Race In My Community

I live in a small city called South Lake Tahoe in the state of California. The people in South Lake consider themselves locals as long as you have lived here for more than 10 years. However, locals consider our city a town. Our town is mainly a tourist town, skiers and snowboarders in the winter and campers in the summer. When somebody moves to South Lake Tahoe, it may only be for a few reasons; to be a ski bum, get out of the bay area, or family. The people that move here either make it or they do not because of financial reasons. It is very hard to make a decent living here. To say it short and simple, a person can move up here with money or they learn to live paycheck by paycheck.

Our community is mostly Caucasians and Hispanics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000 the population of South Lake Tahoe was 31,884. In that number, 26,717 were White, 221 were African American, 274 were American Indian, 1,550 were Asian, and 6,792 were Hispanic or Latino. As you can see the majority of people in our town is White. Hispanics are the largest minority in South Lake Tahoe and their population is growing fast. With these numbers of races, our town does not need to deal with a lot of racism or discrimination.

In my community, I am part of the small percentage of Asians. To be honest, the only time I really see Asians in my community are at the Chinese and Thai restaurants. There are only a few members of my community that look like me. I have only met a handful of Koreans that live in my town over the past 11 years. The Asians of my community are nationalities such as Filipinos and some Japanese. If a person did not know the difference between Asian nationalities, they would believe I look like all the other Asians in my community. I have been mistaken many times for other Asian nationalities. To myself, I look completely different than others in my community.

Here is a little history about South Lake Tahoe. Our land belonged to the Washoe Indians; they spent their summers in Lake Tahoe and their winters in the Carson Valley. I work at a horse stables in the summer, which is sitting on top of a large Indian Burial ground. It is considered very sacred. The Washoe were eventually pushed out of the area, when wealthy families came into the area. Even to this day, American Indians are still trying to remove the discrimination to them in the Carson Valley. I do not understand why they have to deal with racism and discrimination when they were the original residents in this area. In 2004, the American Indian students of Carson Valley High were singled out just because of who they are. The American Indians were not being singled out by Caucasians, instead, they were being single out by Hispanics. The tension between the American Indians and Hispanics remains high even to this day.

Leaders within my community do not treat people like me differently. However, they do treat Hispanics differently. I believe it is the way Hispanics portray themselves in our community. Hard to believe in our small town, we still have gang fights at our one and only high school. The gang fights always include Hispanics against Hispanics. Yesterday, my neighbor who attends the high school told me that a fight broke out and between two different Hispanic groups, ending with one boy in the hospital. I asked her why are they fighting against each other and her answer was, "The Mexicans are the only race in our town to have a problem with racism and discrimination. The Whites and Asians do not have a problem with anyone in school, but the Mexicans have problems with everyone, even their own race." My friend's response was a complete surprise to me.

In March of 2006, a group of Latino teenagers demonstrated at a major intersection in town. Students from the high school and middle school marched to protest proposed immigration policies being taken up in Congress. Some of the students carried the Mexican flag and some carried the American Flag. They were showing people that not only did they support their own country; they also supported the country they live in. These children in my community had to come out in force, because many of them are illegal and their parents who are also illegal are too intimidated to apply for citizenship for their children. The children's counselor Aaron Barnett explains, "In essence these children are without a country, not Mexican, not American."

Here are some key points to become a citizen from Latino students at South Tahoe High School:

Ð'* People who have been here for more than five years, who have paid taxes, and have not broken the law.

Ð'* Illegals do pay taxes; they are deducted from paychecks and they also pay taxes every time they buy something.

Ð'* Immigrants respect America