Springfield, Illinois is an average Midwestern city that is home to a diverse community numbering nearly 120,000 individuals. Home to everything Lincoln, Springfield has many community laws regarding racial relations. Many of these laws were created with the goal of bringing about greater levels of tolerance and understanding between the various ethnic groups. From my own perspective, I believe that many of these local regulations have succeeded in breaking down the racial barriers in my community.
According to the United States Census Bureau, my community is mostly, 81%, non-Hispanic white (Census, 2000). I have a hard time believing the numbers reported, however, because I see evidence that my community is much more diverse than these figures account for. Several people that reside in the local community to whom I have spoken believe that the figures reported in this census count are incorrect; that our community is surely more diverse than has been reported. I believe that many households did not report themselves for this census, or that perhaps our city has simply become much more diverse over the last several years. I certainly was not reported as part of any count, either here or in Florida. The question of this report’s reliability with respect to my local community is mute, however, since it is the official document regarding the racial diversity of Springfield.
Racial tolerance has not always been the norm in our community, an embarrassing fact for the hometown of the president who overthrew slavery. According to Kenneth Page, president of the Springfield chapter NAACP, our city was thought to be a safe haven for African American citizens (Illinois Department of Human Rights [IDHR], 2008). In fact, barely more than a century has passed since the Race Riots broke out here in Springfield. I learned what sparked the Race Riots in this seemingly tolerant city through a press release found while researching the diversity of my community: a white woman...