Girl Talk

Putting forth your opinion in a class of over eighty upper years students can be daunting to say the least, but add in the conversation topic of racism and things get as uncomfortable as naked family dinner with your in laws. This past week in my Critical Race Studies class, the conversation was getting heated. People of all colors and ethnic backgrounds were passionately discussing prejudice and its various forms. Looking to contribute, a female student baring a vague resemblance to Drew Carey raised her hand. When she was called upon she shared a story about her girlfriend’s racial profiling experience. At the first mention of her ‘girlfriend’, the buzzing of excited whispering erupted amongst the rest of the class. Was the tomboy referring to her friend that is a girl or was she in fact revealing her sexual orientation by sharing a personal story about her female partner? The class quickly abandoned their critical examination of prejudice in order to gossip about our classmates potential orientation based her stereotypical appearance.

Lesson Learned: Actions speak louder than words.