Race_in_Your_Community

Race in My Community Cecilia M. Robeck Eth/125 I am a white American. I was born and raised in a small town call Antioch here in Tennessee. It is about 10 minutes from Nashville. Here we have always had a high diversity of races, cultures, skin colors, and religions within our community. It was normal to be different. No one truly ever looked just like someone else, unless they were twins. I would say that some people look like me in some ways, and in some ways they don’t. Here, there are old people, and young people, Tall people, and short people, overweight people, and really skinny people. There are also dark people, and light people. There are countless languages spoken within this colorful community. This community that I call home is made up of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Japanese, Somali, Indians, Puerto Ricans, and so many more. The one thing that makes us look alike in some way would be because we all have one heart, we all have red blood, and we are all living for the same purpose. We are working hard to survive and feed our families. We share common determination and feed off each other’s motivation. We all recognize the differences between us and it does not bother us like it would in other cities. Even though everyone in my community is different, we are all still treated the same by our local leaders. We all have to spend just as much money on food and fuel. No one gets special privileges that aren’t offered to everyone. If a family isn’t doing well they get offered help from the state. That same help is offered to other families that are not doing well regardless of the way they look. I think the reason there isn’t much favoritism here is because there is so much diverse here, that no one really out numbers anyone. The people in this community recognize that and have grown a respect for everyone. Even the police department is made up of a colorful team, where it is just as diverse as the community. We all will get the same ticket for speeding, or for running that stop sign. We all get the same fine when we litter. And we all share the same penalty if we commit a major crime. At work I would have to say that the work manuals are mainly of the white race. I believe that if is one standard manual per company for the entire United States, and we do have locations all over the country. Since White is the main race of the United States, work manuals were made reflecting that. All the pictures and examples are of white people. Text books on the other hand are starting to become more diverse. But, when was the last time you saw a topic or a picture of a Somali in a work manual or a text book' At my job, most of us that cork the counter are white. Most of my service guys on the other had is Somali or Indian. Those are the only kinds of people at my job, and I think that the reason the others are not on the counter is because they don’t speak good English, but the make the same hourly pay as I do. So either way it’s fair. The local media here represent my community fairly. They will cover and accidents, fires, drugs, hate crimes etc. to make everyone else aware of what is happening in the community. However, they rarely cover when there is a community project, or some type of event set to make the community better. All the airtime we get is on the hate crimes, or drug issues. I think every community had a problem, but I feel like our community projects and local events ought to get some airtime as well to show us as a community working together to fix issues and make it a better place. So in other words, we are only given a heads up on a local accident or a robbery from the night before, or who shot who. If we could just get some airtime on the other things, maybe more people in the community would hear about it and help fix these problems. Leadership, such as the city council, we have the same religion, and share a lot of the same values. We are also different in some ways because our skin tone is different, and our accent is different when we speak. He represents the minority’s interest very well. I think the reason for this is because there are so many different minority groups here that you would be a fool not to represent all of them, especially if you want to continue as the city council man. He does a great job making sure everyone has equal opportunity. If I had any inequities I would definitely go to the councilman to get them resolved. I think the number one thing I would ask him for help on would be for more community projects to better the streets of the community. I would also ask for him to join in on some of these projects. Seeing a councilman involved in trying to better the streets would be an eye opener for others. To see that someone who lives on the better side of town wants to make this side just as good as theirs, will make the community stronger than ever before. Over the years this community has grown bigger and bigger, and more and more diverse. I the love the colorful beauty this community has. I don’t think there is another town as beautiful as mine. Sure, we are not perfect here, but we do not judge each other based on our looks, religion, culture or heritage. This community has a special glow about it. You can walk down on of the main roads here and here at least 5 different languages, see 5 different skin tones and hair textures, but yet you will see the same friendly smile as they wave at you when you walk by their house. I have moved away from here before, but something keeps me coming back. This community truly has some kind of hold on me, and I continue to live here to this day. I will raise my kids here. This will be my final resting place.