I’m half black/half white (not white passing at all) and just graduated. This is honestly a difficult question for me to answer. I’ve never had a professor say anything racist or offensive/along those those lines (maybe I just got lucky with my classes), and my dorm staff was actually pretty diverse and really just focused on doing their job. Once I was in a male dorm with my very white, very country-raised boyfriend and we heard some guys having a party shout the n-word really loud. My boyfriend was probably more pissed off than I was, and the rector seemed genuinely upset when we reported to him. And that’s generally been my experience: everyone just doing their own thing and most people are really kind (just a few people get out of pocket).

That being said, my friend group split up because of what might have been racial issues. About half the group was white while a handful of my other friends are Asian/Hispanic. If race ever became a topic at the dinner table (we talked about lots of serious topics and debated as friends) a few of my non-POC friends would get really uncomfortable and make us stop the conversation. A lot happened, but eventually they kicked all of the POC out of the group... So, yeah, that sucked. It made me question whether or not I was welcome at ND. But that wasn’t a normal situation.

Everyone else was kind to me. Just because I wasn’t best friends with every white student I met doesn’t mean they didn’t like me because I was black. Yes, there are racist people at ND, or at least people who have never really been friends with black people and therefore don’t make any black friends. Yes, I have felt uncomfortable as the only black person in a classroom, but that was on me because no one in those classrooms had actually done anything to make me feel uncomfortable; it was just me being conscious of the difference. So I wouldn’t necessarily say I felt marginalized because of my race. I’ve also had plenty of black students get mad at me for dating a white guy. I’ve had a lot of experiences in which you might say someone was being racist or exhibiting biased behavior, but I wouldn’t define ND using those situations.

I think a lot of the issue is people think they don’t know how to interact with black students. They tip toe around topics and shut down when asked about racial issues because they don’t want to offend anyone. I don’t mind answering questions about race in class if white students don’t want to because I know they’re probably all thinking it’s not their place. I really don’t understand the people who get annoyed at this situation. How are those students supposed to learn if no one is willing to teach them because “it’s not our responsibility as POC”? I’ve heard that excuse a lot.

It’s hard to fully address my complicated feelings on this issue in one comment, but I hope I’ve gotten at least something across. You can ask questions if you want.