Thursday night I was required to attend a school meeting for Ntokozo. It was my first real school meeting as a parent. They talked to us about their uniform, the schedule, promotion requirements, and stuff like that. Super exciting stuff.
The most interesting part, though, was being the only white face in a sea of brown faces. I was certainly the ONLY white dude there. It wasn't really a big deal, but it made me think, when was the last time I was the only _______ in a big group of __________? What about for you? When was the last time you were the completely different one in the group? When were you the only woman in a group of men? When were you the only athlete in a group of scholars? When were you the only American in a group of foreigners? I'd love to hear from you. Leave us a comment and share a story.
Cheers,
Casey
3 comments:
So funny, I remember when Lauren was in high school and we attended a minority awards dinner (Lauren had checked Hispanic on her forms) It was a riot as she was the only white face to receive an award. I totally relate to your experience. How proud I was and how proud you are!
Love this post! We are feeling this now in China. We don't feel out of place at all because the people are so kind but it is strange sometimes to look up and think wow we are the only Americans we have seen ALL week long. Gives me a new perspective on how others might feel back home when they are the minority.
My first year of teaching I was the only white person in my school. I had one white student, and she left in October because the other kids were so terrible to her. Coming straight off the farm in NC, that was crazy to me. But I very quickly became one of them and grew to have a very open relationship with my students were they regularly asked me things about why white people do the things they do, and vice versa.
My favorite story was when a sophomore asked me what those 'black dots in the middle of my eyes were' - she was a 16 year old American, but had never been close enough to a person with light eyes to distinguish the pupils from the iris. Fascinating.
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