So about a month ago my best friend Chris (who is black and the only reason why I say this is because in this story it makes a difference) and I were hanging out at school about ready to say good bye and go about doing our own thing when we gave each other a hug in the middle of the cafeteria at our college. Now normally this is not a big deal and we really don’t see a problem with this because that’s who we are and we just give each other hugs like it’s nothing.
Well during the time that we were hugging we realized that people were staring at us like we were doing something wrong. Like they have never seen a black person and a white person hug before. People seemed to think that it was unthinkable or unimaginable that two people of different color could hang out and give each other a hug. I do have to say that we go to the most diverse campus in the WHOLE midwest so I ask again what the hell is the problem?
This is not the first time that Chris and I have gotten looked at like we did something wrong. Every time we hang out outside of school just walking around the cities or going places together people have a tendency to stare at us like we did something wrong. And it’s not just one group staring at us it’s all different types of people just look at us like what we are doing is not normal.
Something similar happened at a conference about a week or two ago. There was a group of us two white girls two black people and one person from Ethiopia (sorry if spelled wrong). And we all were sitting next to each other in a group and it happened to be one black then one white then two black people and we were getting stared at by the rest of the people that were at this conference! I mean come on we were not doing anything wrong. We are just people having a good time and learning things at the conference.
The only reason why I have defined people by their race is to show a point. To me it does not matter what race you are but in stories like above it makes a big difference. I have not written about it up until now because it took me a while to process everything. To this day it still makes me fill uncomfortable to even think that I would get looked at differently because of the people that I am around that are of a different culture than I am from.
It’s the 21st century we should be past this. I mean it’s still a problem yes but who gives a damn really. I mean when I speak of Chris and people ask me what his race is or if I mention it there gets a tone with people that is like oh you hang out or talk to a black person. Get over yourself people. I mean come on in the over all picture of life does the color of the person’s skin really make a difference? I feel like I got a tiny look at what people of multicultural relationships are like and how difficult it can be for them. I feel like at times it plays a fact in our relationship and it’s a little bit of a burden.
I could care less about what color of skin you are or what your culture is but for most people it plays a fact into things. I don’t know I thought we have gotten past this for the most part but that’s putting too much faith into society. This wont stop me from hanging out or dating who ever I want just because of their culture or the color of their skin because in the long run it does NOT make a difference to me. And in the near future the white population is going to be a minority. So how do you white people feel about that? Get ready to be treated differently because of the color of your skin because your not going to be on top and have as much power as you have now. I wish you all the best of luck with coming to grips with that and dealing with that fact.
