What it feels like to be Black at a Predominantly White School:
By: Arielle Germeus
I never truly felt like an outsider or a minority until I went to a predominantly white institution. From the first day I stepped foot on campus, I was afraid that I would be judged for my appearance. My braids. My bandanas. My jordans. The things that society labels “black.”
One day, during my freshman year in Spanish class, I was sitting next to a boy, and I was wearing my red bandana. I had joked that I was in a gang, but instead of reacting in disbelief, he took me seriously and asked me to throw up signs. Would he have said that if I wasn’t wearing the bandana? Would he have asked me to do that if I wasn’t who I was? Whenever I look back at that moment, I realize that it subconsciously solidified the anxiety I would feel whenever I step on campus. It’s an anxiety and dread that I know the majority of my peers will never feel…