The Truth about the Local Park (Remix)

There are many communities all over America that claim to be integrated and that people are created equal, but in some places it doesn't seem like that is true. Growing up I remember going to the local park to play with friends, play on the swings, play chase around the jungle gym, and hide and go seek in the tunnel; what I don't remember is people who looked different from me. I am Caucasian, and when I was younger I would walk to the park by myself or with friends to play, and from what I recall the park was not very integrated. I don't ever remember seeing African Americans, Hispanics, or any other race for that matter. This made me think of how times have changed or if they really have.
To find out the truth about integrated parks, I of course had to go to one. I thought that it would be interesting to go to the park that I went to when I was a young child. This park was always very special to me and always made me feel safe. There is a lake that is the home to many ducks and frogs, a jungle gym that is a paradise to most children, and a field that seems like it goes on for miles. This park looks the same as it did all those years ago; there is still that slide with all the skid marks from kids trying to climb up it, that swirly slide that is always fun to slide down really fast, and there is still that swing set that makes kids feel like they are flying. While I was there I noticed young children playing chase around the jungle gym and hearing their parents telling them to slow down. I saw that the jungle gym is still a faded blue color which seemed to give the jungle gym its character. There were people running around the lake exercising, while taking the dog for a stroll in the park. The atmosphere that day had a nice warm breeze that was slowly changing from summer to fall. There were even kids fighting over the sand diggers, which was always a popular toy on the play ground even when I was a young child. One thing that seems like it hasn't changed are the people that go there.
Apparently throughout the course of time things haven't changed at this local community park. I was surprised to find on my trips to this park that there wasn't many different types of people. There were not many African Americans, Hispanics, or any other race, and this is shocking to me. Communities always preach about how people are created equal and that they are integrated. From what I saw that is not the case. There were young Caucasian children running around playing chase, sliding on the swirly slide, and playing rocket ship on the swing set, but they were all from the same ethnic background. There were parents who would socialize with the other parents and they would laugh and talk about their kids, but once again those parents were from the same ethnic background. On my first trip to this park I did see a Hispanic woman and her child, but the other kids and parents were not socializing with them, and the next time that I went the Hispanic woman and her child were not there. This made me wonder how people of different races feel when they are not accepted in their community.
When I went to this park as a young child I always felt accepted and safe by the other people that were there. After coming back to the same park years later I see people of a different race who are not accepted, and it makes me wonder what they are thinking and feeling in this situation. The looks on their faces that day said it all; they were uncomfortable and it made me hurt for them. They had this look of complete sadness accompanied by a look of defeat. At that moment it was like the sky went gray and the joy that once filled the park was gone, and in its place was the feeling of great depression. That day some of the people at that park would even look at them like they were from a different planet; it was like the people at the park just saw the woman and her child come to earth in a flying saucer. People who are from different ethnic backgrounds should not have to feel this way in their own community. These people should have felt how everyone else feels when they go to this park and that is safe and welcomed by others.
The local park is a place that people can go to in order to relax, exercise, play with their kids on the play ground, socialize with the people around them, and be able to enjoy themselves. I now see that this is not the case for everyone in a community. People claim that times have changed and that communities are integrated and make everyone in that community feel equal, but from what I saw that is not true. It is not fair for people to feel unimportant, unwelcome, and in some cases unsafe. Through doing this I have learned a lot about my community and it is disappointing. People need to learn more about this and are able to by going to local organizations who try to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Maybe if people were more aware and educated than racial discrimination wouldn't happen. This local park over the years has not changed in appearance and the people who attend it.