A Message to My Peers Who Lack Melanin: Being Black at a PWI

By: Jayne Thomas

That moment when you’re the only black girl in your modern history class and the topic of conversation is slavery so everyone in class, including the professor, is waiting on you to comment as if you were a fucking slave in the 1900’s. My experience at a predominantly white institution has taught me that my white peers have a phenomenal way of making those who are different feel like a monkey in a zoo.

Thank-you Christopher Newport for deciding to include that one token black person on the revolving photos of the main website. Also, much appreciation for boasting that the school stresses “the value we place on treating all people with dignity and respect.,” when in all reality I haven’t felt as humiliated and embarrassed about the color of my skin and where I come from until these last two wonderful years here. Any student of color can attest to the lack of an inclusive environment on campus.

The report, a research brief titled “The Climate for Underrepresented Groups and Diversity on Campus,” says a number of recent race-related incidents on campuses demonstrate that challenges in discrimination still exist. The most prevalent form of discrimination felt by the minority respondents was in the form of verbal comments, the report says.

I’ll share some of my own personal experiences to give you a clearer picture if you are currently reading this in disbelief, because who would believe that racism actually still exists? For example, when all the white girls on your hall want to ask you about your constantly evolving hair styles and make comments like, “Do you ever wash it?”, like black people don’t use shampoo. Or, when you’re at the running home event for Panhellenic sororities and eight hundred white girls scream the N-word while singing a song, because it’s okay to use the word if it’s in a song.  My favorite is when I’m assumed to be a student athlete, because it’s obvious that the only black girl in class must have chosen to pursue her education at a PWI to play on the basketball team.

The report went on to note that other forms of discrimination, such as experiencing offensive visual images or feeling excluded from campus events, followed a similar pattern. This reminds me of having four classes with all white professors, going to grab food in either dining hall and damn near every employee in service is black. Then, when I come back to my room, all the women and men who clean our dormitories are black.

This is a disturbing visual image for me. Low representation creates a detrimental effect on the campus, so maybe CNU should acknowledge that issue before expanding another building to fill it with more black employees.

My experience is one that many have felt, and some are just starting to understand. While there is nothing wrong with going to a PWI it is a difficult adjustment for a lot of students. Gladly, CNU has taught me that in order to aide in diversity of colleges and assist our peers who aren’t culturally aware, we have to shove every bit of our uniqueness and individuality in their faces.

Yes, you’ll deal with people who don’t understand your views. Those people will never be open minded to understanding because they don’t care to. They don’t care because it doesn’t affect them. But it is up to you to be heard, to be respected. I am not saying it will be easy. You may come into contact with people who claim that they don’t see color and take the color-blind approach, but in reality, we are black, we are not invisible, and we need to use this knowledge to help us further establish our identities on campus.