Narrative Essay On African American Culture

I grew up in Istanbul, the most cosmopolitan city in Turkey and a place where the west meets the east. I lived there until I was 14. Although Turkey is a nation state, I was very fortunate to interact with people of different ethnicities and faiths than mine. While the current political climate in Turkey is way more divisive, it was not like that when I was living there.
As a child, I do not remember people being treated different for who they are. I believe since it has been a long time for people to mix to a point that no one knew if they were Greek, Turk, or other, it was hard to single people out and most people did not care. Therefore, it took me a while to realize the racial divide in the United States. My family and I lived in Chicago
We did not think much of it back then even though it feels weird looking back. In my school, we did not have many minority students and the student body was overwhelmingly white. I used to be in school band and one day I was going back home with someone from the band. He was giving me and couple other kids a ride home when he said, “let’s do a n-word safari!” and proceeded to take a detour to a mostly African American neighborhood. This and many other actions by my classmates made me realize that I was at a way different place now. Even though I can say that most people there were genuinely nice and I had a wonderful time living there, I have witnessed and experienced many instances of racism. In my opinion, exposure to cultures other than one’s own, is the main way we can combat racism and racial inequalities. In the United States, we are massively segregated. As we distance ourselves, from others, the problems they are facing may seem less significant than they really are. Dr. Tweedy talks about the hardships he faced during his career, however, whether it is the medical school professor that say “blacks” or the people that only see him capable of being tall basketball player could learn more if they had interacted more with