Personal Narrative: My Experience With Diversity

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I have had a lot of experience with diversity, both in abundance and scarcity. I spent the first few years of my life in Northeast Philadelphia, a place that had so much diversity. My earliest memories involve seeing people of all different skin tones and backgrounds come together as a community. When I was five, we moved to the suburbs, Bristol to be exact. Bristol is still quite diverse, but I would say it’s no comparison to Philly. We moved two years later to a small town, Hollidaysburg, in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. To be honest and completely blunt, Hollidaysburg is full of white people. The town is 98.19% white to be exact. That was definitely the shock of a lifetime. It didn’t help that the people there weren’t exactly friendly …show more content…

But by the time middle school rolled around, it was hard to ignore. The lack of diversity greatly affected me. I felt alienated. Many kids didn’t want to be around me just because of the color of my skin. My ex-best friend's mother told her to stay away from me because I was black. Her mother didn’t even try to hide her hate and prejudice. Had there been more diversity in that town; many people, my family included, wouldn’t have suffered so much. Finally, it got so bad there that we moved back to Bristol. Going through the racism there opened my eyes to the importance of diversity. Diversity promotes tolerance, love, and acceptance. It gives people the opportunity to learn about one another and communicate more effectively with others from different backgrounds. The diversity I experience now affects my communication positively. I am able to connect with people that are different and still find similarities with them. I am able to empathize and get to know people that I may not have talked to originally if it wasn’t for being in a diverse environment. The communication around me also seems to be affected positively. I see people from all kinds of backgrounds get along, despite the many differences they may have. It’s encouraging to see that diversity allows us to find new people and eventually become a melting