Diversity in the United States of AmericaEssay Preview: Diversity in the United States of AmericaReport this essayToday in the United States of America, we are made up of many different people who come in many different shapes, sizes, colors and ethnic backgrounds. The U.S. is considered to be one big melting pot, a very diverse nation. In many communities, neighborhoods, local governments, service groups, clubs, schools, workplaces and even environments around the world have many people that are influenced by race. Some racial influence can be good, while most racial influences are bad. I have always been around diversity my entire life, whether its from Queens New York City, where I grew up and completed all 12 grades in school or in the military where I spent the last 11 years of my life working for the United States Air Force. In a short time after joining the U.S. military I have had the privilege to traveling all over the world, and luckily I have never been confined to just being around my own race, I have always accepted and respected every race and nationality even when the feeling was not reciprocated.
As a young child growing up in Queens NY, I have seen many things that I am not particularly proud of. Racism has plagued this country for centuries and still exists to this day. Many members of my community looked like me, an African American because of the brown skin, but many were different. There were Haitians, Jamaicans and Trinidadians in Queens NY among others, all looking the same but many having different traditions and different backgrounds. In New York at times those who didnt look like an African American, mostly Caucasians were racially attack and ridiculed as some sort of pay back for our past African American history. In my community there are mixtures of different cultures and races. Now that I an adult and understand it gives me the opportunity to observe first hand many of the differences that exist between each individual race. I believe every community consists of people who are of the same race but who look and act differently. The ways that I have seen we are alike are the fact that most of the African American men in my community all seem to be family men who work and provide support for their families. Even though there are many different races in my community we all get along fairly well. No one treats anyone any different than they would the next person. I live in a neighborhood now where everyone is pretty close and have lived there for 20 years or more. My family is probably one of the newest to our neighborhood now but we were welcomed with open arms and have not been given any preferential or differential treatment then our other neighbors. Even though we are treated the same as everyone else within my small confined neighborhood, my community as a whole is much larger and greater issues exist.
From past experience I do notice that there is a difference in the way law enforcement in my community treats African Americans. From my opinion they seem to be targeted and harassed more. Growing up in my community in New York there was always an obvious difference in treatment towards African Americans and the other races that resided in my community. This negative treatment has helped mold and shape my views and attitude toward law enforcement even in my present. Throughout my early education I noticed that my race was always misrepresented in my text books and curriculums. My teachers would touch on different aspects of my African American culture, but it was very brief and limited. We would possibly touch
on a particular topic, but never really discuss it with one’s children. The school I attended in my neighborhood in East Hampton was segregated and was seen as “racist” based on a lack of understanding of racial differences. This was very upsetting to me and I began to get upset. I read some online and looked at Facebook comments and started to question my feelings as to why some people treated me differently instead of respecting my differentness. My parents and I both felt that we were being treated unfairly when we are only referred to as African American and I wanted to protect my feelings that were not being reflected within our public school system. This is where I first started to see how it would affect me, so I started a Change.org petition to try and change the perception of how my community treats law enforcement and other law enforcement organizations. One such movement has already taken place in my neighborhood, the Black Lives Matter Movement. This is not an actual or a political movement, but they are still organizing this day in and day out to change the perception of the police. They are protesting violence, racial injustice and bias and they want to speak out for the rights of all African Americans. The only way this can happen is if the police are allowed to intimidate, hold, harass and intimidate African Americans and treat them like criminal aliens. They have already done so in the city of Newark, NJ, where they attempted to hold two peaceful black community conferences for fear of getting arrested and the mayor of Newark responded to the protests with a violent outburst. The black community has already begun using social justice movements to speak up for themselves, to express their ideas so they can be held accountable for the actions of their police force. This will put black law enforcement and political leaders more in position to make this happen. It is not just people like me who are taking up the cause with them. The people who oppose us right now are not on the same side as the police officers. And they are not only doing what they are supposed to do, they are using the police’s tactics to push back against us and to prevent us from being allowed to speak. They have a plan to force them to get to the point where civil rights for all African Americans is a question of principle and not of mere semantics. The police brutality that has been happening in my community is absolutely unacceptable. The state has failed us and has failed our children. There are no good laws we can enforce. Police brutality is real and it goes untreated. It cannot be tolerated. Let’s not take it so seriously. This is a movement that is going to have the effect we need on the media, the courts, and our own public school system and I see evidence that those efforts that we are starting we are going to face that. One word that I would say to the families of