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“You only got in because you’re black.”
I worked hard in high school. I took advanced placement classes and performed well academically. But when my good friend and I applied for the same college and only I got in, she didn’t mention any of that. Instead, she said what I started to hear from a lot of people.
“It’s just because you’re black.”
Growing up I never thought of myself as different from my adoptive white family. Our parents taught us that hard work was more important than ability, and I lived that.
So when some people started seeing my skin color instead of my hard work and intelligence, it hurt. After three years at college, I still sometimes hear that I’m here just because of affirmative action on college applications.
Unfortunately making assumptions based on skin color instead of who someone really is isn’t a problem limited to school. I’ve heard people ask my husband, who is white, what it’s like to be married to a black woman. At church, I have to remind myself that people are just being nice and trying to help when they ask if I’m a recent convert. I have grown up in the Church, served a mission, and been married in the temple, but the assumption that I must be new to the Church because I’m black reinforces that some people see my race rather than seeing me for who I am.
To read the full article on LDS.org, click here.
Green OregonMay 9, 2018
Good message. Keep working hard and assume that most people have good intentions. It truly would be a wonderful thing if people from all sides could simply stop using skin color as an indicator of anything. Unfortunately responding in like kind is not ending anytime soon. Racial reconciliation can only occur with Christ in the center of it. Turn the other cheek and look for ways to move forward.
ChrispMay 8, 2018
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL . . . on so many levels! ! !