Walnut Creek

Before I went to Walnut Creek, I knew that people there were going to look different than me, but I still expected them to be nice. As soon as I arrived to Walnut Creek, I felt the difference. When we got off the BART everything was clean, unlike Oakland. Everything seemed more quiet and calm. There was police everywhere ready to respond in case of an emergency. In Oakland if something happens and we call the police they get there about an hour later!
I didn’t really feel comfortable walking on the streets of Walnut Creek. Walking as a group of minorities, it was obvious that we were a group of outsiders. I felt the stares of people; they stared at me like I was some sort of alien. There is one incident that stood out to me. The class was broken up into little groups, and I was in a group of four, three girls and one guy. We were trying to find people to interview. We saw a white lady sitting in a bus stop, so we told the guy in our group to ask her if we could interview her. As the white lady saw the guy approaching her she got scared and she rapidly grabbed her pursed that was in the side of her. It was then that I realized what people really think of minorities. I started laughing, as I thought how ignorant some people are. They get absorbed into stereotypes, and never take the time to find out who we really are. People in Walnut Creek were scared of color people; they were not used to seeing faces like ours.
The only similarity that I saw between Oakland and Walnut Creek was their workers. I saw really few minorities there, and the ones I saw were the ones working on a construction site, cleaning windows, and cooking. I talked to two of them,; they were Mexican. I tried to interview the worker who was cleaning windows, but he said that his boss was there and that he could get mad. His words were, “Me gustaria hacer la entrevista, pero ahi esta mi patron y es gabachito.” The other guy I talked to was a cook. I started talking to him and he was really nice; he was a Chilango. When I started talking to him I felt really comfortable that I was able to find someone who was like me.