Personal Narrative: To Be A Chicagoan

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To be a Chicagoan is to be a witness to the beauty of adversity, amazing food, and impossible diversity. Growing up in Chicago has engendered my passion for community organizing, and the importance of traditional and holistic education. My community is a vibrant collective of people, socioeconomic demographics, and cultures. Living in such a large and diverse community means that with many triumphs and remarkable elegance sometimes bring great tragedy. A few years ago, my mutual friend, Hadiya Pendleton was gunned down simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I live across the street from where here life was taken and am constantly reminded that it could have been me who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Like other major cities, communities densely populated with people of color lack educational opportunities, food desserts, higher crime rates and harsher punishment by law enforcement and the judicial system wildly …show more content…

I was fortunate to have a mother who was invested in my academic success and knew that education afforded a variety of opportunities especially for people who come from where I come from and look the way I do. Having to commute over an hour to receive quality education that was in the backyards of some of my classmates is a morbid analogy for what being a South Side Chicago student looks like and illuminates the realities of injustice and the possibilities for change on a global scale. Giving back is the most rewarding investment, I am dedicated to pursuing education as a means to better understand myself and the world so that I can pour what I have acquired into to my community. Through social outreach, I know I can restore hope in place of defeat and help foster many prospects for those living in the

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