My Community
My community
ETH/125
My community
In my community the area is predominately white; there is not much diversity in the state of New Hampshire. I have viewed the growth of my town from when I was a child to when I have recently moved back a year ago. Fifteen years ago there was one African American family that I knew of and one Hispanic family. In high school there were some other races but I was not friends with them nor knew much about their heritage or culture. I believe that education is the best way to combat racism and prejudice and my small town is an example of that. When reviewing information from the government census bureau, the state of New Hampshire is 93.9% white, compared to the United States who has a population of 72.4% (Census.gov, 2010). These rates show that there is a larger ratio of whites in my state than throughout the country. I was not aware of much culture that had existed in the country and fell into the belief of some stereotypes. I also took for granted that I was not a minority and did not understand the struggles that exist for them. In my community when I was growing up there was much to be learned about race and ethnicity among the children and the adults. I remember that the kids who did hang out with the minority groups were all considered trouble children and were up to no good. I do know that some of them got in trouble but I wonder if that was a matter of, if you think I am going to do this then I am going to do it. I know that some of the white children who hung around with African Americans and wore their pants around their buttocks were called “wiggers”. I also fell into this trap of stereotyping and did not learn until later in life that it was wrong to stereotype, it was wrong for the African Americans and the white children. Reading through the government statistics for Derry, NH in 2000 the white population was 96% (census.gov, 2000). This is even a higher rate than the whole state of New Hampshire. When there
ETH/125
My community
In my community the area is predominately white; there is not much diversity in the state of New Hampshire. I have viewed the growth of my town from when I was a child to when I have recently moved back a year ago. Fifteen years ago there was one African American family that I knew of and one Hispanic family. In high school there were some other races but I was not friends with them nor knew much about their heritage or culture. I believe that education is the best way to combat racism and prejudice and my small town is an example of that. When reviewing information from the government census bureau, the state of New Hampshire is 93.9% white, compared to the United States who has a population of 72.4% (Census.gov, 2010). These rates show that there is a larger ratio of whites in my state than throughout the country. I was not aware of much culture that had existed in the country and fell into the belief of some stereotypes. I also took for granted that I was not a minority and did not understand the struggles that exist for them. In my community when I was growing up there was much to be learned about race and ethnicity among the children and the adults. I remember that the kids who did hang out with the minority groups were all considered trouble children and were up to no good. I do know that some of them got in trouble but I wonder if that was a matter of, if you think I am going to do this then I am going to do it. I know that some of the white children who hung around with African Americans and wore their pants around their buttocks were called “wiggers”. I also fell into this trap of stereotyping and did not learn until later in life that it was wrong to stereotype, it was wrong for the African Americans and the white children. Reading through the government statistics for Derry, NH in 2000 the white population was 96% (census.gov, 2000). This is even a higher rate than the whole state of New Hampshire. When there
References: U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000. Retrieved from http://censtats.census.gov/data/NH/0603301517940.pdf U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/33000.html