More Than My Skin Color

“I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.”
– Zora Neale Hurston

I am not ashamed of being black; I am not ashamed of my dark skin, but I am ashamed of how people view black people on this campus. Walking around on campus getting looks from the opposite race makes me feel like I don’t belong on this campus. As if I don’t pay the same amount as the rest of the population on campus. Why should we get looked at different on campus? Is it because my skin is as dark as a Hershey’s bar and I don’t pass the brown paper bag test, or is it my coarse hair that can defy gravity?
Sometimes the students make it obvious that blacks are different on campus. The only difference between us is my skin color; we all have the same organs, go to the same school and are trying to reach our goals. Why does it have to be hard for others to see this? Race on campus isn’t even discussed, all these things going on in America and we don’t even share our ideas on it as a campus. It makes me mad that we haven’t discussed The University of Missouri and the racial issues that happened on their campus. It makes me sick that they have to be on campus, and hearing dirty comments saying, “Go back to Africa!”  It goes through me that we aren’t welcomed in the places we call home because of our skin color. These problems have been going on for a while in America. It makes me feel uncomfortable living in America.
I am more than a stereotype, and I’m sick of getting treated like I am not my own person. All black people aren’t the same. We are unique, gorgeous individuals that come in different colors and have intelligent minds.
My hair is so much more than what you think of it. Yes I am natural and proud of my curls. Don’t keep asking me if you can touch my hair, petting me like an animal in the zoo. I am human! It makes me feel less of a person when people keep asking if they can touch my hair and asking me how I got my hair like that? Appreciate it like I appreciate my hair and being. Respect my body and my hair as I do to the rest of campus.
Why should I have to be put to shame because of my color? Do my big earrings offend you? Is my sassiness scaring you? Is my presence intimidating? I am more than my appearance, so don’t judge. Where is the love for us all on campus? Get to know us before you want to consider us a stereotype. I am not shaming Wittenberg University because I love this place. I just want the Wittenberg community to see us as people and not our skin color.