Too white

"Simply put: I was a person of color in a workshop whose theory of reality did not include my most fundamental experiences as a person of color—that did not in other words include me.

No wonder I was unhappy in workshop. No wonder me and some of the other Calibans... talked constantly about the workshop’s race problem, about the shit our peers said to us (shit like: Why is there even Spanish in this story? Or: I don’t want to write about race, I want to write about real literature.) No wonder we all talked at one time or another of dropping out.

Some of you are probably saying: Fool, what did you expect?

That’s a good question. I guess I assumed that a graduate program full of artists dedicated to seeing beyond the world’s masks would be better on the race front—that despite all my previous experience with white-majority institutions the workshop would be an exception. What can I tell you? In those days I must have needed that little fantasy, that little hope that somewhere shit might be better.

Like I said: I was young."

This morning I read a validating article on diversity in higher education. It talks about what it means to be in settings that are "too white" and it totally captured either my experiences or that of my friends throughout our academic experiences. Here's the link below.

Junot Diaz's article on diversity in higher education

Until now, all of my posts have been about romantic relationships, but lately, my sense of social isolation has been quite salient at work. Race may play a role, but it's not just that. I'll elaborate more in the future, but for now, this article feels... comforting.