We Are All Suspects Now: Personal Story

I have to admit, before I read this book, had someone told me one of the stories in it I probably would have omitted it as an exception. Partly because I wrongly believed that racism/discrimination was not as big of a problem in America as it is, and partly because a lot of these stories sound horrible and are hard for me to imagine. Also, I have been fortunate enough to live a life that has been pretty much free from exposure to racism, at least overt racism. I recognize the fact that racism and discrimination exist today, but I haven’t ever had a problem with it in my past.

I think the main reason for this is because I am male and come from a very white and very affluent community. I’m talking like so white that students were moved to my high school from the inner city projects not just to give them opportunity, but also just to diversify the school. And even then, it wasn’t like these students came to the school and hung out with everyone, and I don’t blame them, since they were the only black students at my school and they constituted about 2 percent of the student body. Even though they attended the school, I often went about my day without seeing any of them, barring seeing them eating together in the cafeteria. While I think I’ve been very privileged to grow up in a community such as this one, I also think it’s bad to grow up in this kind of “bubble,” where you can go about your life without ever stepping outside your comfort zone.

So I was very glad to come to Tufts, because it allowed me to get out of the bubble that was my hometown. But even at Tufts, a university that prides itself on diversity, I think people are still more prone to hang out with people the same race and develop cliques. It’s like the black students at my high school sitting together in the cafeteria: it may not because one group has something against another, but because it’s just more comfortable that way. Maybe it’s time we stepped out of our comfort zone.