White men

As of today, we have four white men in our program. We've never had four white anythings in our programs before, and I have to be honest with you; I'm not sure what to make of this. Now in principle, there is nothing wrong with white men of course. Unless their name is Pat Robertson, and they claim that the Haitians brought the earthquake upon themselves by making a pact with the devil. Besides "one sandwich short of a picnic" white men like him, I generally like white men. I mean, I married one, which should be enough proof that I have no general issues with Caucasian males. But to suddenly have four white men walking around our department, sitting in my classes, well, it's an odd experience.

You see, the university I work at is, as I have mentioned before, an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). This means that the university was founded during segregation with the intent of offering higher education to African Americans. The school has always been open to people of all backgrounds, but we have just never seen much of an influx of white people. At least, not that I've noticed. And although the college of education (one of the top schools in the state), as well as the school of nursing have always had a smattering of white students, I don't recall our department, or even our college, ever having a white student since I started working here.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with having white students. In fact, I think one can see it as proof that our department is slowly becoming known for offering a high-quality program. But I have to admit that it just feels, well, weird. And I know I'm white. But I'm also a female, and a foreigner at that. I don't represent white America to my students, and I share some of their sentiments about repression and discrimination (if I get called "honey" by our Vice-President one more time, I will scream). I mean, I'm trying to imagine having one of these students in my African American Images class, or even my Philosophy and Ethics class, where race is a central topic of discussion, and I use phrases like, "look, we know the man is out to get you, but can we get back on topic now?" to keep students focused, and I'm not sure how that is going to work. I wonder how my students will respond, will they clam up? Or will they see the student as a representation of "the man" trying to infiltrate one of the last truly African American institutions?

And, more importantly, what does all this say about me? I used to never ever consider my students' race when teaching, why start now? Or does race, in a part of the country where that concept remains contested and highly polarized, still matter? Don't get me wrong, I will teach these men, and treat them exactly the same as all my other students, and probably like them as much as my other students too. It's just that, well, it feels different. And I'm not sure why.