There goes the Neighborhood

I live where the majority used to be African-American. I went to Morrill School where the majority was also African American and I didn’t really interact with much Hispanics unless they were family or the few that also went to my school. Because the majority is African American I remember when I first started going to school that I didn’t know English and had to be in bilingual classes. This created a language barrier between me and my peers. Because they weren’t used to the way I acted or spoke They didn’t like me very much.
We not only looked very different but also I had a distinct way of speaking and acting which led to their rejection of me. I often heard racist comments such as beaner, wetback and other comments. Even though I didn’t know English well enough I still understood the curse words however when I learned English and stopped taking bilingual classes I was accepted a little bit more. I never gained complete acceptance because I not only looked different but I had different beliefs and priorities than my other peers. I was serious, quiet, and kept to myself while my most of my classmates were social, loud, and very open to what they feel.
While my race did affect me I feel that it wouldn’t have been so bad if I would have changed to their way. If I would have started talking, acting, and doing things like my classmates I probably would have been accepted. However when more Hispanics started joining the class and classes were more mixed it was harder for the same issue to recur because it was almost the same amount of each race in the school. That made it harder for them to reject the idea of different ways of talking, acting, or doing things.