What does diversity mean to you?

Student Lounge African-American Students
1

<p>heyyyyyyyy</p>

<p>lets discuss lol..</p>

<p>While I have been choosing from my stack of colleges, I have taken so many things into consideration.</p>

<p>For one, the school needed to have a great academic standard and be guaranteed to get me a job(good paying job) after I graduate</p>

<p>Two, it needed to be in a great location</p>

<p>And three, it needed to have Diversity. And this was really the biggest factor.
But I was thinking What is diversity? What kind of diversity do I mean?</p>

<p>To me, I want the type of diversity where I have a lot of different cultures in my classroom, but in the university as a whole, there needs to be a substantial amount of African americans. Like seriously. </p>

<p>I have been in boarding school for a long time. And because of the low African American population, I have never really had the chance to have a core group of African American friends that I can truly relate to. </p>

<p>I love my friends, we are diverse. Theres a Ugandan, white girl, asian girl, latino girl, me, and a arabian girl. We are really good. we come from different socio economic backgrounds, and I love it.</p>

<p>But then there are things, which sometimes stick out, that are too different. Questions, scenarios, and all kinds of things. I mean I never take offense, but really I just always related to my black friends better. I want to have that, a good group.I miss that.</p>

<p>But anyway, thats diversity to me, having a good group of black friends, but being surrounded by different cultures...it may be bad to you, but thats what i want lol.</p>

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<p>I have a pretty diverse range of friends as well. They go from Asian to Filipino to Figian. It’s sad to say I barely have black friends at my school because I’m in a lot of AP and honors classes and there’ll be at the most 3 African American students in my classes. My school is very diverse though. It’s hard to find a handful of Caucasian kids. lol Diversity is a big factor for me too. I was considering UC Irvine because of the major I got into, but their diverse ratio is nearly 60% Asians and 2.9% African American. Asian kids are cool and all but I need diversity! lol That’s why I like USC, and CSU Northridge, and UC Santa Barbara because of their diverse ratio. I was also considering some other schools but I’ve taken other things in consideration such as distance from home, whether or not I like the major I applied for, and the overall campus and city it’s in. :)</p>

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<p>When I think about diversity in a school, I sort of add up the whole population of African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and international students. I grew up somewhere that has a huge immigrant population (not one race, just in general) so I’ve always had friends from Egypt, Peru, Ghana, Japan, Somalia, etc. Having a lot of other AAs there would be nice I guess but excluding other races/cultures, it wouldn’t be very diverse.</p>

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<p>I guess I’ve always had a small group of black friends that I drift to every now and then, but my closest friends aren’t black. Although we have a lot in common, I feel a lot more comfortable with anyone that has similar goals and aspirations as mine. Diversity was definitely high on my list of things my future college would need. But for me, I see it as a great learning experience. It’s really cool to learn about the way other people do things and how you can still relate. I wouldn’t want to be stuck at a school so diverse that I can’t find at least a few african Americans that I can connect with.</p>

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<p>What? If a school in the United States is truly racially diverse, it’s bound to have a significant AA population. If I didn’t know any better, from your post, I’d be led to believe that racial diversity and AA population are inversely porpotional.</p>

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<p>I want some actual AA friends as well. Not islanders, African immigrants or something.
I’ve never had an African American friend in my entire life. I mean a real friend who shares my goals. Someone who speaks English properly, is moral and not whitewashed.
So sad omg. T_T I love my Asian, Hispanic and African friends, but I need my peeps. :’(</p>

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<p>Lol @ “white washed”. Explain please.</p>

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<p>The kids who literally hate their culture.</p>

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<p>Haha </p>

<p>Anyways, I still want a diverse student body. Very important.</p>

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<p>

Is this directed toward me?</p>

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<p>Yea!! Alexis I feel you…</p>

<p>LIKE SERIOUSLY.</p>

<p>At my school, all my black friends (including my african) hate themselves. Most look at me and say “Oh I love your hair, its so curly like a mixed girls” or they say " Man you are light skinned, you have it so much better." Or “I wish I had your complexion”</p>

<p>Like honestly stop! ONe. I’m full black. Technically Creole, but I claim all the black cause I don’t know anything else. Secondly, Light skinned? </p>

<p>Okay can we address the whole #teamlightskinned #teamdarkskinned crap!
I feel that is the most ■■■■■■■■ thing I have ever seen in my life …because at the end of the day we are all BLACK…or AFRICAN AMERICAN. We are nothing else. Don’t matter if you are light or dark, you are beautiful in your own way. </p>

<p>God…okay that was a rant. lol. But seriously, it seems that we need to go back to the James Brown “I’m BLACK and I’m Proud” cause we are not PROUD.</p>

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<p>^^^Preach!!! I dont have curly hair my hair is straight-ish and i am medium skinned and everyone is like i wish i could look like you…reality check you dont you were made they way you were because you were meant to be an individual. Funny how the world works though. all my white friends want to be black but all my black friends want to be white?</p>

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<p>It’s a weird world we live in. lol I hate to say it but I’m guilty as charged. When I began my preteen and teen years, I had a problem with my skin color. I was proud to be black and all but I thought I was too dark. Most of my family is lighter than me. I even thought about using skin lighting creme when I go to college. lol It’s only been a few years that I have learned to accept who I am. I love my skin color, and it makes think of milk chocolate! lol I’m Black and I’m proud! :D</p>

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<p>Skin complexion has nothing to do with the culture tho.</p>

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<p>Colorism is a cultural ill…meh. </p>

<p>Yea, it’s sad. Like, when I see billboards where I live advertising weaves…just…ugh.
-_-</p>

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<p>Yeah it is sad. Why can’t everybody be happy with their natural hair?</p>

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<p>Or, if you’re gonna get a weave, can it be the texture of your natural hair? Must it be SO obvious?</p>

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<p>^^^^preach!!! can you come to my school and call all my black friends out who think that if they wear lighter weaves (while their natural hair is still showing BTW) and talk like a stereotypical blonde that all of a sudden they will turn white. I got into an argument with my friend who is darker than me and tried to come at and tell me that I was darker than her and her skin was so light and how she needed to put on more sun tan lotion (mind you she bleaches her skin and it don’t even work and also she is as dark as night) shameful! why can’t people have commonsense</p>

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<p>The skin color issue is a problem. I think it is just ingrained in a lot of AA that lighter skin is beautiful. I feel bad for dark skinned girls because a lot of them struggle with their color and being called too black or burnt and teased :frowning:
That is what I have seen. I have not really struggled with my skin color because it is “lighter” but I,am not light skinned.</p>

<p>Also, I hate how people think that light girls are automatically pretty and dark girls have to be GORGEOUS to be considered pn the same level. I am like, features determine if you are pretty …not skin color. </p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T589 using CC</p>

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<p>Thank you! It’s all about features! </p>

<p>And proportion. Apparently everyone else save AAs understand this.</p>

<p>I’m brown. To me, dark skin and proportionate features are exotic.</p>