Ethics

There is a price to be paid for living in a small, rural community.  I live in a community with a population of less than 10,000 people.  The town is up of a few small businesses, but it is nothing like a real city.  We have two gas stations, a sub shop, a library, two banks, the local sanitation company, the medical clinic, and a pharmacy.  As for larger businesses or institutions, there is only the post office, the library, and the elementary and middle schools.  Other than that, this town is pretty desolate.  Unemployment rates are soaring as many residents are finding it hard to afford the commute outside of the area, and it is difficult to obtain employment elsewhere with a very limited education.  The majority of the community is Caucasian, like me.  I have found that my community is devoid of any racial diversity or multiculturalism. This is attributed to the fact that there are only four African-American families that live here, and there is no other ethnic group to compare the majority to.  The educational system does not enforce a policy requiring the teaching of other ethnic cultures either, however in larger surrounding cities, there is curriculum for teaching multiculturalism and diversity.  My community is stuck in a time continuum that has yet to venture beyond the pre-1960s era.  I view my community as being racist by default.  In other words, the community is racist because it has not been exposed to change nor has it strived to make any changes to better itself.
   
I look like everyone else in the community insofar as being Caucasian.  There are many different hair colors and eye colors that make us different.  Other differences include the fact that some are small, tall, thin, obese, tan, and pale.  It is not uncommon to see a Caucasian man with black smudges about his face and hand as many of the men in this area work in the coal mine industry.  An outsider might view the coal miner as making some racial joke in poor taste, but honestly, it is just from work.  Coal dust and dirt are in and on much of what is around here.  The African-American families that live here are very conscious of their appearances when in public.  They are always nicely dressed, and they are very polite.  I have never witnessed any incidents of misconduct on their part, with the exception of Joe.  Joe is a 40ish, African-American, male who lives with his mother due to his long history of mental illness.  Occasionally he loses or runs out of his medications.  When Joe is off of his medication, he asserts very odd behaviors in public.  He frequents the local gas station, also called gossip-central, and holds the door open for customers and picks-up trash in the parking lot.  Unfortunately, when Joe is off of his medications, his behavior at the local gas station is irrational. He has been reported to be running around in the nude, begging customers for change to buy lottery tickets, and spitting on customers that refused to give him any change.  His behavior is not deliberate as he has a mental illness, but try convincing some of the good ole boys around here of that.
   
The leaders of this community are ego-influenced.  In other words, they have heads that have become overly inflated and are now too big for their shoulders to support (Kareem, 2010).  The leaders here have certain families and business owners that they like, and then there are those that are disliked.  The ones that are on the latter list are often harassed by the local town cops.  They get pulled over for no reason at all and are given tickets for fabrications of the truth.  This illegal behavior is overlooked as the community leaders turn a deaf ear to the citizens complaints about unfair or unjust treatments.  As for the African-American families living here, they pretty much stay to themselves.  They come into town to do banking and grocery shopping, but aside from that, they are seldom seen.
 
Everyone in the community gets along for the most part.  Considering that this is a relatively small town, there is always gossip flying around.  Many disputes and acts of assault, whether reported or not, are due to rumors.  Once a verbal or physical altercation takes place, the issues are considered dealt with, and the friendship resumes.  Members in the community that are African American do not get involved in the rumor mill.  Joe does not seem affected by the social issues among other community members, although he is often the brunt end of their jokes and topics of many conversations.
   
As it stands right now, the Caucasian race, not of Hispanic decent, is the majority.  It is difficult for me to decipher how much the topics of race and ethnicity play in the workplace.  All businesses in the community are run by members of the Caucasian race.  The African-Americans in the community work outside of the town limits in the larger cities.  Their employment consists of a teacher, a park ranger, head of security, one is disabled and retired, and the two adults are residing with their mothers due to mental issues.  The way I see it, my work is done through telecommunications.  I am provided with a wonderfully diverse group of professionals that allow me to be creative, forthright, and accepting of all co-workers despite racial connotations.  The only African-American teacher instructs students at the elementary school she has witnessed discrimination at the beginning of every school year.  Some parents, who learn of this teacher being assigned to their child for the next academic school year, will request a change in teachers merely because of her race and regardless of her qualifications.
   
The local media is accurate in reporting local, stated, and federal news to the public.  The local media also airs the most recent criminals being sought in the county.  The majority of the wanted suspects are of African-American decent.  It is rare to see a Caucasian profiled in the wanted criminal portion of the local news program.  Recently, the local news aired a story in reference to a local Caucasian man having beat another Caucasian man with a shovel.

The beating commenced with the news reporter giving the suspects name and showing a mug shop.  This is quite disturbing as even the media is showing extreme bias between white and black suspects of crimes.
   
I do not believe that the issues of racial diversity or the issues of multiculturalism are being taught effectively in this community.  Minority issues are not a top priority here.  This seems to be the position of many government offices.  It saddens me to know that my children will never have the opportunity of being exposed and taught from the African-Race, or other races.  There are only two African-American children enrolled in the local school system.  My children have informed me of the minority students being ridiculed, teased, and talked about by other students and school teachers alike.  I can only imagine how separated and humiliated those children must feel.  There are no social organizational groups specifically for the minority population
 
I am convinced that the communitys openness in reference to race was a learned process.  The apple certainly could not have fallen far from the tree.  It is embarrassing to me because I had the fortunate experience of attending and graduating from a four year university that was in a much larger city (Vargas, 2003).  I was able to see that there was life outside of the boundary of this mountain.  I was able to challenge my beliefs and decide where I stood on the issue of race within my community.  I was able to make friends of other cultures and races, and I learned quite a few things.  I learned that I was stereotyped as an inbred, country, barefoot and pregnant, and toothless person because of where I was from.  My accent was different because I had such a southern twang.  I never realized it until I moved away to go to college.  Members of my community informed me when I was home on breaks, that all that school was doing was trying to make me love everybody and judge the wrong ones.  I, however do not share the same views on racism as the majority of my community.  The minority groups and their interests are not representative here.
   
In order to resolve the issues of inequity in the community, I would first initiate a town meeting at the elementary school cafeteria.  I would ask to have speakers from the State Police Department, a member of the mental health organization, and a professor whose area pertains to racism and multiculturalism. I would try to get the African-American families more involved in community events, like the Spring Fair and the Fall Festival.  I would like to see them included because they are a part of the community, too.  It would allow members of the community to expand their minds a little and learn some new things.  Most importantly, it would be a good place to begin moving this community into the here and now, and bring it out of the pre-1960s era.
   
My community is subconsciously influenced by the Biobehavioral analysis theory.  This theory has two parts.  Part A believes that race is fused by both physical features and behavioral concepts (Glasgow, 2009).  Community members assume the types of behaviors that would occur if the African-Americans were to make the conscious decision to act how they wanted to.  This is, of course, based on movies, television shows, and local media news reports. Another theory in the Biobehavioral analysis explains that races differ in physical inequalities, custom and culture, conduct, and psychology.  Community members ultimately believe that the African-American families are less than, a sub-class that is most likely unable to function within a civil society.
   
My community for the most part is a safe place and good place to raise children since the crime level is so low, but as far as racial diversity and multiculturalism, this town fails with flying colors.  I am now embarrassed of where I am from, because this town is racist.  The elders run the community for the most part.  I had been told as a child to respect my elders, but in this instance, I cannot offer even an ounce of respect.  I am disgusted, and now I want to move away from here.