Personal Narrative: Being A Racial Minority In America

Growing up as an african american male it was hard to identify my character throughout my educational career. At a very young age my dad alway wanted me to succeed in life, but in the back of my mind I always thought “ Am I really cut out to becoming successful”. I grew up in a culturally diverse suburban area. Growing up in the suburban area I made unbreakable bonds that will forever exist.

All throughout time people have been “the other.” Pratt refers to the other as being “Someone who is perceived by the dominant culture as not belonging, as they have been

Truth to be told: I don’t particularly pay attention to national events or issues. My family is also incapable of comprehending national issues, especially my parents who do not have any level of proficiency in English. My family lives in a world where we go with the flow, but there are issues that I contemplate whether or not I should be involved in, particularly race inequality. Considering the amount of tension between policemen and African-American around the nation, the race to equal treatment is still ongoing.

Too black for the White kids, yet somehow too white for the Black kids, oh the perils of a cappuccino mixed race kid. But it’s true. My life since I was young, at least younger than my eighteen year old self, has been about which group do I most fit in with. Between the four school changes over the course of twelve years, all in white suburban towns I’ve molded myself into an array of characters.

This is one of the most painful subjects for me as a part Hispanic and part African-American. When I relocated to the United States in 1988, I was not prepared for what I experienced concerning racism in America. The racist and ignorant comments made by Hispanics towards and about African American and the racist and ignorant comments made by African Americans towards and about Hispanics were disturbing and offensive to say the least. And each and every time I stood up for my Hispanic roots and my African-American roots. Added to that, the issue of “dark skin and light skin within the African-American community. First time, I heard the term “high yellow ______” was when an African-American woman used that term about me. I didn’t even know what

I never once experienced a blatant, explicit attempt to expose my minority status in the Bronx. The incident that I had on the court never escalated because of what any of those guys explicitly said. There was never a verbal attempt to make me feel marginalized. I lived in the Bronx for about one year, and I can honestly say that outside of my culture shock I never experienced any explicit impact from my symbolic markers. However, I implicitly felt as though I was at least seen differently on a day-to-day basis because of my physical characteristics and first language. I often felt awkward on the subway train after 86th street, especially after hearing of the well-known stereotype that I mentioned earlier. I had heard my friends who are people of color from Ann Arbor explain their sentiments of how it felt to be the only person of color in a room, and the implications that often come along with that, such as feeling alone and everyone expecting that person to speak

Living in Chicago in the 21st century is not a necessarily easy thing. Everyday, I live with the fear that a loved one of mines could be taken away from me at any moment. Or the fact that my life could be taken away just from walking out of my front door. I dream of going to college and making something of myself. Often, other students tell me I can not achieve my dreams because I am an African American student. I pushed and struggle so hard to prove these students wrong. Because I am African American, many people view me as just a number. And that number is 33.1%; which is the college graduation rate for Black males. I would like to be one of the many people that will increase this percent. Recently, I was given the opportunity to take part

It all began in the year 1955. This was the year that so many great things shook the foundation of America that will never be forgotten for years and years to come. My name is Joyce Norman I was a military brat that was born and raised in the small town of Fayetteville, North Carolina along with one brother and four sisters. To show a little humor, this is another place like Texas that has bipolar weather from sunny skies with a hint of rain to a giant blizzard that’ll give you a death of pneumonia. Throughout, the years of my life as an African American we heard songs of change, we were insured and inspired in church that change would come some way or another either in the community or in our nation. As the world continued to change I

My diversity project desribes me in many ways, some ways you already know about me some you don't. The outside of the folder repersents things that you may already know about me, the first image is of my name everyone knows my name becuase that is how you have conversation with me and get my attention. The second image is of a musician becuase I love music, it's a vey important part of my life , it makes me feel better when im upset and helps me clear my head. The third image shows a person running, this image repesents me because i'm a very active person, and i do my best to stay healthy and keep in shape. The fourth image is of the number 21, which represents my age. And the final photo is of the color black is represents my favortie color.

I'm not going to call myself a product junkie, but I do love trying out new products. After all, how would you know if you're going to love something if you don't try it? That's just my philosophy and one that I use with everything. I always say "I'm willing to try anything at least one time". When it comes to hair care products however, I'm really picky in what I put in our hair. Being African-American or Caribbean-American as I like to say, it's an entire different ballgame. As you may or may not know, we all have different hair textures throughout our entire head, and even my own kids, their hair are as different as night and day. Kyle my oldest son has the curliest hair of the bunch, with his curls being a lot looser which Mikael has the tightest curls you'll ever see. Kristal's curls aren't as loose as Kyle's but they're

When I think of America, I think of one sole word: determination. Our history is a medley of spectacular accomplishments and now-realized mistakes. We’ve struggled with issues that appear to be simple, yet the effects of past hardships can still be felt today. For example, we thought we had ended racism by making African-Americans equal under law, after the civil rights movement, but this same issue has merely developed into social discrimination. Despite the problems that remain and evolve with us through time, the most defining attribute every American has is their will-power to achieve their dreams. To many, these dreams are to end racial, gender, or sexual orientation discrimination. To many, these dreams may even be as seemingly simple

I interviewed an African American male in his 50s. This means he is in the middle adulthood stage of life. One of the biggest challenges that he faces is being black in America. He seemed to have a whole lot to say about this concept and struggle that he faces. Every day, all over the country, criminal activity is happening at a seemingly higher and higher rate. The evil that inhabits the globe can never be ended. There are few people, still, who choose to try. The police, the government, the news teams, all of these groups of people are supposedly dedicated to awareness and driven to push crime down to a minimum by alerting the people and keeping the peace. A self-governing species as they are, humans are prone to error, fallibility, and imperfection,

Imagine the news headlines filled with nothing but people like you - same hair, skin, defining features - except all the headlines are filled with death. Death at the hands of people we are all taught to trust with our safety. This is how my 2015 summer had been. Days upon days of headlines with black people being killed by “peace” officers. As the list of names grew longer, it became apparent that there was no intention to protect the black community, instead, the public was being “protected” from us. Growing up in a community of minorities, I had come to believe that there was a sense of solidarity in our struggles. I was wrong in thinking our shared status meant unity. At the core of every marginalized community, is a sense of anti-blackness. This harsh realization happened during a class discussion when everyone was throwing into my face that ultimately my feelings and thoughts did matter. I was reminded that I was an other and I stood alone in this fight for my community.

The project I have chosen for my leadership project is the East Cooper Community Outreach program. This program is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1989 to assist victims after Hurricane Hugo. East Cooper Community Outreach, also known as ECCO, offers assistance to the many people in Mount Pleasant living at the poverty level, also known as the “working poor.” ECCO is vital to the community and we will learn about this organization’s origin and the significant ways it has contributed to the residents of East Cooper.

First, I’d like to start off this question by saying when I attend Huntington University in the fall of 2016, I plan on starting and participating in a pep band for the home basketball games. As a Horizon Leader, I can offer a different perspective of any stereotypes anyone may have already made. Since I am biracial with White and African American, I am apart of extremely different cultures in my everyday life. As a Horizon Leader I can inform and influence current students on the cultures I am exposed to, that they may not be. As a minority, I feel like it is my job and responsibility to be the representation of the Black community. But not only the black community, but the multiracial community as well, because being multiracial is a culture