Two hours away, more like two worlds away

Philadelphia is an extremely diverse city 44.1% Black, 35.8% White,13.6% latino and 7.2 percent Asain. 14% of the population is immigrants and Philadelphia is also a sanctuary city. Since Schuylkill Haven is 96.85% white I wanted to hear their perspective on immigrants and where their opinions come from.

“It's a very small community here mostly white and I think a lot of people are just set in their ways.” Brianna also added “there are not a lot of reasons for why [immigrants] want to come live here." She also agreed that because there are less immigrants in a place like Schuylkill Haven, some people form their ideas about immigrants from what they hear or read in the news.

While immigrants still experience discrimination in cities, many Philadelphians have the opportunity to know immigrants as their neighbors, their classmates or coworkers, their cornerstore owners. So they get to know them as people, as individuals, instead of a group stereotyped by widely spread stories. Residents of Schuylkill Haven may not have this opportunity.

In Schuylkill County approximately 2,2267 people have tested positive for Covid-19. This is less than 1% of the population. There have also been 97 Covid related deaths. In the City of Philadelphia approximately 46,489 people tested positive which is less than 1% of the population and there were 1,900 deaths. Though Covid has presented a significant problem for Schuylkill County, Brianna shared that many opinions about the disease in her community lean conservative.

“They'll think that people have to go back to work,” Brianna said “A lot of people who believe in the severity of the pandemic. I've spoken to some people in my county personally who think that it's a hoax, to get Donald Trump out of office. But my mom is a nurse and we’ve been taking it pretty seriously.”

Another hot button issue this election season is the topic of gun violence and gun control. In 2019 the City of Philadelphia was rated the 2nd deadliest city in the United States coming second to Chicago, Illinois. However, there’s not a lot of valid information available on gun violence in Schuylkill Haven, just a few hours north.

“There was a shooting maybe a few years ago but it wasn’t in my town it was in Pottsville which is right outside my town but I don't remember what happened or if anyone died” Brianna said.

This highlights a stark difference between these two communities when it comes to gun violence. While Brianna struggled to remember a single incident in a nearby town, Philadelphia has seen 1,528 non-fatal shootings and 330 fatal shootings just in 2020. Because of this difference, opinions on gun control also differ in these two communities.

“I think when people in my community hear gun control they think their guns are going to be taken away, which they don't like because they hunt,” Brianna said.

This article was intended to talk about how the residents in the city of Philadelphia political views contradict the views of other residents in rural PA with a concentration on Schuylkill Haven. My goal was to find the divide and maybe bridge the gap as well as see if there was anything that we agreed on 100%. What I accomplished was bridging the gap with two female high school seniors on the road to adulthood. Both wanting to leave their hometowns not for the lack of love for it but to see and experience what else is out there. To questions and challenge the ideas gifted by their parents, on things like religion and politics and go to find their own perspective.

“I definitely want to leave but I always want to be able to come to back if that's what I decide," Briana shared.