Cultural Diversity in My Community

Cultural Diversity in My Community

Cindy Kirkland

Cultural Diversity

February 18, 2007

Chino a community being so diverse, there is not enough cultural awareness. Leaders in the community treat people friendly, because they either know them already or read their personalities. In a diverse community, it is essential that the members of that community be aware of other members in the community. Knowledge is power and people can learn a lot by just paying attention to the actions of others. To strengthen the community, cultural awareness is the key factor to improve the whole community. If everyone were to on an individual basis strive to improve cultural awareness, then a cultural diverse community will follow.

Chino? Where is that, is the question I usually receive upon stating the city which I reside in, I say "it's next to Pomona", and that is followed by an ohhhhh. I have lived in Chino, California for thirteen years now, a community I am familiar with, I attended four of the schools in the area, and seen it industrialize over the years. At my house we know when our usual mail carrier is on vacation, my elementary D.A.R.E. officer still waves to me when we see each other, the cashier at Stater Bros knows our family, the mall is where I held my first job, and I still hang out with my friends that I met 13 years ago. There is not a week that goes by without there being pro-life protesters praying in front of the free clinic, and the only time there is no one skating at the skate park is because of the weather conditions. I know at which hours I should avoid driving anywhere near the schools when school lets out, and I can go back to my elementary, junior high, and high school teachers and they know me and my parents. I know the area like the back of my hand, from where my high school soccer coach lives to where the sale of narcotics is happening, I know and am involved in my community. The library, city hall, police station, post office, and park are all located a whole .5 whopping miles away from my house; it is not that the city is extremely tiny; it is more that I am located right in the middle. When readings the article this statement made me thankful for my Neighborhood, "The results indicate that weak neighborhood social organization is indirectly related to delinquency through its associations with parenting behavior and peer deviance and that a focus on just 1 of these Microsystems can lead to oversimplified models of risk for juvenile offending" (Chung L. H. 2006). My neighbor hood is extremely close everyone is always looking out for each other. An example is a neighbor down the street had a halfway house, within a week the family with four young children living right next to the halfway house went door to door to inform the block and ask for signatures to petition against the halfway house. My block is a diverse collection of individuals, a lesbian couple, a middle-aged Caucasian man with two Asian roommates, a single father with two children, a Hispanic family, a Caucasian couple who house the streets stray cats, and my biracial family; that is just my surrounding neighbors, there is a whole block of different cultural households which are important. The mayor himself had this to say, "In the City of Chino, people are our most important resource, hence our motto, "The People Are the City" we welcome the involvement and commitment that produces a greater quality of life with citizens and city government working in partnership" (Mayor Paul M. Eaton 2007), like he said people are the most important thing, making their culture most important being that is what makes them who they are. In my community with it being so diverse, there is not enough cultural awareness. A community with diversity should have individuals that show awareness of other cultures, because if the community does not bother to grasp the concepts while they are happening during their lives then there is no real benefit of diversity.

The community is quite diverse with Hispanic being the dominating ethnicity, with African American and Asian being the two ethnicities making up the communities ethnic pie chart, Caucasian along with other ethnicities make up a very small percentage of that chart. I think that is why I feel that it is no longer races such as Hispanic, African American, and Asian that should be considered a minority, Caucasian in my community seems to be the minority and with individuals like myself, biracial and multiracial ethnic backgrounds. I read back on that thought and feel that in some other area I am not familiar with, that thought makes no sense at all, but in my community, it fits. A nice way to think about it "Indicative of the changing landscape, biracial and multiracial children present us with new definitions of identity emerging through a process of racial formation, reminding us that race is socially constructed" (Schaefer, R., 2006, Pg 29). Members of my community do look alike, dependent on where you go, for instance, my mother goes to our local store and while waiting for the butcher the odds she will have a conversation with the person next to her, this person if female Hispanic, short, short dark hair, and similar in body type is 7 out of 10 times. My female friends and I are 5'5" at the tallest, dark hair, brown eyes. We are surprised when we see a female 5'7" or taller, blonde hair, blue eyes, and usually think she is not from around here. The same for the males, 5'7" but never taller than 5'10", dark hair, brown eyes, and oddly enough they seem to all have similar hairstyles. To be honest it seems that in most situations where a minority would be looked down upon by Caucasians, it is the complete opposite, within my group of friends if we see a Caucasian girl or guy, depending on their dress style is the label we associate them with. Labels such as Bro, Bro Hoe, Preppy, and Airhead with rich parents, Bro appeals to the guys who drive raised trucks and wear black socks pulled up, Bro Hoe appeals to over bleached hair and wearing the thong hanging out with their girls tee version of the Bros, and I think Preppy and Airhead are common stereotypes. Leaders with our community treat people that are like me friendly, because they either know us already or read our personalities. If the leaders treat people differently, it would be because their personality or reaction to something they did. Other members of the community treat