Race and Your Community Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Race and Your Community - Personal Statement Example Admittedly, my community, that is Dallas, is notorious for the existence of racism. It seems that the issue of racism is much higher in this city because of the special nature of the demography here. In this area, all the racial groups are almost equal in size. According to the 2000 statistics, Hispanics are the largest group which constitutes nearly 35.55 % of the population followed by 34.56 percent whites. The presence of blacks is estimated at nearly 25.65%. Asians and other races are the minority, which together contribute less than 5% of the total population. Evidently, this mix of population has a specific role in amplifying racial issues. Due to the almost equal proportion of various groups, both politicians and media are eager to utilize racism as a tool for campaign and publicity. In fact, my neighborhood too is a mix of a variety of races, and the difference is visible in the look of people too. There are people who are black in complexion, some who are rather brown in complexion, and there are whites. The fact is that my society is more mixed than many other cities in the US. The difference is visible in communication too. For example the Hispanics, the Whites, and the Asians are easily distinguished for the way they use language. I have come to know that people like the Asians who first reach the place face serious problems communicating, and this situation leads to poor access to vital social services like medicine and other governmental grants. Admittedly, the leaders within my community are highly aware about the situation, and often, it seems as if they intentionally try to use the matter for easy public attention. Though most people and leaders try to avoid hurting other people by avoiding racial comments, some just make the comments publically. An exa mple is the recent statement made by a Dallas County commissioner to an attorney that â€Å"All of you are white. You can go to hell† (Piggy, 2011). The commissioner claims that he got angry because he found the statement of the attorney racial in nature. Though there are allegations of racism every now and then, from my observation, it seems that the leaders try to avoid any racial discrimination in their dealings. And most of the time, the term ‘racism’ does not arise in public offices and services. However, when there are issues involving people from two different races, the first allegation is racial profiling or racial discrimination. When a black child is punished by a white teacher, the situation is often given the color of racism. Similarly, when a black youth is arrested for drug or looting, the media shows the tendency to present the situation in the light of racism. The frequently made claim by the media is that, or what they try to make people believe is that, blacks are antisocial creatures who live on violence, theft and drugs. Another area where racism is highly visible is peer groups. Admittedly, the youth prefer to remain within groups of their own race. Within such groups, often comments of racial content take birth, and most of the time, it seems that such groups are behind racial attacks and abuses. I feel that the youth, if alone, will not resort to such activities of racism. As White and Perrone (2001) point out, it is the collective identity and the feeling of security within the group that makes them engage in such rare activities of racism. Though it is not always so, there are many whites who prefer to remain within white groups and blacks who prefer to be with blacks, and the main reason behind this situation is not hatred, but fear of getting maltreated by the other that is injected by the society and the media. Thus, though the administration cries ‘no racism’, there is racism in the air, and everyt hing in the society is first analyzed in the light of racism. A catalyst of racism, as already said, is media. It seems to me that media is bent on crating stereotypes and formulas in the social relations. As Rickford (2011) states, while