On Friday, I attended a meeting coordinated by some students of color at Penn GSE. I'm going to write this all caps.... IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE FELLOW STUDENTS OF COLOR (*students of color being students from a variety of nationalities, heritage, and experiences). You actually have no idea what it means to me. The meeting itself was productive, but I'm not going to get into the specifics of the meeting. What I will say, is that such groups are so necessary for one's peace of mind. It's just nice to see fellow students of color that share similar interests. It was great to be able to talk, speak my mind, and know that the people around me understood where I was coming from.
One thing I've been thinking about is the amount of black and latino students present in my program. I just anticipated more students from these academic groups being present at Penn grad. When I got here and realized, for example, that I'd be one of few black males in my program, I was taken aback. Then I did some research and realized that this is the case for many graduate programs and that diversity at the graduate level is a whole 'nother can of worms (I have thoughts on this that I'll save for another post).
For now, I will say this: It was such a great meeting! I met a lot of people that I often see around campus, but have yet to approach. There have been so many times when I have seen a person of color and I want to run over to them and introduce myself, but in recognizing the potential awkwardness, decide not to. However, I finally had the opportunity to say "Hi person who I see every Tuesday on Locust walk at 4:00 pm. Nice to meet you."
...and beyond that, its good to see people who look like me (well, even if they don't look anything like me or sorta-kinda-do-if-you-squint-your-eyes-after-swimming-for-three-hours). I am really looking forward to the next meeting.
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