I wanted to write a memoir about the first time I experienced racism. It was my first time away from the Chicagoland area. I moved to northern Virginia to attend seminary. I thought I would be spending time with like-minded theology students who were preparing themselves for lives in ministry. In many ways, I was mistaken. This has been a very emotional process for me as I remember how much I was rejected by my peers. One of them told me he did not know what to do with me. He said that because I did not look black, he couldn’t call me a nigger. He said on the other hand that I didn’t look white either. I had long dark brown hair and eyes to match with light olive skin. In my mind, I always looked Spanish and I could not understand why it mattered so much to this fellow student. From him, I found out why I was outcast, overlooked by professors and administrators alike for two and a half years.
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Thank you for sharing this. As I was scrolling through, the word outcast caught me attention and I started from the beginning. I am sorry you experienced this in seminary. I too, am a seminary graduate, MDiv and ordained. I understand being othered but not for the color of my skin. I wanted to acknowledge your story. As a privileged white female, and lesbian, raising a bi-racial (white passing) daughter, I felt compelled by your words. I hope and pray you have found others in ministry who value, uplift and affirm you. God knows, it took decades for me to. Blessings!
Rejection by an individual must be different from an atmosphere of rejection. If you intend to create a memoir then I guess the feeling is widespread and not an individual one off rejection. I am sure that you must have converted hurt to anger to resistance and finally either acceptance or rejection of status quo. This can be a great memoir almost on the lines of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.