Race and Your Community 1

Race and Your Community John Hopkins Axia College of University of Phoenix

Race and Your Community 2 Race in my community is very diverse, I live in a very large city and there are many different ethnic regions. I live in Grand Rapids, MI and it is larger than most cities in Michigan. I lived in other cities but they were mostly dominate by one or two races and was very little diversity. I am a mix of races and tend to look like a large amount of the population depending on the season. I am a mix of African American and Caucasian. With the races that I am mixed with during the summer I tend to blend in with the Hispanic population because of my complexion. I can blend in easily in the winter with the Caucasian population. I look quite different than the African American race because my complexion is not dark enough and generally people have no idea that I am half and half, I am often mistaken for Hispanic. African-Americans represent 20% of the citys population. (The official site for all things Grand Rapids. n.d.). In the large city that I live, the communities have distinct races. The leaders in the community treat me differently depending on where I am in the city. In most places it is very easy to get along with community leaders and the general population. Some instances where I go, I do get treated very poorly and discriminated against because of the color of my skin. The worst discrimination I have encountered was more of a religious attack. The Hispanic race here are largely Seventh Day Adventist and my ex-wife was as well. In their religion working after sundown on Friday is against their religion. I worked third shift and had to go to work and a pastor asked me why do you worship the devil?. It was completely uncalled for because I was not part of their religion and was going to work, later I also found out that the pastor is not a fan of my race. The problems are not as diverse as they used to be and getting better. The leaders in their own communities within the city treat their kind very well but not as well as outsiders. The members of the community treat everyone very well I believe no matter where I am in the city. There are multiple colleges here in the city because of this certain parts

Race and Your Community 3 are very diverse. People come from all over the world to go to college here. (N Tirvengadum, personal communication, October 2, 2009). My personal communication is from another country and goes to college her in my community. I have paid some visits there to the colleges and see the diverse crowds and it is more amazing then I had thought. Equal treatment runs well in the city here, in some spots people are discriminated against but mainly in the unhealthy regions. I used to work at the Home Depot in the city here and many documents are in different languages and the company acknowledges the diverse population. When I went through orientation there, the company gave out little books with phrases to be able to help the large Hispanic population that shops in the store. The phrases are really basic for easy communication and there is always someone that is fluent in Spanish. The signs that are posted throughout the store are in English and Spanish. There are a couple other groups in the city and community that I do not see much of out in the general public. There is a decent amount of population of Asian Americans in the city that I often overlook. Economic growth, social support groups and cultural opportunities are the major forces that have attracted Asian Americans to West Michigan. Approximately 20,000 Asian Americans live in the region, led by people of Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Indian descent. (The official site for all things Grand Rapids, n.d.). Native Americans are the founders of the city and are often overlooked above any other race in this city. There are not as many in the city then what would be thought of because of them being the founders of the city. The 2000 Census revealed 1,454 Native Americans living in Grand Rapids and 2,999 in Kent County. (The official site for all things Grand Rapids, n.d.). Kent county is a large part of Grand Rapids and is largely made up of African Americans and Caucasians.

Race and Your Community 4 The media does not exactly represent the minorities in the city here. I would expect that because I seen a lot of negative media when I was in Iraq, I believe more people are interested in negative information as opposed to positive information. Most of the news that is reported by the media on minorities is negative information. That is not too big of a surprise to me because the media usually focuses on the negative. The good focuses on the minority that is positive done through newspaper and internet. The newspapers that report the positive are mostly very local within the community it is about. The main newspaper within the city has some positive information about minorities but is not very mainstream news like the smaller community local papers. A large percentage of leaders in my community are of Hispanic origin. Grand Rapids Latino population is currently 13%an increase of 175% over the past decade. (The official site for all things Grand Rapids. n.d.). We do not have very many similarities but have many differences. The biggest difference is obviously race. A similarity I notice is that we like to think positively about the community. Minorities within the community are represented well with the leaders. The reason I believe that they are represented well because most of the leaders in the local communities and my own are minorities themselves. The leaders and members of my community communicate well. Much of the communication is through their local papers and occasional meetings, largely held through church communities. Religion is a strong tie in the communities here for communication throughout the community and the leaders. If I could solve any inequities in my community I would try and solve the bias problems. There are bias problems about certain races that I also believe is in more than just my community. I have gotten treated differently because of my race at a retail store before and it was horrible. I was with my dad and we went to return something to the store and exchange it for the

Race and Your Community 5 same part but different size. The price was the same and we purchased the items about 30 minutes prior to the exchange. Apparently we went through the wrong door for the exchange and one of the clerks tried to deny us the exchange. The manager had to come and we all went through a big argument about it. The issues ended up having to be resolved at the corporate level. I believe the best way to resolve some bias in the community is by example. Actions and consequences sometimes are the only way to get some people to stop being so bias towards other races. Simply leading by example is also a great way to improve the community and teaches children to not be bias. I cannot list any concept from the text that really stood out that I enjoyed more than another. Everything that I have read through this class and research was and is very intriguing to me. I have learned a lot and enjoy knowing more about different races and cultures. I have had a few culture classes that focused on this type of research and each focuses on different aspects. I thought I knew a lot about races and cultures but know I realize that there is so much more out there to learn. I have learned most of my demographic knowledge of this community from my ex-wife. I was never in such a diverse community until I had met and moved with her into this city and all the different communities. My ex-wife is Hispanic so I had the great chance to learn about her culture and her race. I learned from our experiences together and even traveled to Mexico and learned more than I could imagine. Experiencing all these different cultures and race in diverse ways is great and I would advise anyone to learn as much as they can, it helps with people being able to get along in these communities.

Race and Your Community 6

References Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. (2008). Diversity Demographics. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.grandrapids.org/diversityinitiatives/demographics/ The official site for all things Grand Rapids. (n.d.). African-Americans in Grand Rapids. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.visitgrandrapids.org/multiculturalafrican_americans.php The official site for all things Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Asian Americans in Grand Rapids. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.visitgrandrapids.org/multiculturalasian_americans.php The official site for all things Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Diversity in Grand Rapids. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.rightplace.org/return/?linkId=58 The official site for all things Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Latino Americans in Grand Rapids. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.visitgrandrapids.org/multiculturallatino_americans.php The official site for all things Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Native Americans in Grand Rapids. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.visitgrandrapids.org/multiculturalnative_americans.php