For most of our lives we have encountered racism in one form or another. One would think that after all this time we could have learned to be open-minded and lived with each other regardless of our cultural differences. Even though many different cultures, religions, and ethnicities have lived together for so long racism is still a factor. I believe it is time for an opened-minded approach to cultural diversity, when this is accomplished our society will accept all ethnicities without prejudice. I believe to overcome prejudice and racism the people and communities must take responsibility in educating themselves. Can this goal be reached, if so how? I believe if this issue became a priority the goal is a possibility; to achieve this goal will be extremely difficult, and must be addressed one person at a time. I live in Brooklyn, New York and I am lucky to have grown up in an area that has many different ethnicities and cultures. I also believe I am lucky to have been brought up in a family who has been able to see past a person’s color, nationality, or religious beliefs. New York is clearly is one of the most diverse cities in the world. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2009), New York holds a population of almost nine million people; Brooklyn has a population of nearly 2.5 million people. Brooklyn’s culturally diverse population consists of 43.7% Whites, 38.1% African Americans, and 8.4% Asian Americans.
In my community which is very diverse, prejudices still exist. Although the prejudices might not be as blatant, there are a few cultures and ethnic groups that tend to surround themselves with members of their own group. Most of the Catholics and Jews send their children to Catholic schools or Yeshivas; the reason being they are safeguarding the values and beliefs of their religions. Up until recently we have had have unofficial segregated neighborhoods; that are African American neighborhoods, White Neighborhoods, Asian Neighborhoods and Hispanic neighborhoods. There was much prejudice and territorialism in these areas, and can be unsafe for people in these neighborhoods if not a member of the neighborhood group. In recent years there have been a high number of Asian Americans who have moved into these areas and some have secluded themselves and do not travel far from their neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, community leaders have biases. These community leaders are given the task of decision-making daily. Although it is important to have one’s own community in your best interests, I believe when making decisions it is important to consider how they will affect other communities and other races outside of the area and how they will affect other individuals who come into the community. When making their decisions all these factors should be considered to avoid any safety issues or prejudices that might arise.
An example of prejudice in my community is a neighborhood called Borough Park. This area is known to have a high concentration of Hasidic, Orthodox, and Ashkenazi Jews but in recent years there have been a small number of Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans moving in to that area. This community is known to be very close-knit; community leaders, police precincts, even their own private ambulance company are known to prioritize this area. I believe that this promotes prejudice among other communities and rightfully so. If an incident occurs in Borough Park it quickly becomes big news and is taken very seriously, most times more seriously than it would have been taken in other areas, which I do not believe is right.
In addition to being raised not to judge people from different races and cultures, I am lucky to work in the place which I do. I work at a large medical center in my area and we have a very diverse staff and the largest volunteer department in the United States. It is beautiful to see the way all these people work together, no one judges the other on the color of their skin, where they are from or what they believe in. In fact, on many occasions you will hear people from different backgrounds discussing their culture and realizing how many things we each have in common. My boss, Douglas Jablon, Vice President of Patient Relations and Community Affairs prides himself on the fact that our medical center has overcome prejudices and the perceptions of other communities and their people. According to Jablon, D (personal communication, November 8, 2009), he, along with the President of the medical center, are responsible for effecting the change in the perception of the community regarding our hospital. Douglas Jablon is responsible for setting up health information symposiums in other communities, some tailored to specific diseases and conditions that affect particular races. Currently, we have such a diverse patient base that we are implementing a language assistance program that will offer over 20 languages and translation provided by employees of the medical center. In my opinion we need more people willing to extend their hand to people different from ourselves in an effort to unite us all whether the cause be health care or the many other reasons we should all work together.
On a personal note, I work with a Pilipino nurse who stated that all the Russian immigrants should be deported. I responded in a condescending tone stating, “When we are done with the Russians we will then deport the Pilipino immigrants,” she laughed. If we deport one group why not deport all groups, we are all from groups which immigrated into the U.S. Before making decisions either personal or professional, people’s first instinct is a “gut” reaction, which is a result of a person’s personal values. We each have unique upbringings and are groomed with different cultural beliefs, which make our personal values different. These personal “heuristics” are instinctive for quick decision-making. The issues that can derive when using personal values often can cause a person to impose his/her personal values on all surrounding issues. The culturally diverse people in my community are evident; New York City is called “The Melting Pot” for obvious reasons, there are group members from all over the world that come to New York. Being in a society with such diversity it would be assumed that a respect and a strong understanding of these different groups would be shared. With the abundance of experience of the many culturally diverse groups, it seems that many groups still have not been able to escape the labels and prejudices that hunt them. I believe that in order for our mentality to change, and by “our” I mean anyone who has a prejudice or anyone who has stereotyped, we need to educate ourselves on our differences. Instead of noticing the obvious of what separates us we should be learning about the many things we have in common. I believe by bridging that gap we can lose most of the racial inequities in my community.
Our text supports the notion that prejudice and racism affect society in many ways. It is the opinion of a few that people can be separated into groups according to skin tone and physical appearances. Racism is the idea that one group believes it is superior to the other groups. Racism has and continues to cause needless suffering to those exposed. Each generation that passes has had a different or unique way of inflicting their form of racism. Racism has divided human beings according to race, skin tone, religious affiliation, cultural beliefs and traditions.
There is an importance of recognizing that individuals have unique views or values; and should not influence, or be influenced by others. A large influential outlet on how people view each other is the media. Local and National media play a large part in how we see each other. Almost every story has to do with race or ethnicity, even to the extent of victims pointing fingers at certain groups whether they were involved or not. According to Bowdoin University (2002), “As Americans, we rely on news media to give us information and to frame our viewpoints about our everyday lives.” About a year ago, there was a rapist attacking women in my area and it received a large amount of media coverage, both locally and on the evening news. Most of the women interviewed had stated that the attacker was an African American or Hispanic male. The attacks continued for quite some time and it turned out that the attacker was white; he was a man posing to be of the Jewish faith and was asking for rides from women who were driving alone. Once the information was released that the attacker was white, it was no longer on the news, we do not know if he were caught or if he is still on the loose. Speaking about race in America is difficult and even news articles about race don't always deal with the issue in a straightforward manner.
In conclusion, to achieve harmony in our society it should be recognized that the needs of these different groups must be addressed. In educating ourselves about the different groups we share our communities with the possibility of reducing racism in future generations is a possibility. Looking into some of the stereotypes that have influenced me, surprisingly the incident with the Pilipino nurse has exposed these views; that I have never actually addressed. This situation has forced me to realize that there are individuals which have judged me solely because of my ethnicity. It is my opinion that, each of us have had the unfortunate experience of be stereotyped and judged for these reasons; and not our actions. If we all approached people as individuals and not as an entire group it is likely that a cultural diverse community can be an interesting and educational place; that we can all enjoy and appreciate.

References
U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). American Fact Finder. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPeople?_event=&geo_id=06000US3604710022&_geoContext=01000US|04000US36|05000US36047|06000US3604710022&_street=&_county=brooklyn&_cityTown=brooklyn&_state=04000US36&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=060&_submenuId=people_10&ds_name=null&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=
Bowdoin University. (2002). The News Media and Race: How Accurate is Coverage?. Retrieved from http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/001188.shtml
Improving Race Relations: What Have We Learned in the Past 15 Years?. (2006). Pat Brown Institute of Public Relations, (5), . Retrieved from http://www.patbrowninstitute.org/documents/educationprograms/NovemberWhitePaper.pdf