That joke about being a sprinkle of pepper in a sea of salt is literally my life.
Being black at a predominantly white institution (PWI) is simultaneously fun and not fun at all. On one hand, the small black community on campus is very close, and the bond people of color have at a PWI is unbreakable.
On the other hand, being that one black person in a room nearly every day is just a constant reminder that you aren’t like everyone else. There is always that feeling that you don’t look, act or experience life the way everyone else does when you’re black, and that’s just the way it is.
Before applying to the University of Georgia, a university that is about three-quarters white, my mom and dad asked me, “Are you sure you want to go there?” It was hard to explain to them why I wanted to “Commit to the G” instead of attending Spelman or Howard University, but there was just something that felt different about UGA. And boy, it was different, alright.
The culture shock when I moved to campus my freshman year was probably more jarring than my culture shock when I went to a foreign country for the first time. Coming from a high school that was maybe 40% black, I was shocked to see how small the black population was in such a big university with 36,000 people.
I was maybe one of three or four black people in some of my classes. Sometimes, I was one of the only black people at the dining halls. I would walk past tens of white people before coming across at least one person of color, let alone a black person. Oh, and then there’s that fear that a discussion about race and politics will come up and you’ll be the only representation of people of the color in the room. It felt like I couldn’t relate to anyone around me.
Just as I felt ostracized more than ever, I met people on my hallway that showed me being black or a person of color at a PWI isn’t as rare as I thought.
There was a wonderful mix of races in my hallway my freshman year, and once I got out of my head, I made friends with people from different races and cultural backgrounds. I not only learned about others’ perspectives of being black at a majority white institution, but I also learned how it was being of another race at a PWI as well.
I made friends with people who spoke Tagalog and Spanish fluently. I bonded with the black girls on my hallway with similar experiences. I realized that being a part of the very small percentage of people of color at a PWI makes the bond between POC even stronger.
Despite being in the very small 7% that is black on this campus, I love it. I love getting looks when I wear my hair in an afro and wear bright lipstick. I love having this unique look about me that no one else can copy. I love the feeling of being black. I wouldn’t be any other skin color just for the sake of looking like the majority.