I know this is the MLK issue of the Famuan, and I know Dr. King fought and died for integration, but I have to be honest.
When I applied for college back in 1999, only HBCUs were on my list.
I chose to attend Florida A&M because the white population here is lower than five percent, giving me the impression that FAMU has a strong, intelligent black student body.
Furthermore, I can count the amount of white people I know on one hand.
I can’t see myself dating a white man. Even online, I stick to Web sites and message boards geared to blacks, rather than welcoming the general online population.
Chalk it up to me being Southern, but the vast majority of my experiences with white people just have not been that good. I choose to live a life of segregation, if that’s what you want to call it.
But who doesn’t?
Think about it. How many of us have friends, not that kid in your Chemistry class or the hottie with the blue eyes that you see sometimes at Guthrie’s, but true friends – outside of our race?
White people balk at the thought of voluntary segregation, not realizing that they do it all the time. It baffles them that blacks are no longer desperate to be a part of their world. Despite the fact that they relentlessly steal our culture, whites all but refuse to be a part of ours.
To add insult to injury, they have a tendency to try to erase racism by saying stupid things like, “I don’t see race – I’m colorblind.”
News flash: If you can see, you see color. That’s not prejudice – that’s natural.
Most people have a tendency to stick to people of their own race, and have little – if any – true friends outside their race. Think about it, Rattlers: When was the last time a white person came to your house that wasn’t holding either a toolbox or your brother on her arm?
In a land where blacks make up less than 15 percent of the nation’s population, I’m not crazy enough to think that my life will consist of nothing but blacks. To be honest, I don’t want it to.
No one should live a life devoid of other cultures. But that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to date or marry outside my race. If that makes me a racist, then hey!
J. Danielle Daniels, 20, is a sophomore political science student from Dallas. She can be reached at rattlerbrat@hotmail.com