Analysis Of Welcome To Shelbyville

Choose one of the racial and/or cultural groups impacted by events depicted in “Welcome to Shelbyville,” and explain how that group responded to the challenges of surviving/thriving in this small, multicultural community.

The Somalian Muslim groups, I feel were the most impacted by moving to Shelbyville. These people do not only share different cultures than the locals but also a different religion. This caused a bigger uproar for the people living in Shelbyville, because this was something they were not used too. It was easyt o spot the differences between the Somalis and the locals. The Somalis talked different, dressed different, and had different beliefs. The locals sensed a fear that the war they escaped from might come to Shelbyville.

They invited the writer to dinner along with other people so the locals could get to know the Somalis and so they could help clear up misconceptions. They held another event at their house were they invited the women from the community and held a dinner. At this event the Somalis talked about why they fled their homes and come to Shelbyville. One of the girls even asked if the war would come to America since they were here. The somalis helped clear up that there would be no war here. This made the locals feel more calm about the situations and were able to start trusting there Somalia neighbors. According to the Washington Post, “We must remain compassionate toward refugees but we also need to make sure that we use common sense…”(Eilperin). As I did sense that the locals did want to try and accept the Refugees, however, they had never met these types of people before so they of course wanted to be careful. Which makes sense, you can expect someone to trust someone right away. The locals were trying to be careful and use common sense and keep their guard up. This was a cultural shock to the Somalis as they were not treated in a more positive manner. By the Somalis inviting the locals into their homes it set up a stage for the locals to start feeling a sense of compassion towards the

My family immigrated here when I was only five years old. After working hard for fourteen years we were granted citizenship of the United States. I remember the day we got our citizenship it was an emotional time. My family had given up so much back home in India just to come to the United States for a better life. We honestly did not think this day would come where we would become citizens and have the ability to pick our President. I personally feel like this is what the Gonzalez family must have felt. They worked so hard and having the ability to vote represents the hard work you have put in. By being able to vote and see the inauguration makes you believe that yes, you are an American. The president is your president too just like every other resident here. You do belong here and your vote does matter. In some countries there isn’t democracy and having the ability to chose is something very