Latimer1

Bradleigh Latimer

English IV Honors

Mrs.DeBock

27 April 2017

Real World Experience Narrative Writing

At the beginning of the year I was still uncertain as to what area I would focus on when doing

my Senior Digital Exploration. I did know, however, that I wanted to concentrate on something

that I related to passionately and also gave me an opportunity to involve everyday people. After

much thought I decided to interview minorities from various walks of life and different age

groups. Through this I could determine how peoples experiences differed when comparing their

involvements with discrimination and racial profiling. While everyones experiences were

different, everyone had faced some type of discrimination. I was unsure what type people would

grant the best interviews, but after consulting with my teacher, I decided on two areas which I

felt would work best. St. James High School and my family owned business, Latimer Funeral

Home, were the two places that I selected.

Prior to conducting my interview, I decided to come up with a set of questions that weren't

opinionated, yet would allow people to give their honest opinions without questions. These

questions were unbiased and did not side toward one way or another. The first interviews I

conducted were at St. James High School, which is a predominantly white school. Although I

knew that the minority student population was small, I believed that this small percentage would

grant a very accurate reading. Most of the people interviewed were in interracial relationships so
 Latimer2

I wanted to get insight on what it was like. While some said they didn't face any challenges at

school and felt accepted, in public they felt much backlash and ridicule. However to my surprise

some didn't face any type of discrimination at all in any type of environment. As I still continued

to conduct interviews throughout the next couple of days I began to get some real life stories that

affected how these individuals viewed race. One student, Tyshawn Small, stood out and stated

that his dad was beaten by the police although under the circumstances he was treated unfairly.

He stated that, after seeing my dad in that situation and him being treated as if he wasn't even a

human, I distrusted police, am afraid of the police and dont like the police. I continued to

interview staff members with the same question of, has race relations gotten worse or

improved? While the majority stated it had improved, Roz Harvey had a different response. He

stated, Racism hasn't improved at all if anything people just hid it, it's even more apparent now

that we have social media.

As my fourth and fifth day approached I decided to interview one individual and her business,

Latimer's Funeral Home. I decided this would be a very different interview since it involved a

much older person and she knew racism from a different era. When I asked her the question she

stated emphatically that racism was still alive and well. She told me stories of the many forms of

racism she faced as a minority and especially as a minority woman in business. She stated that

with the election of the latest president, people felt comfortable and secure in their racism and in

expressing their racism.

 Latimer3

After conducting all my interviews, I was shocked on how much new information I had retained.

While I predicted that everyone would have similar opinions to my knowledge, everyone seemed

to speak on the topic in very different ways. I learned exactly why African-Americans were so

distrusting of police in America and why they behave in the ways they do around them. I also

learned that even with all the odds that are against you challenges you may face because of your

race,sex, or orientation. Anything is possible and you can triumph against anything.