“You’re not like other black people!”

I have heard this phrase more times than I can count. Apparently, my peers believe that I am not like other black people because I speak “proper” English, because I straighten my hair, because I have a common name, and because I am not like the black people they show on TV. They think that if they ask me to show them how to twerk, I will not be offended. But I will be. Though I may appear unaffected, I am really wondering why they decided to ask me and not any of the other 50 people at the party.

Oh, my favorite is when we discuss slavery in class, and everyone looks to me to impart some wisdom on them about the topic, or look at me for confirmation as to whether what they are saying is right or wrong. It fills me with so much pride that my classmates look to me for guidance on topics of slavery. Because I was there, right? Furthermore, when I get 'compliments' like “You're pretty, for a black girl” or other micro-aggressions like that, I don’t know what to think. Should I take it as a compliment, or should I take it as an insult?

Since people of color are such a small percentage of the people going to this University, we all tend to stick together. I feel like I know every black person by name. If I see another student of color walking to and from class, you can be almost guaranteed that I will either wave or give a slight head nod. At the end of the day, we are all in this together, we are all a portion of the minorities on this campus, and we should be supporting each other.

Attending a Predominately White Institution (PWI) is challenging, to say the least. The never-ending debate between Historically Black Colleges and Predominantly White Universities is at an all-time high. Most students of color from my high school went on to HBCU’s while I chose to attend Stetson University. They always wonder why I chose Stetson and not a Historically Black College. I chose Stetson strictly because of the academics; I didn’t really put that much thought into the social atmosphere, or whether or not I would be the only black kid in my classes. I was used to that, having taken all AP and Honors classes in high school. More often than not, there were very few people of color in those classes.

While I was in high school, most of my friends were white. Then, when I came to college, I ended up having more black friends. I always wondered why this was. But now that I think about it, it is so much easier to transition into college when you find people who you share a lot of similarities with. People who don’t ask why you wrap your hair at night and why you don’t wash your hair every day. People who understand you because they are just like you.

Upon coming to Stetson, I joined the Black Student Association and the Caribbean Student Association, and instantly connected and found my home in the Cross Cultural Center. Most people in these organizations were people of color just like me, and it felt amazing to not have to explain everything that I did.

You have to realize that being black in a PWI is going to fill you with many memories; some of them strange, like that time your peer asked if they could feel your hair; some angry, like trying to explain the idea of privilege to a group of your peers; and some that will fill you with pride, like surviving an education at a PWI and walking across the stage to receive your diploma. A diploma does not discriminate.

At the end of the day, you may just come to realize that going to a PWI as a black student isn’t so bad after all. 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.