1. Jeff Dozier
FYS100
June 15, 2014
Harold Blanco
Reaction to the Angry Eye
“The Angry Eye” by Jane Elliot makes me think very critically about how society is really messed
up. We have a country that is founded on principles of every man and woman being a free person, but
this shows that we really don’t have a country (or a world for that matter) that upholds and respects
that opinion. Now, we have come a very long way making attempts to make everyone equal even
though a lot of attempts fail or get a lot of pushback before there are finally successes. For instance, a
big movement currently going on in the United States is federal courts are striking down gay marriage
bans left and right, but we still have governors like Rick Perry comparing homosexuality to alcoholics. I
do like the way the activity is set up; reversing the situation to show privileged white kids how everyone
else actually feels all the time. It kind of makes me feel odd in a way, because I have never thought of it
in the way that this video shows even though I understand being white I have it much easier than any
minority group. Even more so being a male I know that I have it easier than a majority of women. The
video really shows how easy white kids have it, and at the same time how hard minorities have it. I don’t
think it is fair that this is how this world is, but nothing I can do alone can change it. It will take all of us
to change what is going on, and unfortunately not all of the American population feels this way
(especially the girl that stormed out in the middle of the exercise). It really puts it in perspective because
everything that the video shows is one hundred percent real, it is all true. It is terrible, but that’s how
things are; we need to change this, but unfortunately I don’t believe racism will die before I will. There
will always be prejudices in the minds of any human, because that is what we do: pre-judge. The
problem with society is people acting on these prejudices and that’s where the racism starts. We need

2. to learn how to take these prejudices and understand they don’t apply to everyone. Just because you
see a black person on the street doesn’t mean you should be scared, they are just trying to get along like
any of us. I imagine that the white kids that I know believe if a black person with sagging pants and a
baggy tee shirt is walking down the street they are a gangster: total stereotype. It just baffles me that
people are not as open minded as we ought to be.