That's how it is
I have about four white friends and five Asian friends, and I can only think of one Indian girl who regularly says "hello" to me in passing. Hi, I'm Justin Jones, and for those that don't know I am a black student at Hopkins.
As a pretty active member in our Black Student Union and an Africana Studies major I am often asked to regale others with the empowering tale of struggle and perseverance that is the black student experience here at Hopkins.
Usually I'm more than happy to oblige. The whole Sigma Chi incident is a great story that I'm sure TVOne will have the rights to soon (I do love TVOne), but as interesting as the Halloween in the Hood party was, it is not an everyday thing.
I'm going to be honest with you, white-people-Hopkins isn't the most negro-friendly campus. I'm not talking about the racism. There are racist incidents here, but those aren't what really matter on a daily basis. What I am talking about is a genuine disinterest in other people that seems to prevalent at this campus.
I often hear inquiries from a quarter of my white friends about why the black community at Hopkins seems so isolated and introverted and I explain that we're not. We're easily one of the most gregarious bunches of people on campus. The problem is that we feel like most other people don't want to talk to us. Not more than two of us at a time, anyway, and that's a vibe that a lot of us receive as soon as we get here.
I cannot tell you how many times you'll hear black students complain about the lack of diversity in their group of friends. After a few conversations about why there seems to be such a clean racial division on campus, the best I can come up with is this: there is one occurrence that happens to almost every black freshman here at Hopkins that really sets the tone for the rest of their Hopkins career.
It usually occurs some time around Intersession and/or the beginning of second semester. This black freshman will be walking toward Charles Street Market by himself and see a friend of another race from a first-semester class. As the black student attempts to say "hello," his "friend" will just completely avoid eye contact and walk on by. The two never speak again.
The black freshman may think to himself, "Oh, it's like that?" Yeah. It's like that. After a few times, many just become jaded and stop trying to connect with non-blacks. It's really sad.
There is hope, though. I actually just had an Asian friend of mine apologize for the whole not-speaking-after-class thing. It was really cool of him. My roommates and I went to a kick-ass Bar Mitzvah a few weeks back and that was actually pretty sweet. So, you know … baby steps.
As a pretty active member in our Black Student Union and an Africana Studies major I am often asked to regale others with the empowering tale of struggle and perseverance that is the black student experience here at Hopkins.
Usually I'm more than happy to oblige. The whole Sigma Chi incident is a great story that I'm sure TVOne will have the rights to soon (I do love TVOne), but as interesting as the Halloween in the Hood party was, it is not an everyday thing.
I'm going to be honest with you, white-people-Hopkins isn't the most negro-friendly campus. I'm not talking about the racism. There are racist incidents here, but those aren't what really matter on a daily basis. What I am talking about is a genuine disinterest in other people that seems to prevalent at this campus.
I often hear inquiries from a quarter of my white friends about why the black community at Hopkins seems so isolated and introverted and I explain that we're not. We're easily one of the most gregarious bunches of people on campus. The problem is that we feel like most other people don't want to talk to us. Not more than two of us at a time, anyway, and that's a vibe that a lot of us receive as soon as we get here.
I cannot tell you how many times you'll hear black students complain about the lack of diversity in their group of friends. After a few conversations about why there seems to be such a clean racial division on campus, the best I can come up with is this: there is one occurrence that happens to almost every black freshman here at Hopkins that really sets the tone for the rest of their Hopkins career.
It usually occurs some time around Intersession and/or the beginning of second semester. This black freshman will be walking toward Charles Street Market by himself and see a friend of another race from a first-semester class. As the black student attempts to say "hello," his "friend" will just completely avoid eye contact and walk on by. The two never speak again.
The black freshman may think to himself, "Oh, it's like that?" Yeah. It's like that. After a few times, many just become jaded and stop trying to connect with non-blacks. It's really sad.
There is hope, though. I actually just had an Asian friend of mine apologize for the whole not-speaking-after-class thing. It was really cool of him. My roommates and I went to a kick-ass Bar Mitzvah a few weeks back and that was actually pretty sweet. So, you know … baby steps.
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Verdant Force
Ryan M Harrison
posted 4/07/08 @ 3:19 AM EST
It's only 'funny' because it's true and a smirk feels marginally better than a scornful tear. The two things I'll certainly leave Hopkins with are a very, very thick skin and a much more cynical worldview. (Continued…)
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