My community consists of mostly White Americans. I am a white female living in Middleton Wisconsin. I see very few members of other cultures in my community. They are here though. I have a few Mexican American and also Muslim American neighbors living in my apartment community and there is a small apartment community that has a few African Americans down the road from me. The majority however is upper-class White Americans making more than fifty thousand per year per person. The chart below shows the population by race within Middleton Wisconsin. (Idcide, 2010).
Population by Race
White 92%
African American 2%
Native American 0%
Asian 3%
Hawaiian 0%
Other/Mixed 3%
I have not seen others that are not like me get treated any differently. Speaking with my neighbors they have all the rights we do and are not discriminated against within the community. The community holds many fun events for all ages and all races or religions. The motto for Middleton Wisconsin is “The Good Neighbor City.” It was also named “Best Place to Live” in August 2007 in Money Magazine. (City of Middleton, WI, 2008).
In the community there are many different parks and other recreations you can go to. I was just at the Aquatic Center the other day and there where White Americans and African Americans in the pool and around the pool. I did not see anyone being mean or judging of others. It is all about having fun with family and friends and embracing the environment around us. There was a little girl that was African American that came over to help me teach my daughter how to swim. She was encouraging her and helping her along the way. Parents were talking about there kids and no one was upset that someone of a different color were in the pool as well. I have learned that it is a very friendly neighborhood that provides opportunities for all.
In my work manual as well as many others I have seen, it shows no sign of discrimination. It is not geared just towards one race or religion. There is a part on there about a no tolerance for discrimination. I am pretty sure most places have this policy. It is illegal to fire, or not hire, or not promote someone because of there race or ethnic background or even religious views. I do not know of any company that would allow that, and I have seen many companies here in Middleton with a range of diversity. Restaurants, Stores, Malls all have employees of different backgrounds.
With the media and my community, I have not seen much of the local media, however in Madison Wisconsin our neighbor city they have local events that are being broadcasted or put into the papers. I feel that they represent everyone. It does seem to have more White Americans that any other race but again most of Madison’s population is also white as well. In my old hometown of St. Petersburg Florida you would always see some kind of crime and the reporter is always in a African American area, while if a crime happened in a White American community you would see nothing. My opinion was that the media was trying to make the African Americans look like bad people. In that town I did see a lot of people being rude to African Americans and even teachers treating them unfairly. A White American student would be late for class and that would be okay but if an African American student was late they were sent straight to the principal’s office or they would get detention.
The similarities that I share with the leaders in my town are that they are White American. A big difference would be the money they make compared to the money me or others in my community make. While I live in a city where most of the population makes fifty thousand a year I fall in the range of twenty thousand to thirty thousand a year along with the Muslim and African Americans in my area. You can only tell the difference by looking at our homes or are cars. The ones that make more of course they will have nicer homes and drive a nice car. I am not saying ours is junk. We drive decent paid off cars and live in apartments as opposed to a beautiful two hundred thousand dollar home or more.
I am not sure if Minority Groups interests are met in my area. I have not heard of any concerns of theirs, other than they can’t afford the nice homes and cars that others can, but this is not a question for our leaders of the city. This is about the jobs we have and how much they pay us. I have talked to a few of my neighbors that say they are getting paid fairly but because they do not have a college degree they will not be able to go further than they are right now. It is not like they can not go back to school as well. When I go the library I see many postings on classes that are affordable and sometimes offer financial assistance for those who need it.
Taking a look around my community I was trying to find any inequities but I did not see any. I am not sure if this is because 92 % is all white Americans. But I know that this town is not unfair to the African Americans, or Muslim Americans, or anyone of another race. If there were I am not sure if there would be a way for me to change that. I spoke with a lady named Tiffany that works in a pay day advance company who also lives in Middleton and she has had no problems living there, nor has she ever felt like she did not belong there. She does make more than others of her race though and that is why it is easier for her to live there. “I make enough to afford this area and it is a nice area, but I don not feel that others of my color should not live here because they are African American.” (Tiffany 2010)
After all my research my finding are that all in all Middleton is mainly an upper class White American community, but I do not see any discrimination against others. If you walk down the streets of my town you will find it mostly whites, around the corner from my Apartment there is another Apartment complex that for the most part I believe has all there diversity there. Most of the population in those apartments were African Americans, I wanted to take a look at this place because many people would believe that they live in horrible apartments and are messy or have a lot of children running around. I went into them and they were really nice apartments a little smaller than mine at about 900 square feet, but were less on rent and included some utilities. I looked around outside and saw that everyone was being friendly and there were some children playing outside. I knew that this was probably where the 2% of African Americans lived that make up our population statistics. I spoke with another young lady who did not give her name but she didn’t feel like she was ever judged in the community. She could take her kids to the park or the pool and not have any problems with people being rude to her. She told me she lived in another town about 20 minutes away and they just didn’t like you if were not white. Also after talking with other White American neighbors they would have no problem if someone from another culture lived next to them. I found that the main reason there is not much diversity is because of the cost it is to live there. Houses are no less than $300,000.00 not that someone from a different culture could not get a house like that but for the majority here it is a lot of Graduate School or Masters degrees living in our area that are making more than $50,000.00 a year with just one income. I know for me my fiancé and I do not make that together, but also we have not gone to school as long as others have.
In my conclusion Middleton is a great place to live a little expensive, but very nice area good school, nice clean parks with lots of things to do. Everyone is nice to you and no one that I have met seems to judge you based on the color of your skin or the things you believe in.
Reference page
Idcide. (2010). Middleton, WI Profile. Retrieved from https://www.idcide.com/citydata/wi/middleton.htm
City of Middleton, WI. (2008). Welcome to Middleton. Retrieved from https://www.ci.middleton.wi.us/Profile.htm
Tiffany 2010 a member of my community