The Lone Black Student

Hello friends,

I've written many, many times about working while Black, but one experience I haven't yet talked about is studying while Black.

To be clear, what I'm about to describe can also happen in the workplace in meetings, in training rooms and around the water cooler. But the experience I'm talking about today is endemic in educational settings for Black (and sometimes Global Majority) students, especially in PWIs (predominantly white institutions). It goes like this:

You're the only person in the room who isn't racialised as white, including the person who's leading the session.

As usual, you pay attention to the session and diligently take notes, but then the material takes a turn. Suddenly, the topic of enslavement comes up.

Panic in the Classroom

You start to to panic and feel a bit sweaty, because you know what's coming next. Sure enough, all eyes swivel to you when the topic comes up, as if this is the only aspect of the course material that pertains to you as a Black person. Never mind that you already have interest in, awareness of, and expertise in a range of other relevant issues.