Race and My Community

Essay by tmjacksonCollege, UndergraduateA+, March 2008

download word file, 6 pages 4.8 3 reviews

Race and My Community"I was born in a small town, and I live in a small town. Probably die in a small town, in a small community." These words made famous by John Cougar Mellencamp can basically sum of my entire life. I was born in a small town, everyone I know lives in a small town, and I will probably never leave this small town. My town is encased in cornfields on all four sides. That being said I can say that race has never been a major issue in my community, but it does exist without question. A few of the issues that lead to racism in my community include: all white leaders, a 'super-max" prison, and no education regarding race. While my community consists mostly of white Americans, the issue of race is still a prevalent and unfortunate issue.

The largest majority of people in my community are white, only a small percentage is of other races.

Specifically, 86.63% of the residents in my town are white, 9.79% are black, .70% is Asian, 2.79% claim other, and 3.89% claim they have Hispanic heritage (Sperling's, 2007). These numbers can easily show that the people in my community mostly look like me in that most of the people that I see everyday are white Americans. That is not to say that everyone that I see on a daily basis looks like me, because that is not true. First of all, everyone is an individual. Even other white people do not look like me in some cases. Social class and economic status have just as much to do with white people looking different than race does in my community. However, in regards to race, on a regular basis I work with people of Hispanic heritage. My brother in...