"For children, diversity needs to be real and not merely relegated to learning the names of the usual suspects during Black History Month or enjoying south-of-the-border cuisine on Cinco de Mayo. It means talking to and spending time with kids not like them so that they may discover those kids are in fact just like them." John Ridley, screenwriter of "12 Years A Slave."
Merriam-Webster defines diversity as "the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc." This can be seen in many different forms in society. Diversity in the division of labor, diversity in the forms of art, and diversity of the races. And diversity is a good thing; we all want to be unique, to be our own person. God even wants us to be diverse. We know this because of the cultural mandate (Genesis 1:28) telling the first humans to be fruitful and multiply, as well as when He divided the languages at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
In my college experience, however, I have found myself in a school that is not the most diverse. Here are the stats, courtesy of CollegeData.com. The school that I attend is 93.9 percent White, 1.8 percent multi-racial, 1.3 percent Hispanic, 0.7 percent Black, 2 percent Asian, and 0.2 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native. This means that, if you take a group of 10 students, nine of them would be White, and the last one would most likely be Asian or multi-racial. Even if you had a group of 100 students, about 94 of them would be White and the remaining six would be represented another one of these races. As a freshman student in the multi-racial category, this can make one feel very out of place, especially when you're from a very diverse city.
So what does this mean to African-Americans on majorly Caucasian campuses?
First, I do not speak for all African American students. I do not even speak for all biracial students. I can only speak from my own perspective. Although I have friends, it is easy to feel like I just do not belong. When I see the abundance of white people around me, it can cause me to believe that because I am different and have a different background, they do not want to have much to do with me, which most of the time is not true at all. These are, nonetheless, the thoughts that go through my mind.
My experience at college has made me more culturally aware. It has caused me to research my own heritage and to learn more about the history of my people. This, I believe, was a subconscious reaction to being displaced from my diverse home. Being a person of color on a white campus has been trying at times, but it has also been a learning experience, and I have genuinely enjoyed it.
