THE INFLUENCES OF RACE TO MY COMMUNITY

The Influences of Race to My Community

The Influences of Race to My Community

Introduction

For the past 10 years I have lived in a small West Texas Town known as O'Donnell, TX, with a population of 974. O'Donnell is located in Lynn County about 42.5 miles South of Lubbock Texas. According to IDcide Information website (www.idcide.com/citydata/tx/odonnell.htm), through the 90's O'Donnell's population declined by about 8% and it is estimated that in the first five years of 2000 the population has declined another 4%.

Autobiographical Research: The Influences of Race as it relates to your Community

According to City-Data website (www.city-data.com/city/O-Donnell-Texas.html), the population by Race in O'Donnell is substantially different from that of the new community my family now resides in. 65.3% being Hispanic, 33.2% being Caucasian, and an even smaller percentage being African American or other. As you can see the racial diversity was primarily Caucasian and Hispanic, we had one African American family and one Hawaiian Family living in our small community.

Ten months ago, due to a plant closure, our family was forced to relocate to the South West Houston area, Missouri City, Texas. Missouri City has a population of 69,941 and is located about 14.5 miles SW of Houston. In the 1990's Missouri City's population grew 46% and 32% more during the first five years of 2000. Missouri City has a very different racial makeup consisting of 44% Caucasian, 38% African American, 11% Asian and only 7% other (Hispanic). Because we are so new to Missouri City and the fact that we will always consider O'Donnell home I am going to do my autobiographical research paper on the influences of race as it relates to my community of O'Donnell.

Many members of O'Donnell do look like in me in that so many are white however we still have so many differences. Several people dress similar and act similar; many are very active in the community and the school. Coming from a small town everyone knows everyone else; we all know each others children and come together as a big family. Some differences would be based on financial status and possessions. As with any community there are some who are more fortunate than others, regardless we came together and supported each other.

Leaders within the community treated everyone with the same respect. Someone who might be treated differently would be an outsider or a trouble maker. Outsiders were not necessarily ...