "Whether I agree or not with the DOC, I still flinched whenever a student came into class with his upper arm, the back of his hand shiny with vaseline, a sure sign that a tattoo was freshly done"(108). Yes a tattoo is an expression, and indivdualism, a chance for a person who wishes to express themselvse permenatly on their body to do so, but its also a chance for prisoners to rebel. Yes if they are caught they will most likely just be in jail for a longer period of time, or even go to the state jail, but is that helping the prisoner change? Does David Chura see a change in these kids in jail. To be honest im not sure. He sees troubled kids, still rebelling in prison. After a while maybe they do change just having nothing to carry, nothing to do, nothing to be proud of. But these kids are in prison, just trying to be themselves, and the only way they could do that is rebel, and cause problems. Im not saying that prison isnt the right place for these people, because for a lot of them it is, but are the prisons trying to punish the kids while trying to fix them? Or are they just punishing the kids, not caring if they come back or not?