Term Paper on "Race & Community Race"

Term Paper 4 pages (1272 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Race & Community

Race and Community

One of the reasons that I chose to live in my suburban neighborhood was because my neighborhood includes people of all races. I am fortunate to live in a relatively affluent area, and many of the upper-middle class neighborhoods surrounding ours seem to contain clusters of racial and ethnic groupings. I wanted to avoid living in such a cluster, because I wanted my children exposed to people of all cultures; I believe that segregation, whether de jure or de facto, is harmful to the souls of all people involved, and I simply would not have chosen to live in a neighborhood that was not race-inclusive. Therefore, I cannot look at the physical appearance of my neighbors and say that people resemble me, but I also cannot look at them and say that they do not resemble me. My neighbors come in every shade of the rainbow and from every ethnic background. However, there are overt physical similarities, which suggest that a certain amount of assimilation is important. People dress in similar clothes, and, despite the fact that there are many ethnic groups represented, no one in my neighborhood wears ethnically identifiable clothing on a regular basis. My local government is also relatively diverse; it is populated by people from various ethnic groups. However, the local government is disproportionately populated by whites. Depending on the service group, they appear racially homogenous as well; for example, two local service groups of mothers, MOPS and MOMS, are composed entirely of white women, which does not reflect the racial makeup of the population. This racial isolationism is reflected in most of the "mainstream" service groups, and smaller service groups; many of them even specify an ethnicity in their titles. However, when viewed as a whole, it is fair to say that every ethnic group is represented in service groups that help my community.

The leaders in my community appear to show the same benign indifference to members of all racial groups. However, they seem to fall prey to the same racial stereotypes that plague people everywhere. Blacks and Hispanics are arrested at rates that are disproportionate to their actual rates in society. Furthermore, while high prestige positions may be ethnically diverse, mid-level positions tend to be filled mostly with white people, while minorities seem to fill most of the lower-level positions. For example, when looking at the schools in my community, many of the administrators are from minority groups, but the teachers are disproportionately white, and the support staff, like janitors and lunch ladies, tends to be either black or Hispanic. Therefore, it appears that there is some type of discrimination. However, it really is difficult to tell how much of that discrimination is unintentional. There is no question that minorities have traditionally had poorer access to educational resources, which makes them less competitive for higher-paid, higher-prestige jobs. Furthermore, my community is largely composed of people who have moved to the area; it's an area that has experienced tremendous recent growth, and people of all income groups have moved to the area to take advantage of job opportunities. Therefore, people from different ethnic groups may be moving to the area in different numbers to seek specific job positions; the lack of ethnic diversity in some situations may be more indicative of this factor than of any overt attempts to discriminate. However, the reality is that children growing up in the community still continue to see stark racial divisions in local government employment.

In addition, my neighborhood and local community have become very anti-immigrant, vocally attacking illegal immigrants. While these attacks may be facially race-neutral, the fact is that they focus these attacks on immigrants from Mexico. One of the most disturbing aspect of this is that many of the people leading these vocal attacks… READ MORE

How to Reference "Race and Community Race" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Race the Power of an Illusion Reaction Paper

Race: The Power of Illusion

The PBS film Race: The Power of an Illusion addresses the illusory concept of race. In fact, the filmmakers claim was a relatively modern idea… read more

Reaction Paper 2 pages (827 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Race / Ethnic Studies / Racism

---

Race and Racism in the Chicano a Community Research Paper

Race and Racism in the Chicana/O Community

Two major challenges that exist regarding Chicana/o education that is connected largely to race are the high dropout rates for students of this… read more

Research Paper 4 pages (1249 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Race / Ethnic Studies / Racism

---

Race and Access to Healthcare Term Paper

Race and Access to Healthcare

Access to quality health care is a social talking point, and yet the real disparities that occur often have to do with race and other… read more

Term Paper 2 pages (904 words) Sources: 6 Style: APA Topic: Race / Ethnic Studies / Racism

---

Race Gender Negative Impact on Entry Into or Advancement in the Business World Term Paper

race.gender

Since my birth in Rochester, NY, I have witnessed the effects of both racism and sexism on employment opportunities and opportunities for advancement. My mother struggled to support her… read more

Term Paper 1 pages (378 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Race / Ethnic Studies / Racism

---

Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity Research Paper

Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity

I am a Caucasian and I live in Coos Bay, Oregon, a coastal community of about 16,660 people. In our rural county, we have about… read more

Research Paper 5 pages (2018 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Race / Ethnic Studies / Racism

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>