Sometimes, I just need to be around other black people. There, I said it. Honestly, I never realized this deep yearning to connect and engage with others who look like me before coming to Taylor University, or moreover Indiana. As a Bahamian, I have been surrounded by people who resemble me daily, so I never hungered for blackness. On the other hand, now that I am being overwhelmed by whiteness and American culture, I can't help but seek myself out in others. I needed a safe space; an opportunity to engage and interact with other minority students. The purpose of a safe place is not to exclude the majority, but to include the minorities in a culture they may already feel excluded from.
Some individuals may not feel comfortable disclosing their feelings and experiences concerning race because they fear being judged. A safe place allows these students to speak openly and honestly. Furthermore, they can state their opinions on current events concerning issues that relate to them without being ostracized. There is no need to monitor their emotions or speech out of fear of offending another race or ethnic group. This open space is conducive to the sharing of experiences; which can be reassuring for minorities students who often feel as though they are alone or "crazy" when prejudice rears its ugly head.
Leo Rosten once said, "Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood."
I have a friend who changes her accent to resemble that of an American. She does this because the majority of students she interacts with would not understand her. However, she does speak in her accent around her friends who she has developed a level of comfort with. Most importantly, she knows indefinitely we will do everything in our power to understand her because as international students and minority students we know what it feels like to be misunderstood; and how disheartening it is when you attempt to communicate with someone and you cannot get your message across because of an accent on your part and a lack of trying on the receiver's part. In safe spaces, we belong to ourselves and create a sub-culture that includes many languages, accents, and cultures. We create connections from knowing what it feels like to be disconnected from everything.
Now I would like to put the metaphorical microphone as close to my mouth as figuratively and physically possible. First, I am not your teacher, though I have no issues with becoming your friend and sharing, but I repeat, I am not your teacher. Second, I do not represent my entire race nor ethnicity. I represent me. Now that that has been stated, in essence, a safe place relieves minorities of the pressure to teach and represent their race/ethnicity. They are unconcerned that a slip of the tongue or a wrong move will be viewed as something all fill-in-the-blank minorities do. In safe spaces, we are not a stereotype and our actions do not reflect our ethnicity or race as a whole, but as a reflection of ourselves only.
Overall, I think that it is healthy for minority students to have safe places where they can vent and release negative emotions that come with being a minority. But I also do think that it is important to build friendships with the majority because only through communication comes understanding. After all, miscommunication breeds animosity, and America definitely does not need any more of that.
