Compare And Contrast Race And Ethnicity

My family has never been 100% one type of people group. We are full of diversity. From our social class to our race/ethnicity we are different. These differences have brought new traditions to the family, as well as “spice up” our interactions with each other at family gatherings. Even though we are different we love each other equally and are proud to be a part of the family that we are. My family does experience a difference in class, and these difference have adjusted over the years. For example, most of my childhood was spent in poverty. My family was classified as lower class, even though my father was working full time as a police officer. Now that I am older, my family has moved in the middle class section. Now by no means does that
mean we have extra cash laying around, it means that we can live comfortably on my mother’s income. If we look into the class of my mother’s siblings, my Aunt Angie resides in the middle class range, due to her husband working multiple jobs. My Aunt Emily has always been in the lower class, even though she works. My Uncle Mike also resides in the lower class, even though but him and his wife both work. On my dad’s side of the family, almost everyone of them are in the upper lower class. Most are retired, so income is very limited. Not only does my family have differences in its social classes, but also in its race/ethnicity. The difference in race and ethnicity starts with my great grandma.
Now for the longest time I have never really considered my grandpa’s race different than our, due to the fact that he is Native American. My family line is very thick with Native American, so I guess we have never looked at that as a different race. My Uncle Mike on the other hand is married to my Aunt Salima, who is 100% Mexican/ Hispanic. Now my Aunt Salima has two boys that are fully Hispanic, as their dad’s are both 100% Hispanic as well. My Uncle Mike and Aunt Salima have two of their own children, creating mixed children, which by the way are extremely adorable. Unfortunately the rest of my family are just your everyday average white American. Maybe one day we will be able to add different races and ethnicities to our
families. Now with the different races come differences that have shaped my family, at least on my mom’s side.
As crazy as it sounds, because of my Aunt being Mexican, the types of foods that we have come to enjoy she has brought into the family with her. Almost everything is really spicy, and before she joined the family, no one really ever ate spicy foods. Along with the changes in food, came the influence of a secondary language. My Aunt’s first language is Spanish, but she speaks perfect English. The cool thing about her speaking Spanish is that her children speak it with her, and my uncle has begun picking it up as well. Not only has my uncle picked up the Spanish, but so has my little sister, my older sister and my Aunt Emily. As confused as I may be, when there are family gatherings, it is always fun to listen to everyone try to talk to one another in Spanish and laugh when someone say something wrong. My Aunt Salima has also brought with her different traditions into our family. There are many that I do not understand, fully, but she and my uncle celebrate Christmas differently. Presents are opened at midnight on Christmas Even and then Christmas morning is spent sleeping in and then full of feasting and the children playing with all of their new toys. With all of the difference that have come, I would not trade any of them for anything in the
world. Our interactions with each other, through our difference race/ethnicity and even through our social classes, are no different than if we all shared the same social class, ethnicity/race. I have a very loving family that accepts each other for who they are and what they bring to the table. No one is judged for not being as rich as the next person or because their skin color is different. I love my family very much and am proud to say that we are diverse. Jesus loves us all the same, and so do we.