There are many stumbling blocks in the path of young minority men and women growing up these days. The lack of teamwork between our races and cultures, involvement in the community and country alike, and the lack of education are only a few of the many conflicts in our communities. In the community that I have spent the majority of my youth in, African Americans and Hispanics do not mix. It is comparable to the **** and water scenario. Whether it being birthday parties, graduation parties, or even pickup basketball games very few mix in together without creating an ongoing problem. From my perspective these problems stem from a much greater evil than the typical media classifications of my town such as “**** minorities” and “local thugs.” When I first moved to this city it was well mixed with African Americans and Hispanics and we all got along fine. However, as the city began its expensive and ill-advised makeover we as the minorities are suffering. In attempts to rid the city of minorities and low income strugglers our mayor has engaged in building housing that we just can not afford, she’s raising the city taxes to support these condos, and she neglects to help out the so-called “ghetto” area of our city. This creates the type of problems she says that her luxury housing is negating. By using the tax dollars to pay for things that we as a community can not use it discourages our people. Despite our lack of voting, we tend to stay very in tune with our communities changes. These discouraging acts force young people to endure the pain and fear of being homeless due to the lack of help with all of the rising costs. With their backs against the wall they feel the only way to get ahead is to beat the system by working and not paying taxes. This is done in many forms such as under the table jobs, drug dealing, illegal arms dealing, and even robberies. The only way for us to correct these problems are to voice our opinions and put our representation in office to be our voice and eyes in congress. If we can encourage one community at a time to do this we can eventually come to terms and have fair and proper representation in our city, state, and federal governments. The African American and Hispanic cultures are very similar. Despite the food differences our pass times tend to have quite a lot in common. Hispanic cultures engage in many types of dancing such as Salsa, Meringue, Bachata, and the Cha Cha. Though our dancing styles are different it is very apparent that the African American culture enjoys dancing as well. The Harlem Shake, Heel-toe, Two Stepping, and the intricacies of Hip-Hop dancing prove the point very well. Besides the pass times, in many of the urban areas in the country we also grow up under very similar environments. Many of us are from struggling single-parent homes and have to metaphorically fight for everything that we have. Everything comes at a high price and we have to come to terms with that. With the everyday struggles of a single-parent family comes the sense of insecurity. If we have so much in common culturally and personally then why do we have so many crimes against each other? One reason and one reason alone, anger with the world. When you give an animal the bare minimums and don’t socialize with it, and you put another animal in the same room that has been under the same conditions they are going to fight. That is the way society has twisted these two races. We aren’t born with the malice towards each other; society has positioned low income families with this burden. Unfortunately, we, as African Americans and Hispanics, just get the enhanced media attention. In my opinion the best way to combat the adversity between our cultures is to better the overall community. It all starts with voicing your opinion. And in order to do that you must have proper government representation. In order to keep African Americans and Hispanic enrolled in Historically Black Colleges & Universities they must first graduate high school. When I was in middle school I rarely heard anything about college or college requirements. I also wasn’t properly prepared for high school and struggled a bit my freshman year. My freshman class was the largest class to grace WoonsocketHigh School at that present time. 845 freshmen entered with me, however, when it came time to graduate only 321 did so. Out of the other 524 only 85 of them graduated in the next two years and the 439 remaining were either drop outs or still lower classmen after that two year span. HBCU is a great utility to high school students, however, if they had more resources available to the middle school students or made middle school students aware of conventions for HBCU, they would be more educated on the long term effects of a proper education. Supporting the African American and Hispanic needs is one of the many steps that has been taken by few, including the HBCU, and should be embraced by many. To reverse the negative image of these two cultures support and proper education has to start from home and end with the schools and governments. The reason that these two races suffer so much from these kinds of boundaries is lack of confidence in their surroundings. They need people to show that they want to help us out. We are also accountable; we have to show that we want to be helped and embrace the help rather than fight it. Hispanics and African Americans want to achieve the same goal, to survive and make a life for their families while feeling like they are some one in the world. However, their constant struggles keep them mad at the world. With proper representation in the overall governments, teamwork between our cultures, and education on college requirements at an earlier age we can all come together under the peace of mind that things will be alright tomorrow.
