Race_and_Your_Community

Race and Your Community Diana Hudson ETH/125 September 4, 2010 Annette Gunter The community where I reside is 30 miles west of Chicago, Illinois. I have been residing in Un-incorporated West Chicago for the past six years. In my community the population is 23,469 people. According to the City of West Chicago-Community there is a large variety of cultures and ethnicities that are moving into the city. They have the ethnicity split up in four sections of the city and were last updated in the year 2007. The section where I reside it shows that the ethnicity is 39.20% Hispanic and 70.80% of non-Hispanic. It shows the other three sections as 54.70% Hispanic and 45.30% of non-Hispanic, 47.80% Hispanic and 52.20% of non-Hispanic, and 57.20% Hispanic and 72.80% of non-Hispanic. All and all we are all combined as one community from different cultures. In my direct neighborhood there are Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Caucasian Americans like myself. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago some of the settlers arrived as early as the 1830s and was known as the first Illinois community created. West Chicago was once known as Turner and the first residents were New Englanders with their heritage being of Irish and English and mitigated west and were railroad workers. German immigrants came to Turner to seek farmlands. Before the 1970s there was a Seminary called Christ the King, which was a Spanish style structure and it housed the Franciscan Brothers until the 1970s and now is a convalescent center which is two blocks from my house. There are a variety of grocery stores around the whole community with some being operated by a mix of cultures, and some are fully ran by Mexican Americans. In my opinion the grocery stores that are owned and operated by Mexican Americans are not racially biased. I believe they are operated by one group do to the fact that where the storefronts are located the neighborhood is a majority of Mexican Americans. I go shopping at these stores because I can find fresh fruit, meat, and vegetables that I sometimes cannot find in the local grocery store. They also sell a wide variety of Mexican food that they have already prepared and this is another thing not found in the local grocery store. I do have to say that there are certain gas stations in the community that are ran by a group of individuals of one culture and this I do find to be racially biased. The City of West Chicago for the past 21 years has been participating in National Night Out which was held on August 3, 2010 this year. This is a night where all the people of West Chicago are asked to lock their doors and leave their outside light on and spend the evening with their neighbors. This even takes place at Reed-Keppler Park which is located pretty much in the middle of West Chicago. It is a night for all to come out and learn about drug and crime awareness, strengthen neighbor and police/community partnerships. It is also designed to send a message that all neighborhoods are fighting back on crimes throughout the entire city. This is a great event to meet new people from all different cultures and a blessing to see all standing together to helping support our city. Every year more and more people are coming out for this special event held by the City of West Chicago. West Chicago’s elementary school Gary offers a dual-language program where students spend a half day learning the English language and the other half of the day they are learning the Spanish language. They also offer bilingual classes for the students that are learning English as a second language. The schools also offer extracurricular programs with teachers that are committed to all students from different ages and backgrounds. Do to living in an unincorporated area and where the boundaries cut off my daughter goes to high school in South Elgin and is located about twelve miles from our home. South Elgin High School is located in district U-46. In the Elgin area there is a lawsuit in progress claiming racial bias. The lawsuit was filed do to the boundary changes made by the district. Five Elgin families are suing the district stating that when the move was made it forced Black and Hispanic students to attend schools that were much older and overly crowded. They also state in the lawsuit that they are bused much further and more often than white people and are provided with inferior education opportunities. I find this to be obscured, my family is Caucasian and the lawsuit was filed back in 2004 and my son was moved from the high school that was five minutes away from our home to a high school that is at least twelve miles from our home. I am not prejudice but when I take my daughter to school there is a combination of cultures attending this high school and not a majority of white. I actually find this to be a special school district because they have a part of the school where children born with Down syndrome are being taught. When I was in high school these children were segregated and bused to a school just for them because of their disability. When the school calls my home to inform me of programs that are going on or if there is an early dismissal they state it in English and in Spanish. The high school has children that still stay in groups of their own culture which brings me to believe that racism will never die. The mayor of West Chicago is of Caucasian background and works hard for the whole city of West Chicago. The mayor has a coffee clutch every third Saturday of the month for three hours at the city hall building and welcomes all to come and join him and likes to receive input on any new ideas for the community. They cities council members consist of male and female and are mainly of a Caucasian background and one Mexican. I do not believe this to be as a racism issue because the people of West Chicago are who votes to put them into office. The city also welcomes any newcomers and has a place on the community site where an application can be filled out to be considered to be placed on the Board or Commission. Which I find to be exceptional because it gives all races a chance to help their community. In my community there is a park district that offers different programs such as hip hop dance, karate, and a work out center, etc. All programs that are offered are to the community at a low cost and those who do not live in the district are asked to pay a little higher price. These programs offer all cultures and races to get together and learn and have some fun. The local library has teen coffee night where the teenagers can go and chat and get to know each other from different schools. They also offer movie nights where anyone can attend and enjoy a movie. All the programs are offered to all cultures. I have two sons and they work for the same company siding homes. They are actually the only two that are Caucasian the other men they work with are Polish Americans and Hispanic Americans. My son that is 21 years old lives in an apartment and one of his roommates is Hispanic American and they usually stop by the house to eat at night. When I was a teenager my best friend was African American and I can say one thing I could not have asked for a better friend. I use to be amazed by her because we both ran for the track team except she ran in her bare feet. All in all I have to say my community is not based on racism. I have neighbors in the back of me that are originally from Japan. They are a very nice couple and always bring me vegetable’s from their garden. There is a couple across the street the wife is Mexican American and the husband is Caucasian. The wife always plants lots of flowers and offers me some to plant in my yard. I can say that I live in a non-prejudice neighborhood. When taking my dogs for a walk there will be other neighbors walking their dogs or riding their bikes and no matter their race we all say hi and even sometimes stop and have a chat. I have to say that since I was a young child I have lived around all cultures and personally I do not have a problem with any race. I believe that we all were put on God’s earth for a reason and I do not believe that hatred or racism is one of the reasons. However racism does exist and even though there are people that do not agree with it there are still people out there that are on-willing to stop living in the past. References  City of West Chicago. (n.d.). City of West Chicago. Retrieved September 4, 2010 from http://www.westchicago.org/07.14.10_pr.html Lester, K. (2010). Daily Herald. Daily Herald. Retrieved September 4, 2010 from http://www.dailyherald.com/story  (n.d.). City of West Chicago. Retrieved September 4, 2010 from http://www.westchicago.org/Community/Education.html  (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org