Being black is a blessing and a challenge. NYU has always been my dream school. Like any high school senior, I was excited to be moving onto college. I wasn’t going anywhere far compared to the rest of my friends, but I always loved the city. I’m a Bronx girl and I guess I always had that Sex And The City dream in my head. However, I always grew up with Latinos and African Americans in the projects aka the “ghetto”. Reality hit me very hard once I certain experiences happened.
Expenses
It’s hard making friends with people in this school when your socio-economic status is far below every else’s. I go to NYU on a full scholarship given to lower-income students who all happen to be Latino or Black. Outside our program, it’s hard to relate to others or even hang out with others in their extravagant outings. Regardless, it is honestly very awkward for me to go to these house parties, sneak into bars, smoke around when I’m just not that type of person. Hell, it was a big no-no at home.
Social Justice Warriors
I think this one takes the cake at NYU. Because it is such a liberal school, everyone pretty much stans every culture. However, as a minority, this can be pretty darn annoying. There have been so many times where the most harmless jokes or statements said by me or another person in class has been taken out of context. Ironically if I were to say these statements to anyone in my racial sphere, they wouldn’t take offense due to it being a light joke. I hate it when people, usually the white males there, think that I should be offended by a particular statement or expect me to apologize for a statement that wasn’t meant for them in the first place. The amount of times people eavesdrop on my conversations and get angry at my opinion is so frequent, but then again I’m such an entertaining person.
The Isolation
I think it’s easy to say that I just need more black friends (I really honestly do), but I don’t want to limit myself. From what I see though, at NYU, every race usually huddles together and become best friends for life. Asians are with Asians, whites are with whites, and blacks are usually with blacks. I wish things were more integrated though it seems more like an issue on people’s interactions/comfort level with other races than with the institution. Though I very much still place some blame with the institution after a student was kept out of a classroom discussion based on his race.
Moving On
I think the racial dynamics is just one of the reasons why I have my doubts about being in NYU. There is this nasty entitlement that pisses me off. At this point, what is there to be done considering I’m here for another 2 years. I will always be the minority and that’s definitely not going to change. However, I will say that conscious and actually sincerely nice people do exist of all races. They are educated, open-minded, and you can’t help but to agree with their point of view. The discussions in this school are really something else. Of course, I have more specific experiences. But, we will leave that for another blog in the future.