Life in Orange Park, Florida
Orange Park, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville, has a population of 9,081 people within the city limits, according to the 2000 census. The census general characteristics state that 83% of the population is White, 11% is African American, and 4.6% is Hispanic or Latino. 79% of the population is over the age of 18 years and 21% is over the age of 65 years (United States Census Bureau, 2000). Given these demographics, I am in the minority for race, being an African American, and in the majority for age.
In general terms, Orange Park and Clay County represent the majority of the population. All of the Orange Park town council and its mayor are white (Town of Orange Park, 2009) and all of the County Commissioners are white (Clay County Government, 2009). The Clay County Government website says that it is one of the fastest growing regions in the country and offers a wonderful quality of life and lots of opportunity for business development. The Orange Park website talks about the rich history of the area.
Though I am in the minority, I have always been comfortable in Orange Park. My neighborhood does social events like block parties and there are lots of community events where everyone feels welcome. Orange Park’s website posts pictures of their community events and there are all types of people from all walks of life represented in the pictures. Jacksonville, being the closest metropolitan area, has many of the same problems that other urban areas throughout the country face. In 2005, the Jacksonville Community Council put together a survey and a report card to look at race-based disparities as a way to measure progress in looking for solutions to problems. According to the survey, there was a general consensus among Whites that the media promoted exaggerations and falsehoods. They contend that any race disparities in standard of living are not real and that Whites were more likely to be victims of race discrimination that African Americans (Kerr, 2005).
There were some recommendations that came from the Jacksonville Community Council’s report. Among them were that the mayor needed to take ownership for race problems in the city, the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission needed to take a more active role in the monitoring of race-based disparities and discrimination, and that the public school systems needed to focus more attention on racial disparities. Also in the report and survey, 51% of Whites said that race relations in the area were excellent or good, but only 19% of African Americans said the same.
One of the biggest areas where race problems are seen is in the legal system. 86% of African Americans said that they believe that racial profiling is widespread. Also, 39% of Whites said that they felt that African Americans were treated less fairly that Whites, while 88% of African Americans said they were treated less fairly than Whites. The Rev. R.L. Gundy, the chair of the Jacksonville Leadership Coalition, who was seeking to create a Citizens Review Board in Jacksonville to handle racial profiling complaints, was afraid that the report by the Jacksonville Community Council would be damaging to the image of the community. Of the Council's report, Gundy said that it "clearly indicates the community is saying that something is wrong and that officials need to relook at their processes. They need to sit down and dialogue about this. A Citizen's Review Board is needed to look at racial things across the spectrum, not just in the area of police racial profiling." (Kerr, 2005).
In terms of the justice system, African Americans were arrested at a disproportionate rate in the Jacksonville area in 2003. Though African Americans only account for 27.8% of the Jacksonville population, they accounted for more than 56% of adult arrests and 64% of juvenile arrests that year. Other areas where racial differences were seen include education. In public schools in the area, both White children and African American children have improved their performance, but White children have improved at a faster rate, which has widened the achievement gap (Kerr, 2005).
In September of 2005, the t-shirt that a Clay County senior wore to Fleming Island High School hit the newspapers and brought more racial issues to the forefront. The t-shirt had a confederate flag on the front and on the back it had a picture of a group of Ku Klux Klan members and two African American men with nooses around their necks being dragged behind a car. This resulted in an African American student hitting the White student in the head. The student wearing the offensive shirt was suspended for three days. He said of the incident “I’m not racist or anything. It’s just, some people I hate, some people I don’t get along with. And black people just happen to be the ones because they think they’re better than everyone else…I’m a redneck. But no, I’m not racist.” (Schmidt, 2005). It is the ‘redneck’ attitude and keeps race relations what they are in Clay County and the surrounding areas. Yes, the area has a rich history, but ignorance should be something that is left behind and not held onto, especially when that history has to do with the discrimination of one race.
While I was a student in Orange Park, I was not personally exposed to racial discrimination that I was aware of, but looking back, it is easier to see what was happening to non-white student in those schools. When we had to take standardized tests, non-white students did not do as well as White students, especially if English was not the language spoken at home or if English was not the first language. Those students who did not have English as their first language were usually separated from the other students and were not given the opportunity to interact with students outside their racial group. Clay County students usually scored higher than the state averages for standardized tests, but when demographics are broken out, it is usually the White students who performed better than the non-White students (School District of Clay County, 2009). There has been discussion for years about standardized tests and how they tend to be culturally biased, and when looking at test scores such as these, it might be appropriate to consider cultural bias.
Another area where race is perceived as a separation includes employment and income. In the Jacksonville area, African American families receive public assistance at a rate five times that of White families. Though the Clay County Chamber boasts of the business opportunities available in the region (Clay County Chamber, 2009), business leadership and ownership remains predominantly White. In the year 2000, only 3.6% of local Chief Executive Officers were African American (Kerr, 2005). There is definitely a difference in perception also. 71% of White survey respondents thought that African Americans had just as good a chance as Whites to get any kind of job for which they were qualified while 74% of African American respondents said the chances were not as good.
On the positive side, African American voter registration has increased from 68.4% in 2003 to 83.1% in 2004. This puts African American voter registration at a higher percentage than either White or Hispanic groups! Also, there was very little difficulty in voting reported in recent elections locally (Kerr, 2005).
I am not sure what it would actually take to bring new cultures into Orange Park, Clay County, and the Jacksonville area. If community and social leaders do not make people feel welcome, or they feel that the political or economic climate is not favorable, then new people won’t come to stay. However, this area is the 47th fastest growing area in the country (Clay County Chamber, 2009), so there are opportunities and hope that as the area continues to grow, that its cultural diversity will grow with it. The fact remains that more than 80% of the local population is White, so if people only vote for those who look like themselves, it is going to be difficult to integrate the community. There is never an easy solution when so much disparity exists. In this region, local history and old attitudes play a large role in the disparities.
In my local community, I mentioned that we all get along very well and have social events and other get-togethers. I feel that the youth of the region will play a large role in changing attitudes and making the area more integrated.
References
Clay County Chamber, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2009 from
Kerr, J. “Races perceive different worlds”. May 27, 2005. The Florida Times-Union.
Schmidt, B. “Fleming senior wears racist T-shirt to school”. September 15, 2005. The
Florida Times-Union.
“Race Relations: A positive focus”. May 27, 2005. The Florida Times-Union.
School District of Clay County, 2009. Retrieved March 19, 2009 from
United States Census Bureau, 2000.