As someone who only went to private Christian schools as a child, I've always been comfortable around all races. My parents put me in the best schools of Detroit -- where I was raised -- and continued to do so when we moved to Georgia. This often meant that I was surrounded by a student body that was majority white with other races sprinkled in. I had best friends of all races, and my first schoolgirl crush was on a white classmate.
When I went to high school, but especially when I came to Georgia Southern, it was brought to my attention that my blindness to race wasn't the norm. In high school I was picked on for talking and acting "white" by my black classmates, and was labeled as an Oreo -- something I thought was a compliment because Oreos are amazing snacks. This caused me to make more white friends instead of black because they were more accepting.
When I started to apply to colleges, I ignored my parents' wishes for me to go to a historically black college. I wanted a real college experience that had diversity, and I didn't want race be such an issue. So I enrolled at Georgia Southern University where the professors were nice and the campus was beautiful.
However, when I came to school I was struck dumb by the obvious separation of races that people pretended wasn't there. It wasn't a mandate from the school, but the students somehow seemed to divide themselves. I had wanted to join a sorority on Greek Row my Freshman year but was warned against it by my black peers. "You won't get in," they said. "Try AKA."
Unbeknownst to me, I had somehow been inducted into the separate black society of Georgia Southern. Making one black friend meant being introduced to more black friends, and going to "black clubs" and house parties. The whole thing made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn't who I was. My race isn't who I am.
So I had to find ways to make friends outside my race. I joined race-neutral clubs, befriended classmates, and often went to Rudy's -- a place many of my black male friends couldn't get into half the time. By the time I joined DPhiE my junior year, I had decided that though race was an issue to some, it didn't have to be an issue for me. But I still received backlash.
My most hurtful moment at GSU was a day in one of my political science classes, where we often had heated debates as we sat around a long table facing each other. Somehow we had gotten onto the subject of the word "urban" and whether this was meant to apply to black people. A male, who shall remain nameless, said that it did and although everyone in the room disagreed, he targeted me specifically. "I'm just not offended by it," I told him. "Even if it's meant in the way you think, I'm not offended. I can choose to not be offended." I was then berated by the guy about how I was basically an idiot and a traitor to "our people". I left the classroom angry but refused to cry in front of a classroom full of men. I cried later.
Moments similar to, though not quite as intense as, that one make up a disturbing amount of my memories here at school. I may have personally had one bad experience with a white person that didn't even go to Southern, however the majority of the hate I've received comes from my own race. I've been put down for not being black enough, for not being angry at the stupid things said on Yik Yak, and for joining my sorority.Â
This is not to say white students are blameless. I probably hear more problematic things from black students because they're more comfortable with saying those things to my face. I can't possibly know what is said by white people when I'm not around, nor do I care to hypothesize. My question to you all is: Why? Why do we let race continue to be an issue?
As a person that's been friends with almost every race under the sun, I can tell you confidently that we all want to be accepted and we all don't want to be limited. We all want to like Katy Perry if we like Katy Perry, and we want to rap Tupac if we love Tupac. There shouldn't be an establishment near campus in which we let a race feel uncomfortable and there shouldn't be organizations that only let in one ethnicity. This is the end of 2014 and we are intelligent, progressive college students that can change the world. So let's change the world.
