Cultural Diversity and Community - Research Paper Example

Cultural Diversity and Community I live in a neighborhood in Goshen Village in Orange County, New York that comprises a number of different communities (Connor, 2007, p. 2). The issue of race and ethnicity plays an important role in how people relate to each other where I come from. The different races represented in the community are: White Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. White Americans are the majority residents while the Asians are the least. For this paper I would like to highlight the issue of race and ethnicity as it relates to my community. I will analyze how relations between different communities affect their lives. As I mentioned earlier, White American are the majority ethnic group in my neighborhood. In this part of the country, the White American population has been estimated to be 75% of the entire population. African Americans constitute about 16% of the population while Asian Americans are 6% (Connor, 2007, p. 23). In my neighborhood, the population mixture reflects the numbers at the state level. I do not think there are any native Americans in my neighborhood. Historically, white Americans have always been the majority race followed by Black Americans and Hispanics in that order. Other racial groups started having significant population numbers just recently. The White Americans normally are richer than other racial groups due to the fact that they have easy access to better jobs opportunities than other racial groups (Headley, 2010, p. 75). They can afford to live in the better part of the neighborhood which has the best, but quite expensive houses. They are also able to take their children to good private schools. According to David Jolly, the manager of the Orange county Social Service Department, most people on social welfare are from the Black and Hispanic communities (personal communication, January 24, 2010). This shows that this breed of Americans is not as economically well off as their white counterparts. I do not think that there are people who can be said to look like each other in any situation. However, members of my community who are from the same racial background normally have similar features. For instance, white Americans will definitely have Caucasian features, which include long dark or light smooth and silky hair, light skin and they have a similar accent. Black Americans have kinky hair that is not as long as the Caucasians’, they have a darker skin tone than their white, Asian and Hispanic counterparts (Feagin and Feagin, 2003, p. 140). Their English accent and slang is also different from the rest of the community’s. Leaders within my community try to treat different people from different racial, ethnic and cultural groups equally. Cases of direct discrimination based on race are very rare in the area of leadership. However, there have been a few instances where some police officers have been accused of harassing members of the Hispanic and black community. This could be due to the fact that crime rate is higher in areas inhabited by blacks and Hispanics than in White residential areas. When it comes to community relations, I can say that members of different racial groups normally have a cordial relationship with one another. They try to respect other, although different races tend to keep to themselves and not mingle with people from another race. It is like there is some sort of cold distrust among members of different cultures, but they try not to show it in public. I have not seen or heard of racial discrimination in the local media. Issues affecting the community, regardless of whether the residents are Asian, African, Hispanic or White American are represented in the local media in a fair manner. There are several minority groups living within my community. Since the majority residents are White Americans, all the rest groups fall under the minorities’ group. I believe that minority group interests are represented up to a certain level. The local government and other agencies have come up with measures to try and make education easily accessible for all. Those in charge of the neighborhood’s security ensure that all areas are protected from any form of crime. There are social amenities such as hospitals and shopping malls where everyone can receive equal services. However, there are some racial inequalities that should be done away with. One is the residential segregation that seems to divide people. Although there are people who are courageous enough to live among White Americans, there are many who feel that they are not welcome in white areas. I have noticed that Asian Americans do not have trouble living among the Whites, as long as they can afford the high rent. This residential segregation is one thing that I would change within my community. I would also change the racial tensions and negative attitudes that exist among the older generations of White, African and Hispanic Americans. I would do this by creating awareness about the need to trust each other regardless of the other person’s skin color. Prejudice/ Racism In my neighborhood, there are some racial tensions which come about as a result of some races having prejudicial attitudes towards others. These racial tensions are not as deep as they in most of the other neighborhoods in my county. Racism is an issue among the white, black and Latino communities. Although the community is culturally diverse, there are people who do not understand other people’s cultures and they usually end up discriminating against them or treating them differently just because they have a different skin color (D. Jolly, personal communication, January 24, 2011). Most families stick with people from their own racial background. For instance, the white community lives together on one area of the neighborhood and the black community in another. The Latino community is more comfortable living near African Americans than White Americans. There are other minor groups such as Chinese Americans and Indian Americans who tend to live nearer the white households than black ones. However, this does not mean that the whites, blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans cannot mingle. Over the last five years or so, the racial tensions have lessened somewhat and people from different communities can live together peacefully, without having to be wary of one another (Headley, 2010, p. 231). One of my immediate neighbors is a black couple who have 4 children, 2 of whom are adopted. The adopted children are Latinos. The family seems very comfortable where they are and most of the white people around our place treat them as part of the community. The children have white children as their friends. This scenario cannot be replicated everywhere in my neighborhood (Feagin and Feagin, 2003, p. 322). There are those places where individuals from one race cannot stay because of racial tensions. Conclusion The community of Goshen in Orange County, New York is racially diverse, and therefore, it faces the same challenges that culturally diverse communities face. The biggest of these challenges is connected to racial and ethnic relations between culturally different residents of this area. Although they have a cordial relationship, there is still some deep-rooted prejudice that leads to mistrust and suspicion amongst people from different races. The white residents also seem to be better economic-wise than other races. The police department has been known to target people from a certain racial group. However, all this can change if the whole community adopts an attitude to accommodate everyone in spite of their skin color. References Connor, E. (2007). Goshen. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing Feagin, J.R. and Feagin, Clairece, B.F (2003). Racial and ethnic relations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Headley, R. (2010). The history of Orange County, New York. New York: General Books LLC. Read More