African American Experience In College

Attending this event was a great way for me to start off my spring semester. It gave me a sense of empowerment that I have been longing for some time now. Being an African American on this campus is truly difficult, you feel as if you are not seen or heard because the color of your skin is full of melanin, your eyes aren’t blue, and your hair is coarse and curly. But Mr. Bell made sure every African American was heard and seen within those two hours of him talking on that stage. Yes, he was funny but he was talking about true emotions and situations that African American people face every day.
Mr. Bell started off talking about that the word success, which stands for caucasian excellence. Because no African American can truly be successful
Bell started talking about the word pride. He talked about police brutality against people of color. From Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and much more. He spoke about how people of color stand up for people of color, we are advocates for one another. Anytime there was police brutality against a person of color, we as the black community came together all over the country to protest, rally, riot, and speak behind a computer screen on social media. Because the criminal justice system was made only to protect Caucasians, so us African American have to protect each other. Hell, we even stood up for Bill Cosby. As a community, we do this because we have black pride. Mr. Bell explained that you never see Caucasians advocating for their people, due to the fact that Caucasians don’t have white pride they just have white privilege. So, Mr. Bell made all the white people in the Schaefer Center, scream “ I’m white and I’m proud”. Many did not do it. I did not understand why. White people have many things to proud to of. But I guess the bad outweighs the
Bell taught me that it is okay to talk discuss racism with Caucasians but you have to work your way up in the conversation, talk about the smaller incidents of racism and work your way to the bigger issues of it. Because racism is very much still alive. Also, he taught me that race is not real but racism is. Race was made up by society to subject and oppress one culture and to uplift and glorify another. He said there are two ways to end to racism. The first way is never to ask an African American about their hair. No, you can’t touch! And yes, I do it wash my hair using a wide tooth comb. The second way is by finding respect. No, you don’t have to agree with everything we do and no we aren’t going to agree with everything Caucasians do but we have to respect what each other does and learn