Race and Your Community - Essay Example

These forces all contribute to the racial attitudes of the people I know, as well as the leaders, in the small town where I live. Though I look like the majority, my heart and beliefs are a minority opinion. To begin this discussion, it should be noted that I believe that I live in a largely racist community. Minorities make up less than two percent of the total population, with just one percent African-Americans. Because of the low numbers of minorities, it is easier for the residents to carry on racist attitudes, while not ever confronting or experiencing any racial situations.

Conversations are peppered with the N word and Latinos are usually referred to by using a racial slur. This is the acceptable attitude in this small town in the middle South. As a transplanted Caucasian Yankee, I was appalled and offended when I was first confronted by these attitudes, but as a newcomer I thought it would be a better strategy to keep my mouth shut and not talk out of school. Indeed, I often feel guilty for my silence and lack of courage. These attitudes have no doubt been handed down from the older generations to the children since the days of slavery.

Yet, as I noted, there are no minorities to be experienced first hand, and everything is simply learned through the social interaction of friends and families. As for me, I have always, and continue to feel, like an outsider when it comes to attitudes towards race. Though I look like 98 percent of the community, I have a very different attitude towards equality. I obviously cant know what a person of color feels when they hear a racial slur, but I know that it offends me and I am embarrassed to be in the company of people that use that language.

This language also transfers to their other attitudes towards minorities in regards to their abilities, trustworthiness, honesty, or moral fiber. I am sure that I am also thought less of by these