Essay on Experience of Being a Minority

African Americans who are often referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans comprises of an ethnic group that claims a complete or partial lineage from any of the Black races of Africa. In a broader perspective, the term may imply individuals who are descendants of enslaved Africans. According to the statistics presented in the US fact finder, Black and African Americans make up the third largest group after the white Americans and Hispanic Americans.

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On 5th February 2017 between 7:00 am and 9:30 am, I attended a Chinese church service at Chinese Gospel Church based in Framingham. Framingham has a total population of about sixty-eight thousand three hundred and thirteen people. This entire community encompasses various ethnic groups, the largest being the pure whites (excluding the Latino) with an approximate total population of forty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-two while the least being Native Hawaiian alone and another Pacific Islander alone with a population of about nine. During this field study, I mostly interacted with the Chinese who are widely known as the Chinese Americans. They also take the greatest share regarding numbers in the Asian Americans ethnic group with about 25.9% of the total population of the ethnic group.

Indeed the Asian community just like any other community in the universe has a range of cultural practices that form part and parcel of them anywhere they live, some of these norms specifically apply in their worship places. I spent exactly two hours and thirty minutes in the Chinese Gospel Church, during the first half an hour, I felt uneasy since there was no any other Black American. The glances from the congregation clearly indicated that I was the minority among the majority. I took some time to familiarize with some part of the group, but it was all in vain as I become rather more uncomfortable since I failed to put up with the Chinese cultures.

My other moments even worsened up as we approached the start of the sermon. Here, I experienced the real test of being the minority, as I had no idea what Chinese way of worship entailed, it was completely different from that of the Black Americans. My urge to be part of the sermon was cut short by the fact that the preaching was presented over in their native language (Chinese) thus getting me even more uncomfortable. An hour elapsed and the speech come to an end, virtually everyone present in the congregation rushed towards me asking a lot of questions, rarely would a black man like me attend a Chinese church service. These confrontations only made me more uncomfortable.

I sat on a bench in the church compound and kept my senses at peace for observation with the aim of checking out how the individuals related to one another. I realized a different type of relationship, entirely distinct from that of my people. The Chinese people displayed a great sense of love to one another and kept their customs at heart all the times. At this point, I developed the eager of interacting with them, but my spirit got faint owing to the guilt that I was the odd one out. I highly believe that my discomfort was significantly engineered by the fact that my race and culture was different from that of the Chinese Americans.