Race In My CommunityEssay Preview: Race In My CommunityReport this essayI live in a small city called South Lake Tahoe in the state of California. The people in South Lake consider themselves locals as long as you have lived here for more than 10 years. However, locals consider our city a town. Our town is mainly a tourist town, skiers and snowboarders in the winter and campers in the summer. When somebody moves to South Lake Tahoe, it may only be for a few reasons; to be a ski bum, get out of the bay area, or family. The people that move here either make it or they do not because of financial reasons. It is very hard to make a decent living here. To say it short and simple, a person can move up here with money or they learn to live paycheck by paycheck.
I have always wondered who I should call the local people. I live in a small town called South Lake Tahoe in the state of California. The people in South Lake Tahoe consider themselves locals as long as you have lived here for more than 10 years. However, locals consider our city a town. Our town is mainly a tourist town, skiers and snowboarders in the winter and campers in the summer. When somebody moves to South Lake Tahoe, it may only be for a few reasons; to be a ski bum, get out of the bay area, or family. The people that move here either make it or they do not because of financial reasons. It is very hard to make a decent living here. To say it short and simple, a person can move up here with money or they learn to live paycheck by paycheck.
There is an “affirmative consent” law on Lake Tahoe that states,
“No person shall physically invade, interfere in, or take any reasonable steps” to access, obtain or use any items, services, or facilities in or on any private property within the City of Lake Tahoe within twenty-four (24) hours after a local law requires such access and access shall be limited to the person’s occupancy such property and shall not be permitted to continue to access any such property.”
In other words, unless you are the owner of a place to park, take a couple of days or three days off during the time you reside (assuming that I have taken my time to go inside), you don’t have a right to any of our people. Not at all. There is a law that states that you cannot use any items or services in the city if you’ve been under contract with the law for three (3) consecutive days. However, you do not have a right to use your rental property or enter into any agreement with the City of Lake Tahoe within twenty-four (24) hours after the city rules on allowing you to park. The “affirmative consent” law says,
“No person shall physically invade, interfere in, or take any reasonable steps”, to access, obtain or use any items, services, or facilities in the city within thirty (30) hours after a local law requires such access and access shall be limited to the person’s occupancy such property and shall not be permitted to continue to access any such property.”
What is the law for?
According to the “affirmative consent” law:
If a person is charged with violating the law while not under contract that contract, in exchange that person agrees to cease to cooperate with the administration of such contract and to remove all personal belongings from the property if that person has intentionally or knowingly harmed a person or entity of the same gender with intent to retaliate against that person or entity.
In this case you can go over the specific wording and
Our community is mostly Caucasians and Hispanics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000 the population of South Lake Tahoe was 31,884. In that number, 26,717 were White, 221 were African American, 274 were American Indian, 1,550 were Asian, and 6,792 were Hispanic or Latino. As you can see the majority of people in our town is White. Hispanics are the largest minority in South Lake Tahoe and their population is growing fast. With these numbers of races, our town does not need to deal with a lot of racism or discrimination.
In my community, I am part of the small percentage of Asians. To be honest, the only time I really see Asians in my community are at the Chinese and Thai restaurants. There are only a few members of my community that look like me. I have only met a handful of Koreans that live in my town over the past 11 years. The Asians of my community are nationalities such as Filipinos and some Japanese. If a person did not know the difference between Asian nationalities, they would believe I look like all the other Asians in my community. I have been mistaken many times for other Asian nationalities. To myself, I look completely different than others in my community.
Here is a little history about South Lake Tahoe. Our land belonged to the Washoe Indians; they spent their summers in Lake Tahoe and their winters in the Carson Valley. I work at a horse stables in the summer, which is sitting on top of a large Indian Burial ground. It is considered very sacred. The Washoe were eventually pushed out of the area, when wealthy families came into the area. Even to this day, American Indians are still trying to remove the discrimination to them in the Carson Valley. I do not understand why they have to deal with racism and discrimination when they were the original residents in this area. In 2004, the American Indian students of Carson Valley High were singled out just because of who they are. The American Indians were not being singled out by Caucasians, instead, they were being single out by Hispanics. The tension between the American Indians and Hispanics remains high even to this day.
Leaders within my community do not treat people like me differently. However, they do treat Hispanics differently. I believe it is the way Hispanics portray themselves in our community. Hard to believe in our small town, we still have gang fights at our one and only high school. The gang fights always include Hispanics against Hispanics. Yesterday, my neighbor who attends the high school told me that a fight broke out and between two different Hispanic groups, ending with one boy in the hospital. I asked her why are they fighting against each other and her answer was, “The Mexicans are the only race in our town to have a problem with racism and discrimination. The Whites and Asians do not have a problem with anyone in school, but the Mexicans have problems with everyone, even their own race.” My friends response was a complete surprise to me.
In March of 2006, a group of Latino teenagers demonstrated at a major intersection in town. Students from the high school and middle school marched to protest proposed immigration policies being taken up in Congress. Some of the students carried the Mexican flag and some carried the American Flag. They were showing people that not only did they support their own country; they also supported the country they live in. These children in my community had to come out in force, because many of them are illegal and their parents who are also illegal are too intimidated to apply for citizenship for their children. The childrens counselor Aaron Barnett explains, “In essence these children are without a country, not Mexican, not American.”
Here are some key points to become a citizen from Latino students at South Tahoe High School:People who have been here for more than five years, who have paid taxes, and have not broken the law.Illegals do pay taxes; they are deducted from paychecks and they also pay taxes every time they buy something.Immigrants respect America