by Deborah K., Staff Writer
Let me start off by saying I was not really looking forward to rooming with a Caucasian, so I tried to request a friend of mine who is also Black to be my roommate. But I was told I could not get a Black roommate because the Honors College chose this academic year to start a new rooming system (a Brock and a HAM student per dorm) that they follow with freshman honors kids. So, I decided to work on not being freaked out with the possibility of spending an entire school year with a Caucasian roommate. After freaking out about my situation a bit, I grew curious to know what the experience will be like - since I was raised in an all-Black home and had Black friends and family and the only previous interactions with Caucasians being with my teachers, schoolmates, and classmates I had to work with. Move in day was weird and uncomfortable. I was leaving home for the first time, and I could come to terms with missing my family easily after a bit of meditation. But meditation could not fix the fact that I was moving in with a person I’ve never met before who is also a different color than I am, no matter if it was 10 minutes or 20 minutes. I should probably say this: I am not racist, my parents are not racists and I was not raised to be racist; however, universally speaking, living with a person that does not have the same experiences as you, the same upbringing or is the same color as you can be very difficult. So, move in day was uncomfortable, and Sarah (my roommate) did not make it easier. When I first saw her blond hair and blue eyes, she smiled, but only to say hi to my parents and me. Maybe she was nervous and sad because she had to say goodbye to her family, but to me she was just as weirded out to be rooming with a Black person as I was to be rooming with a Caucasian. So, it has been three months and a few weeks and living with Sarah has not been as weird as it was at the beginning. But make no mistake, we are not super tight or best friends. Yes, we have three classes together, and yes, we can hold conversations but nothing more and nothing less. The experience I was curious about was helpful. I guess. I learned that Caucasians - well Sarah - tend to lose hair a lot and it gets everywhere, really everywhere and she keeps her shoes on while in bed among other stuff. However, Sarah is a really cool roommate, even though I had to get use to her asking why I wore a “net” on my hair to bed (it was a bonnet) and if it will be weird if she got a durag and wore it to class.
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December 2018
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