INFLUENCE OF RACE ON COMMUNITY

Influence of Race on Community



Influence of Race on Community

Introduction

America is a nation of immigrants, with a population composed of a wide diversity of people with different ethnic, racial, and national backgrounds. Some groups have been in this country for centuries, while others have lived in the United States for only two or three generations, and some groups have just recently arrived. Many came voluntarily; others came by force. Even for those who have lived in the United States for many generations, country of origin and ethnic background remain important sources of identity. In this paper, I discuss the influence of race on community in a concise way.

Discussion

Let's me first introduce myself. I am a 34 year-old married African American female with 2 children. I was born and raised in Detroit, Mich. I relocated to Memphis, TN in Jan 2007. I am employed as an Admission Coordinator for a Substance Abuse Treatment Center. I will share my few experiences regarding the race and its influence on community.

My daily life includes a lot of people that belong to all kinds of cultures. At my work place there are all kinds of different cultures in my workplace. There are Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese, and Whites (Caucasians). I work well with each ethnic group. When I first started working there I did not talk right away. I just kind of observed my surroundings and the people that were there. The Native Americans kind of secluded themselves away from the other cultures. They stayed to themselves, and kept a conversation amongst each other. I think that was due to the fact they spoke a different language from the rest of the group (employees) (Hawkins, et al, 2003). An ethnis issue that occurs at work often is the fact all these groups of different backgrounds didn't understand one another. There were some Natives that did not speak English at all, so there was a manager that was a Native American (who spoke English) who translated information back and forth. This however became a problem to the African Americans there. When one of the Natives got upset they would speak in their language where the other ethnic group did not understand them. I did not get mad because that is just how they are (Hawkins, et al, 2003).

The Native Americans are really good employees. You can count on them to get their job done. They come to work for one thing and leave when they are off. Now what does upset me is the fact that I do not understand why the McDonalds manager always have the Native Americans working in the back making the food. They should be able to do all other kinds of positions there like everyone else. Once you open up to the Native Americans, you will find that they are actually really friendly and good people to be around. They are more responsible with their job then any other race in ...