There are many communities that I can identify with, however, the two communities I identify most with are the African American community and the Christian community.
The first community I identify most with is pretty obvious, which is the African American community. I have grown up and lived my entire life thus far in the South where I always lived in areas that contained a large amount of African Americans. Growing up my parents would always tell me not to forget where I come from and to this day my mom and grandmother always tell me stories about what it like growing up being black.
Even today in the year 2015 when we as a country have supposedly come so far there is still a lot of stereotypes, discrimination, and racism that goes on. Growing up I have heard so many stereotypes about black people such as “black people are ghetto”, “black people are unattractive”, “black people hair can’t grow” and so many more. All these stereotypes are negative, not one is positive or makes black people feel good about themselves or in many cases just simply are not true.
When African Americans are portrayed on TV, what do you see? A rapper? An athlete? That’s about it. Being black you have to work twice as hard just to prove yourself and showcase your capabilities. Although I’ve never really experienced discrimination like others have or like the people you watch in the news, there are a few things people assume about me just because I’m black.
The other community I have chosen to discuss is the Christian community. Growing up, my family went to church every Sunday and my sister and I would attend Sunday School. This community is close to me because it’s something I became apart of as a kid. The Christian community and I share similar beliefs and there is one person that we all find most important to us and holds close to our hearts, and that person is God. We believe in growing your relationship with God and striving to be the best Christian that you can possibly be. These people that you see in the church or maybe outside the church becomes family. They will always be there for you along with God.
So when asked which two communities I identify most with I would have to say the African American community and the Christian community.
I agree that there is still discrimination that goes on anywhere you go, and I can also relate to it a little, being Hispanic. I, on the other hand, don’t really care what people say about my race, like I’ve been called Mexican because I am from the Valley but I’m not Mexican at all. People even try to talk to me in Spanish because they assume that’s my first language and I can’t help but laugh because I have no idea what they are saying, ha! But yeah, people are going to assume so much about someone just because of their physical features forever.