Racism In My Community Research Paper
Racism in My Community
ETH125
04/21/11
Emily Keniston
Racism in My Community
My neighborhood is somewhat diverse and quite large. Even though you may see people of various nationalities, the population in my neighborhood is predominantly Latino and White. However, the town I live in is mainly Latino by 48.0%. The chart below shows the population by race within Round Lake Beach, IL.
Black 4.3%
Caucasian 35.2%
Asian 3.0%
Indian 1.3%
Other 4.5% (Muni Net Guide, 2001)
Most of the members of the community in which I live do look like me. I believe the ways we look similar is by the way that we dress, the color of our skin, and the way that we speak. The ways that I look different compared to other members of my community is skin color, …show more content…
they speak a different language, and they have different beliefs. Although there are obvious differences among the individuals in my community, I see everyone as the same. I have not witnessed individuals that are not like me getting treated differently. When speaking with my neighbor who is Puerto Rican she believed that she had the same rights as I do and never felt discriminated against within the community. Everyone in my neighborhood tends to be neighborly towards each other and no matter who you are or what you look like we all watch out for each other.
I believe that the leaders of this community treat people like me and not like me the same. Individuals who are willing to work hard to support their family, be honest, and be a positive part of society get treated with the respect, dignity, and compassion no matter who they are or what they look like. Now, when it comes to government offices such as the Department of housing or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program I have had different beliefs. From my viewpoint as a Caucasian, I believed that if I were to request help from either of these offices, it would be a lot easier if I were of a different race. I have had personal experience with this when I tried to acquire help after having my first daughter. I was not married yet, did not have insurance and was told that my partner made to much money and we did not qualify for any assistance. I thought that they must be kidding, he was the sole provider and we could not get any kind of help to even feed my child? Meanwhile I mostly had seen the Hispanic population coming in driving very nice automobiles and wearing nice clothes. They were getting the support that I believed was entitled to me. However, after taking this class I realized that I was looking at the outside and I really had no idea what their situation really was. I was judging without knowing. I drive a nice vehicle and have nice clothes too, but that does not mean that I have a ton of money.
I believe that members of my community treat people like me the same as they treat everyone else.
As a community we are more concerned about keeping ourselves safe and our homes secure. I have not witnessed any racial issues such as discrimination and segregation affect my community. So for this I talked with my neighbor Jeff to see what his thoughts are on the subject. First, I want to tell you about Jeff. Yes, he is a member of the community, but a lot of us consider him a leader as well. For 23 years Jeff served in the United States Air Force as security police and now he works at the local high school doing the same. Jeff believes that there is a problem with race and our community. He has a problem with section 8 housing and the “riff raff” that comes to our community from other towns. He also stated that he has a big problem with the Hispanics living in one house together; he believes this drives up the cost for others in the community. As far as people not like us in the community getting treated differently Jeff stated that he believes this does happen. He said “America is prejudice.” No one looks at the white man as they do the other races in the community. He believed that there is racial profiling among the police department as well as he has seen them look at someone by the car they drove or the clothes they had on with reason enough to stop them. As far as the school system in which Jeff works he said that everyone is treated the same, there are rules to …show more content…
follow. Throughout this course I have felt that the texts included information by or about people like me. For example, I am part Italian and chapter 4 of the text touches on Italian Americans migrating to the United States and boarding ships to Ellis Island. The texts covered a wide variety of ethnicities and cultures that educated me and other students by demonstrating historical and new aspects on diversity in the United States.
When it comes to the media there are several forms such as; news, internet, newspapers, and advertising. I feel that the media represents everyone not just people like me. I believe the media reports stories they feel will interest the general public. I do not believe they are picking on one race over the other. In my opinion the media does not misrepresent the people in my community alike or different. For example, when I watch the local news there are always reports on every race. Just this morning on WGN channel 9 out of Chicago there was a story about an African American couple who lost their baby due to the negligence of 911. That story was not just shown once, it was shown repeatedly. It was not put on the backburner because of who these individuals were or what the color of their skin was. I believed the story had received the same amount of attention as I would have received.
The similarities that I allot with the leaders in my community are that they are White American.
The difference between me and the leaders of my community would be the money they make compared to the money I make or what the others in my community make. You can only tell the difference by looking at our homes or our cars as to who makes more money. The individuals who make more money will have a nicer home and drive a nice car. I do believe that the minorities’ interests in my community are represented. They have the same rights as I do. They are allowed to apply for the same jobs as me, receive an education and housing. One example of the minority groups interest being represented is the Latino population has their own business district down town and also throughout other parts of the town in which I
live.
Throughout my research I could not find any evidence of inequities within my community, but there is one thing that I would like to try and resolve. That is the language barrier. Many of the Latino population does not speak English and I believe a way to solve this would be to have the Latino population take a mandatory classes to gain some understanding of the English language. It really bothers me when I register my daughter for school and the children from the Latino population are translating for the parents. It is important for these parents to understand the English language for future communication with teachers. To make this work I would try to have these classes offered for free at the school registration sign up. Of course I would also have to find at least two volunteers one to teach English and on Spanish. We could do this at an area such as a community center or possibly even a church.
In conclusion, I believe that everything I learned in this course through assignments and texts has shown me the diversity of the people around me. Before I started this class I believed that race and ethnicity was the same thing, but after reviewing chapter 1 I believed differently. The background of race and ethnicity is what holds our society together. It is important to remember that even though you may not know someone personally, they are worth knowing. I believe that we could all benefit in our society from each other. We are all here together for a long time and changing the way individuals are classified it would be a big step towards change for our generation and the future generation yet to come.
Reference
Muni Net Guide. (2001). Your Hub for Municipal Related Research. Retrieved from http://www,muninetguide.com/states/illinois/round-lake-beach
ETH125
04/21/11
Emily Keniston
Racism in My Community
My neighborhood is somewhat diverse and quite large. Even though you may see people of various nationalities, the population in my neighborhood is predominantly Latino and White. However, the town I live in is mainly Latino by 48.0%. The chart below shows the population by race within Round Lake Beach, IL.
Black 4.3%
Caucasian 35.2%
Asian 3.0%
Indian 1.3%
Other 4.5% (Muni Net Guide, 2001)
Most of the members of the community in which I live do look like me. I believe the ways we look similar is by the way that we dress, the color of our skin, and the way that we speak. The ways that I look different compared to other members of my community is skin color, …show more content…
they speak a different language, and they have different beliefs. Although there are obvious differences among the individuals in my community, I see everyone as the same. I have not witnessed individuals that are not like me getting treated differently. When speaking with my neighbor who is Puerto Rican she believed that she had the same rights as I do and never felt discriminated against within the community. Everyone in my neighborhood tends to be neighborly towards each other and no matter who you are or what you look like we all watch out for each other.
I believe that the leaders of this community treat people like me and not like me the same. Individuals who are willing to work hard to support their family, be honest, and be a positive part of society get treated with the respect, dignity, and compassion no matter who they are or what they look like. Now, when it comes to government offices such as the Department of housing or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program I have had different beliefs. From my viewpoint as a Caucasian, I believed that if I were to request help from either of these offices, it would be a lot easier if I were of a different race. I have had personal experience with this when I tried to acquire help after having my first daughter. I was not married yet, did not have insurance and was told that my partner made to much money and we did not qualify for any assistance. I thought that they must be kidding, he was the sole provider and we could not get any kind of help to even feed my child? Meanwhile I mostly had seen the Hispanic population coming in driving very nice automobiles and wearing nice clothes. They were getting the support that I believed was entitled to me. However, after taking this class I realized that I was looking at the outside and I really had no idea what their situation really was. I was judging without knowing. I drive a nice vehicle and have nice clothes too, but that does not mean that I have a ton of money.
I believe that members of my community treat people like me the same as they treat everyone else.
As a community we are more concerned about keeping ourselves safe and our homes secure. I have not witnessed any racial issues such as discrimination and segregation affect my community. So for this I talked with my neighbor Jeff to see what his thoughts are on the subject. First, I want to tell you about Jeff. Yes, he is a member of the community, but a lot of us consider him a leader as well. For 23 years Jeff served in the United States Air Force as security police and now he works at the local high school doing the same. Jeff believes that there is a problem with race and our community. He has a problem with section 8 housing and the “riff raff” that comes to our community from other towns. He also stated that he has a big problem with the Hispanics living in one house together; he believes this drives up the cost for others in the community. As far as people not like us in the community getting treated differently Jeff stated that he believes this does happen. He said “America is prejudice.” No one looks at the white man as they do the other races in the community. He believed that there is racial profiling among the police department as well as he has seen them look at someone by the car they drove or the clothes they had on with reason enough to stop them. As far as the school system in which Jeff works he said that everyone is treated the same, there are rules to …show more content…
follow. Throughout this course I have felt that the texts included information by or about people like me. For example, I am part Italian and chapter 4 of the text touches on Italian Americans migrating to the United States and boarding ships to Ellis Island. The texts covered a wide variety of ethnicities and cultures that educated me and other students by demonstrating historical and new aspects on diversity in the United States.
When it comes to the media there are several forms such as; news, internet, newspapers, and advertising. I feel that the media represents everyone not just people like me. I believe the media reports stories they feel will interest the general public. I do not believe they are picking on one race over the other. In my opinion the media does not misrepresent the people in my community alike or different. For example, when I watch the local news there are always reports on every race. Just this morning on WGN channel 9 out of Chicago there was a story about an African American couple who lost their baby due to the negligence of 911. That story was not just shown once, it was shown repeatedly. It was not put on the backburner because of who these individuals were or what the color of their skin was. I believed the story had received the same amount of attention as I would have received.
The similarities that I allot with the leaders in my community are that they are White American.
The difference between me and the leaders of my community would be the money they make compared to the money I make or what the others in my community make. You can only tell the difference by looking at our homes or our cars as to who makes more money. The individuals who make more money will have a nicer home and drive a nice car. I do believe that the minorities’ interests in my community are represented. They have the same rights as I do. They are allowed to apply for the same jobs as me, receive an education and housing. One example of the minority groups interest being represented is the Latino population has their own business district down town and also throughout other parts of the town in which I
live.
Throughout my research I could not find any evidence of inequities within my community, but there is one thing that I would like to try and resolve. That is the language barrier. Many of the Latino population does not speak English and I believe a way to solve this would be to have the Latino population take a mandatory classes to gain some understanding of the English language. It really bothers me when I register my daughter for school and the children from the Latino population are translating for the parents. It is important for these parents to understand the English language for future communication with teachers. To make this work I would try to have these classes offered for free at the school registration sign up. Of course I would also have to find at least two volunteers one to teach English and on Spanish. We could do this at an area such as a community center or possibly even a church.
In conclusion, I believe that everything I learned in this course through assignments and texts has shown me the diversity of the people around me. Before I started this class I believed that race and ethnicity was the same thing, but after reviewing chapter 1 I believed differently. The background of race and ethnicity is what holds our society together. It is important to remember that even though you may not know someone personally, they are worth knowing. I believe that we could all benefit in our society from each other. We are all here together for a long time and changing the way individuals are classified it would be a big step towards change for our generation and the future generation yet to come.
Reference
Muni Net Guide. (2001). Your Hub for Municipal Related Research. Retrieved from http://www,muninetguide.com/states/illinois/round-lake-beach