Identity In Boston And Dewitt

One of the most important aspects of an individual’s life is their identity. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines identity as being, “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual” (Identity). An individual has several different types of identity including personal, cultural, ethnic, political and national identity. Collectively, these shape a person’s being and defines who they are. Ethnic identity is the “psychological attachment to an ethnic group or heritage” (Trimble). The importance of ethnicity, or a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, varies upon individuals (ethnicity). Many minorities and children of immigrants take pride in their family’s heritage, as it is very important. However, many Caucasians …show more content…
Firstly, the demographics of Boston and DeWitt are largely distinctive. According to the Boston University Medical Campus, only 54 percent of the population is strictly Caucasian. On the contrary, 95.7 percent of DeWitt’s population is that of whites (De Witt). This large percent difference is exhibited as one simply takes a walk or a drive in the towns. While taking a walk down Main Street in DeWitt, you see many individuals of Caucasian descent and on occasion, a few African Americans, Hispanics, or Asians. On the other hand, pick any street in Boston and the diversity of the city is made apparent by the varieties of races you meet. Additionally, DeWitt has no ethnic neighborhoods, where many individuals from the same descent live together in one community. DeWitt contains two restaurants serving foods other than the usual American “grill food”, as well as one grocery store containing common household products. However, I observed that Boston has many ethnic neighborhoods that contain several restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores unique to each ethnicity. One very distinctive neighborhood, is that of the Italian community. This district has many restaurants serving authentic dishes, bakeries presenting breads and pastries such as cannolis, as well as grocery stores, where its employees speak Italian and most of the products are labeled with the Italian language. Moreover, the language varieties of Boston are practically nonexistent in DeWitt. Very few of its people fluently speak more than one language. However, simply walking down the street or into a small bakery in Boston, I observed many different individuals speaking several different languages. The public schools in Boston add to its diversity by teaching Spanish, but also Mandarin, French, Japanese, Arabic, Italian and German (Instructional). On the contrary, the public school in DeWitt only offers

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