For a while now I’ve been meaning to share my thoughts and opinions with the world around me, but each time my fingers skim the surface of my laptop my heart rate speeds up, my throat tightens, my palms begin to sweat and all I can think about is the possibility that I might be the only person feeling the way I do. With that said, as I sit and share my thoughts in my dimly lit room, I do so with no intentions of offending anyone who might read this. To be honest, I do not expect many to read the thoughts that I will convey today. I share these thoughts merely as way for me to make sense of all that I have experienced over the past few months and to mentally prepare myself for all I will be facing in the future.
While you may not know my name, …show more content…
As I take a seat in my first class for the day, I am reminded that I am an alien to the white bodies that surround me. I feel as if it is not only my physical appearance that separates me from my classmates, but the internal pieces that characterize my entire being. I seat myself as far away from my classmates as possible and prepare for the class ahead. Somewhere between discussions about slavery and colonialism, we begin to discuss present day racism. Being the only person of color in my white predominant class, all eyes turn to me. Having expected this for a while, I had already constructed a precise argument, using personal experience to substantiate my claim. Yet before being given the opportunity to explain myself I am rudely interrupted by a classmate who simply states that my opinion and experience is a mere ‘fabrication of my imagination.’ To add salt to the newly formed wound, my experiences of racism are further undermined as a second classmate claims that in present day times, it is in fact whites who have become victim to racism. Simply put, she believed that her being white had left her with the burden of correcting what her ancestors had appropriated. At a loss for words, I could not believe that my classmates had simply overlooked the pain suffered by the injustice done upon my ancestors. Reminding myself that this is not my country, I
While you may not know my name, …show more content…
As I take a seat in my first class for the day, I am reminded that I am an alien to the white bodies that surround me. I feel as if it is not only my physical appearance that separates me from my classmates, but the internal pieces that characterize my entire being. I seat myself as far away from my classmates as possible and prepare for the class ahead. Somewhere between discussions about slavery and colonialism, we begin to discuss present day racism. Being the only person of color in my white predominant class, all eyes turn to me. Having expected this for a while, I had already constructed a precise argument, using personal experience to substantiate my claim. Yet before being given the opportunity to explain myself I am rudely interrupted by a classmate who simply states that my opinion and experience is a mere ‘fabrication of my imagination.’ To add salt to the newly formed wound, my experiences of racism are further undermined as a second classmate claims that in present day times, it is in fact whites who have become victim to racism. Simply put, she believed that her being white had left her with the burden of correcting what her ancestors had appropriated. At a loss for words, I could not believe that my classmates had simply overlooked the pain suffered by the injustice done upon my ancestors. Reminding myself that this is not my country, I