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Most of the kids at my school don’t look like me, don’t dress like me, and most certainly don’t talk like me.
At the College of Alameda, enrollment data show that the African American headcount dropped drastically between 2011 and 2012. If it continues to drop at the same rate, in six years, African American head count will be zero.
I’m one of the only black students in my classes. We have a lot of international students, but sometimes I feel like the one that’s foreign. I’m a real outgoing person with my friends, but at school I’m anti-social. I’m afraid to talk to people because I don’t want to get stereotyped, or come off as “ghetto” or “ignorant.”
But at the same time, being one of only a few African Americans at the school is an advantage. I don’t have a lot of distractions depriving me of my education, like I did in high school.
Now I get all of my work done, but there’s a part of me that wishes I saw more black faces in my class.