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One of the most difficult things I experienced in college was being stereotyped for the first time. Again, I attended a high school where black kids were the majority, so I did not have to encounter being stereotyped. At my college, in the performing arts department, I was the minority. While most of my classmates were aware and considerate about the words that passed their lips, others were insensitive and downright rude. Before I proceed to elaborate on the foolishness, allow me to share to share a few points about myself. Like I mentioned earlier, I adore reading. I always have. It is one of the reasons why Matilda is my favorite movie—her love of reading. I am not fond of reading from electronics. I prefer to feel the comfort of the weight of a book in my hands. Yes, I am capable of cooking chicken, but it is not my specialty. I make a mean lasagna. Thanks, mom. My favorite artist is Maxwell. Sorry, babe. Now that we have that covered, you could only imagine how I felt hearing some of the predetermined notions about me.
The term “Think before you speak” is helpful if we actually apply it. I will not dive into each individual instance, but I will share some of the remarks that I was hit with. Here we go: I always see you with a book. I had a black friend back home who hates reading., You should bring the chicken to the potluck. We know it’ll be good! And of course, one of my favorites, WHAT?? I thought Beyoncé would be like your favorite artist. She’s like the ultimate black girl idol! Hilarious. Those were but a few. When I was stereotyped, it did not hurt my feelings, but it was more irritating than anything. What was baffling and quite annoying was the fact that the ones who made the verbal assumptions did not grasp how offensive their remarks were. They honestly did not see anything wrong with what they were saying. Some did, I observed, and chose to be rude anyway.
I was so perplexed that I recall actually Googling, Do white people think before they talk? Just kidding. I should have though. In their defense, I told myself that just like being surrounded by a bunch of white people was new to me, they had probably never been around many black girls before college. To sidetrack for a moment, let me say that this is not an attack on white people. I had amazing peers of various ethnicities whom I truly enjoyed. What I am sharing are key moments which played crucial parts in my life and development. Allow me to also encourage that it is OK to be different. It is great to be around different people and experience new places. That is how we grow. This kind of growth may be difficult, but embracing moments of bliss make the occasional annoyances worth it. For me, my bliss erupted anytime my family came to visit Chicago. I felt like myself when they would visit. My piece of home.
I felt proud whenever family members would come to visit me. I would hang with them as much as I could while they were there. My mom visited Chicago so much that she might as well had moved there during my college years. They should have just let her rent out her own dorm. They usually visited when I was performing in a show. My family watching me perform brought me joy. I enjoyed them watching and hearing what I could do onstage.
One particular time, I thought only my mom and sister had come to visit, but when I met them at their hotel room, my niece and one of my nephews appeared and surprised me. If you know me at all, you should know that my niece and nephews are my heart, so to see them there in Chicago for the first time made me ecstatic. I was overjoyed. Also, them being there meant they would see their auntie performing onstage again, this time in a fun, energetic circus showcase that we sophomores presented. They had a great time and admired the tricks and silliness they witnessed us do. In those moments, everything was bliss, but of course, the inevitable of them leaving eventually came, and each time it was more difficult to watch them go.