This was my final paper within my Cultural Diversity class for college. Tell me what yins think.
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Race and ethnicity is either a minor or major part in everyone’s everyday life. Either way, it still presents itself. I do not believe anyone can say they are surrounded by one race and it be their own everyday of their lives. One may be friends with someone of a different skin color or religion. One may be family with someone who has been married or born into the family who is a different race. One may also work closely or at a distance with someone who has different views on topics because of possible immigration into the United States or because of how they were raised. Whites are said to be the majority in every situation. As if whites are looked at more highly and are praised. As if whites are more capable at jobs and positions within politics while blacks, Middle Easterners, Mexicans, etc. are degraded and put down on a regular basis. “Blacks, Mexicans, Asians etc., are the minority in all situations, that is why I am a mechanic and there are very few other races besides white people in the company now,” said Darius Hoppes (personal communication, July 27, 2007), one of the few black co-workers there are within the company. But to me, they are wrong.
I live in an apartment complex in the capital of Pennsylvania which is Harrisburg. In my housing unit to the best of my recollection, there are four black families who reside in the top four apartments; I am the only white person on the bottom floor while there is a Middle Eastern family beside me and across the hall are two Asian Families. I feel as though I am a minority. During this summer, when walking to my car to go to work in the mornings, or to get my mail out of the mailbox, I have not once seen one other white person within the apartment community I am living in. Does that make me fear for my life? Yes, it does. It does because in some races, groups that evolve into gangs are only out to protect themselves or the group members they allow into the gang. They will physically and emotionally beat or kill just for spite, rumors and lies or because an opposing race or group seems like a threat of taking over territory.
In high school, there were The Street Legend Kings (SLK) and the Village Soldiers which were made up of black kids who hated each other because of social cliques, previous fights, and rumors. Some did not have a problem with other races, but there was no doubt tension engulfed you when you walked past or by one of the groups huddled in the stair well. Yes, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a white supremacy group who is racist to opposing skin colors but there are no chapters within the group that are here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The only four chapters located within the Pennsylvania state lines are:
Location Chapter
Boothwyn, PA Imperial Klans of America
Johnstown, PA International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
New Castle, PA World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Saint Thomas, PA Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
*Information for this chart has been taken from the Southern Poverty Law Center website
There are however one chapter of the Racist Skinhead group called the Keystone State Skinheads located in Harrisburg. “One report of vandalism was reported on April 4th, 2006 where swastikas and a racial slur were spray painted on two buildings” within Harrisburg (Southern).
Most of the people in my complex though, have a car that is fairly new. Not a lot of old Junkers sitting around with rust around the wheel wells or on four cinderblocks. So I believe that all the people I am surrounded with 70% of the time are hard working citizens. Rent is expensive for a two bedroom apartment. $800.00 a month that only includes water, sewer and trash. But I guess everyone has the need to be able to get by whether it be with a lot or with very little.
Harrisburg’s Mayor Stephen Reed has no reason to treat people differently although he is white. He has no reason to throw prejudice at someone just because he is white, and others are black or are Muslim. Otherwise, our homosexual major would be a total hypocrite. Yes, Mayor Reed is gay. Everyone in central Pennsylvania knows it. No one has to document it because Mayor Reed is openly gay. He has been the mayor of Harrisburg, dominating both Republican and Democratic candidates, since 1982 (Biography) which was 5 years before I was born! Already, close to his 25 year mark of being mayor, he has been Harrisburg’s longest running mayor and the longest running mayor of all Pennsylvania cities (Biography). A homosexual mayor has no time or place to treat anyone with in the community differently than how he would like to be treated and accepted. He is a minority too if one thinks about it.
On the other hand, the “normal” people (which I think includes straights and the large numbers of races which would be blacks and whites) of the community and city I live in are so much different than our mayor. They hate, are prejudice and are non-accepting of other religions. There is a Middle Eastern man who wears a head wrap, who owns a convenient store around the corner from where I work. I was sitting in my car a while ago getting ready to leave with my window rolled down and had seen two young black males come out of the place and heard them start being prejudice toward him and making fun of how he looked and dressed. I just started thinking about how people can be so prejudice to minority groups. How these two kids can consider themselves a minority group and say it hurts when they are hated upon for their skin color, but then be total frauds and do the same thing to someone else; Whether the owner knew it or not.
Within my work place, we have very few minorities. Most of the very small number within the minority category being mechanics that work on the cars and ones that clean sold vehicles. We have one black salesman, one Middle Eastern salesman, and one Spanish saleswoman who actually interact daily with customers. They are three of the longest employed workers at Sutliff Chevrolet. All employees are treated with respect and the company is an equal opportunity employer (EOE). The work guide we have does address what will happen if a racial slur is said, prejudice is recognized, or hatred is seen. The company will not stand for anything of the sort so someone who shows any discrimination against a co-worker or customer of any color or ethnicity will be fired immediately. They do not care if it is a black employee saying the nasty remarks towards a white employee; Everything is equal.
Our local news stations are mostly comprised of white people, although there is a black woman who is a news anchor. The meteorologists are all white and there are a couple of moving news reporters who are Asian. They are all hard working people who represent Harrisburg and the surrounding areas proudly. They have all been doing their job for as long as I can remember.
Down on Front Street in my capital, tourists and residents alike always have marked on their calendars when the Annual Kipona Festival is happening. Along with the Gay Pride Parade/Festival which is actually happening today from 10-7, the Annual PSECU Art Festival, Annual Jazz Festival, the American MusicFest, 4th of July fireworks, Black History celebrations, Jubilee Day are all big parts of how to bring my community and the city I live in closer to being united and more understanding and accepting of others views. I think a lot of minority groups are able to be recognized by all of these events that have been happening for years and years and most likely for years to come. I think because Mayor Reed is homosexual and a minority in others eyes, it tends for less prejudice and hatred from others in leadership positions that work beside him and see that he is just as capable of being successful as any minority; Even if he does live by a different lifestyle.
With how much minority groups are celebrated and noted with in my community, I would think that whites are the group who are most discriminated against. Whites have no festival to proclaim their defeat of struggles through history that we have overcame. We have no museum dedicated to us either. No history in Harrisburg is shown about whites coming to America, the first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans, our struggle through the Great Depression, the invention of the light bulb or electricity. Maybe the only thing whites do have within Pennsylvania itself is the Renaissance Faire which has black actors and actresses being involved also. Its not that I have a problem with that but if I did, you better believe I would be racist. In Harrisburg in year 2000, only 31.7% of the population of the city was white while 54.8% was black (U.S. Census). So does that look as though whites are the majority group within my community? I think the numbers tell otherwise, no?
In the end, all races are discriminated against in my opinion. Not one race can say that they do not discriminate or they are not prejudice towards someone of a different skin color, religion or ethnicity. Not one person can say that they do not see in color. We are all tainted because of gangs, ancestors and location. Some races will continue to think that they are better or worse than other races and some will and can start the beginning of an era where prejudice and discrimination is no longer feared. When that will happen, nobody knows.
Sources Cited
Biography of Mayor Stephen R. Reed. Retrieved July 28, 2007 from http://www.harrisburgpa.gov/government/electedOfficials/mayorsOffice/reedBio.html
Southern Poverty Law Center. Active U.S. Hate Groups in 2006. Pennsylvania. Received July 29, 2007 from http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/index.jsp?S=PA&m=5
