“I don’t see what the big deal is,” said Terrell, a junior at Florida State University. “We are all black people just trying to make it through our education.”
“I really wish you could have read this article in The Famuan talking about how ya’ll love to make negative statements about FAMU but always end up at all of our social events,” said a female Rattler. “If FAMU is so bad, why even come across the tracks?”
I then made the comment that had everyone speechless for a second, “Are we really that different?”
Over the years in Tallahassee, I have meet a plethora of people. Although most are Florida A&M University students, I have to say that a little less than half of my social circle is comprised of our friends across the railroad track.
Yes, instead of choosing to attend FAMU, the No. 1 university for black students, these students felt the need to attend FSU. But are they really that different from us?
It is easy to spot Seminoles on the Set or at a social event, but that is because when it comes to having a good time, Rattlers just know how to make it happen. But that is not the real reason why any of us are here in Tallahassee, right?
We have all migrated to Tallahassee in pursuit of higher education, an action that has the same conclusion whether you attend FAMU or FSU.
There always seems to be a hurdle that blacks have to jump over, and here in Tallahassee. I wish that black students at FSU and FAMU would just get along and realize that we are all here for the same reason.
Just because you go to a predominately white school, a school that receives more money both from the government and its alumni than mine, and your school’s dirty laundry is covered up better, we will all be called college graduates at the end.
I won’t lie; I have made comments about FSU students reaping the benefits of our social life at FAMU after making negative comments about FAMU, but after a trip across the tracks, I realized that they need us.
FSU has a semi-large population of minorities, but at FAMU, that is our majority. We have the opportunity to be surrounded by positive minorities everyday. And as such, we need to embrace our neighbors across the way.
But at the same time, black students at FSU need to stop putting us down. After all, we are getting tired of it.
Lets try this: end the friction.
The last thing we need is to separate ourselves from each other simply based on the school of our choice. Blacks already have to get over so much; lets not add this petty difference to the list.
Katrelle Simmons is a junior English education student from Orlando. She can be reached at famuanopinions@hotmail.com.