Summary.

Our reality is complex and only with the pursuit of individuality and free reasoning is possible to understand and analyze the process of human interaction.
Society is full of colors and shades, differences and convergences that generate tension and conflict. As future journalists we have an obligation to seek new ways to investigate and report events from a more neutral and fair perspective.
The ultimate goal is to try to avoid the constant use of stereotypes and preconceived ideas on topics that touch our ethnic and social reality. For a journalist, it is important to put aside the ego and find a sincere and ongoing contact with communities and different social groups in order to reflect their concerns and ideas in a more accurate and precise manner.
Sometimes a personal experience gives a greater level of depth that a collective experience. That is why, I believe that we should never report a fact or event about a certain racial or ethnic group describing the community as an indivisible mass without form or substance, but instead seek individual stories that might explain the reasons and causes of certain and specific behaviors and ideas that members of a community can have in common.

Listening Post 3.

My third visit to Andy’s was short, but as pleasant as the second one, the place was crowded and I felt as one more of the customers. In this occasion I sit in the bar and spoke with Jamie.
She was a white woman in her mid twenties from North Carolina. She told me that she came down to Florida because she had some family in Clearwater and she was currently living with them.

"I am in Miami for the weekend bacause my cousin invited me," she said.

Then I asked her about her experience in Miami. She said that it was a big city, that there were many places to go and she was considering moving to Hallandale with her cousin. She also said that one of the problems in a city like Miami was that she didn’t speak Spanish. According to her in order to live in this city you needed to know at least some Spanish.
I asked about the idea that she had about Hispanics. According to her it deepened on where they were from. For her Colombians and Venezuelans were very different than Cubans or Puerto Ricans, but she also said that she didn’t care where they were from as long as they were respectful.
It was a very short conversation, but I didn’t notice any racial or ethnic tension with her or with the people in the bar.
In general I had a good time and for a moment I forgot that only white folks were around me. I am not going to say that for a Hispanic this is the perfect place to have a drink, but it is a good experience. I found people that didn’t like me just because I was Hispanic, but I also found people that were very nice and accepted my identity, at least partially.
I believe that sometimes the preconceive ideas and baggage affect the way we judge people from different backgrounds, but if you put aside those prejudices it is very possible that you can interact perfectly fine with respect and a good attitude.

Journal 3: Reality and Complexity.

Every person is complex and unique. It is important to understand that, even though, the voting behavior is different from one human being to another those differences are not completely reflected in the voting polls. Race and ethnicity are factors that influence our ideas and principles.
“Like so many of the labels that crop up each year to describe the voting behavior of groups, those two are mostly stereotypes masquerading as information. Too often, journalists use the phrases without ever thinking about what they're actually saying or what the consequences might be of that kind of political lumping,” Keith Woods wrote in his article “A Vote for Complexity: Handling Race in Political Coverage.”
The two groups that Woods was referring to were the black and the Latino vote. I believe that journalism in many cases report the voting behavior using stereotypes in order to describe common ideals and concerns that certain community have. It is truth that not everybody on a certain community is going to vote for the same candidate or that they going to decide their political inclinations only based on racial and ethnic profiling; however, our crude reality is that, as professor Reisner said, we have to make an enormous effort to not vote for the candidate that is related to us. We tend to put our faith on a candidate mostly based on racial and social similarities that create patterns within communities and groups, and that is why those stereotypes and labels exist.
In the last presidential race the majority of the black community vote for Obama, the younger vote was also directed to the same candidate and those groups determined the results of the political race. The Latino vote also favored Obama. That certain groups have a common voting intention is an avoidable fact; nevertheless, political coverage should be more complex and profound. There are different motivations that drive voting ideals and journalists must be aware of them.
A journalist must be aware of the cultural, social and racial divisions, but also must be aware of the subdivision and the divisions within the subdivisions. For example, the Hispanic community differs incredibly depending of the country of origin and the socio-economic factors. A Venezuelan- American may have different ideological opinions than a Cuban- American.
A journalist should cover a community as a group of individuals and not as an indistinctive mass. A journalist should look for more profound differences that in many cases are far more complex than race and ethnicity issues.

Listening Post 2. Anthony and Joey

View Larger MapMy second visit to Andy’s was a good experience. I got there early this time. I mean it was almost 11:30 p.m. but for a place that closes after the sun rises the midnight is an early stage.
Not more than seven customers were sitting on the bar and no more than two were playing at the pool table. Again, as soon as I entered the place I felt a heavy atmosphere; I was not a welcome customer but I was a customer anyways.
Kelly was bartending that night. We didn’t have an actual conversation, but she always hand me a beer with a smile. I tried to approach the few customers smiling and saying hi, but after two or three words and in decent ways they avoid to get involved in a deeper chat. Finally, an angel dropped from the skies.
Anthony Alparone, a good friend from long time was at the front door. He sat in the bar with two friends and ordered a whiskey. I approached him and say hi. He was surprised to see me there; however, after I explained to him that I was doing a report for one of my classes he understood. Following that he introduced me to his friends. Joey, a white Caucasian from Jacksonville in his twenties who is a bartender in Carolina Ale House a restaurant located in Weston. Frank was the oldest in the bar I think, also white and on his fifties. Frank left ten minutes after they got there. He said that he was coming back, but he never did.
After that Joey, Anthony and I engage in different conversations involving beer, race and beer. From the beer talk I can say that for Joey a good American beer is one hundred times better than a Corona or a Modelo. Anthony likes hard liquor instead of beer, but if he has to drink beer he prefers a Heineken. The race talk was very productive. I wasn’t trying to get involved in that kind of conversation in a direct manner, but the topic jumped into the dialogue and it was fine to me. According to Joey people that go to Andy’s are white mostly. He said that some Latinos were very annoying and sometimes they didn’t understand that is important to respect in order to be respected.For him it was not important if people from different backgrounds were at the bar; however, he also said that he felt more comfortable with his own people. His tone was calm; nonetheless, I detect some anger in his words.
Anthony is half Italian, half Venezuelan. For him races were secondaries,he was in the place for the drinks and to have a good time.
In general this was a better expetrience and Anthony help me substantially. They even introduced me to some girls that were a little bit too drunk. We also played some pool.
At 2:00 a.m. I decided that it was enough for the night. Joey said good bye and whispered that I was cool. Anthony gave me his phone number, he seemed happy to see me again. I left the place knowing that I am going to come back, but not just because I have to.

JOURNAL 2: Stereotypes, Prejudices and Discrimination.

Stereotypes are far from being accurate. The basis of discrimination is often found mostly in stereotypes which are beliefs, ideas and positive or negative feelings toward some people belonging to a particular group. When you make a negative assessment of a group based on stereotypes, the result is prejudice. When prejudices lead a person to act in a certain way about the group the result is discrimination.
Last class I tried to make a point about politicians. I state that I believe that most politicians were corrupt. It was a mistake to generalize on a certain group based only on stereotypes; however, it is important to understand that certain concepts and believes have a background.
The history of my region (South America) has being marked by corruption and bad intentions. Many politicians don’t understand power. They take advantage of their positions using power to satisfied personal interests.
Many countries in the region have unemployment rates of 30% or more, some countries have over 50% of the population in poverty and many in misery. For me say that a politician is clean and works for the people is an idea that doesn’t fit within my experiences and my stereotypes.
I still think that is an error to generalize and misjudge groups, but it is also a mistake to judge people for having certain stereotypes and preconceive ideas of those groups.
To reach a closer sense of objectivity a journalist must investigate for those preconceive ideas and stereotypes. It is also important to dig deeper to look for the causes that trigger those prejudices and ideas. A community produces a common understanding of the world based on their life experiences, their common facts and their myths. All these elements are vital to achieve a closer degree of objectivity.

Listening Post 1.

Andy’s Lounge and Package is located next to a trailer park community in the city of Davie, Fl. The bar is considered to be one of the oldest in the Broward County and is also part of the remains of Andy town, Fl a municipality located at the intersection of U.S 27 and SR 84 that was demolished in 1979 in order to allow the expansion of Alligator Alley. It is a place that integrates old American fashioned values and stereotypes. The bar is open late from 3 p.m. to 7 or 8 a.m. and according to one of the bartenders (Chad) it is hangout mostly for the Caucasian community and some blacks or Latinos that think they are white.
My first visit to Andy’s was a bit hostile. People looked at me as I was from another planet. Apparently everybody knew each other and I was a trespasser in their circle. I approach the bar tender and asked for a beer. Then I tried to initiate a conversation by asking his name. His answer was cold “My name is Chad,” he said. Then he turned his back and left. I sat in the bar for more than two hours, but even after my intents to smile and say hi nobody paid any attention to me and I was relegated to be by myself and with no company.
My frustration was increasing by the minute; it was noticeable that white Caucasians with lower income were close minded; however, I wasn’t ready to accept the fact that these individuals were avoiding me only because I was different. Then I decided to approach a group of two women and three men, very white complexion with very southern accents. I tried to say hi but they weren’t as friendly as I thought. “Who are you? We don’t know you?” They said. “Hi, how are you guys,” I said. Nobody answer. Then Chad the bartender said that it was better for me to leave. “I need you to go,” he whispered. I understood his words and his tone as a warning. It was almost 5:30 a.m. and I decided to go avoiding problems in order leave the doors open for my next visit.
For now, I prefer to stay away from pointing fingers on race or ethnicity issues. What I felt was a very close minded community that prefer to be within their own.

JOURNAL I: Membership, Conduct and Identity

Race and ethnicity differences represent an obstacle for the human being. A person is placed in a certain group depending of their traditions, background or the color of their skin creating ideological tension based on facts that are very far from reality. Saying that one race is pure or better is not a very illuminated concept; however, a big number of people believe that they are more or less of a person because they are white, black or Muslim.
It is true that in most societies including the United States stereotypes are relevant. It is also truth that in many cases being a minority is a disadvantage and in some cases is almost a sin; nevertheless, not always a black person is a convict, not always a Hispanic is a janitor; and of course, not always the president of the company is a white male. The race or ethnicity never measures the intelligence and the social development of a person; however, some communities live with a stigma that affect new generations and in most cases reinforce stereotypes due to lack of opportunities and hostile environments.
Yes, it is truth that people tend to commute better with their own, but sometimes members of their own community are already affected by the stereotypes and the stigmas and end up being bad influences. For example, a young black male that is doing well in school could easily be affected by some gang members of his community that will offer him easier ways to reach economical objectives.
The American melting pot does not exist. It is an unreal fabrication that creates a sense of unity; nevertheless, the states are a perfect example of mild racial and ethnic segregation according to cultural standards; however, it is important to notice that segregation is not mandated by law anymore, but is a social conduct that in my personal opinion is an instinctive behavior of identity and membership. We all want to be part of something and the first club that we joined is the racial and ethnic club.
I considered myself an emotionally attached individual. I am Colombian and I accept my subjectivity to topics as nationality, race and ethnicity. I do have my cultural biases, but I considered that everybody without exception has them too.
That is to say, we should not let our own cultural biases get in the way to comprehend the lives of other people. This is a very complicated mission given the emotionally charged feelings and deep beliefs that most people have concerning race and ethnicity.