This story is a part of a larger series. A description of the purpose of the series can be found here.

Written by: RaeAnna Hudnell on behalf of Tanesha Jordan.

Once during my time at Calvin I was walking from my dorm past the smokers pit and heard someone comment, “I hate black people.” Automatically I felt uncomfortable, because I was outnumbered, and didn’t know if anyone in the smokers pit would try anything. Some people in the group told the commenter to stop. But the person who made the comment continued, saying “Well, they are stupid anyways.”

I knew one of the people in the smoker pit — they actually were one of my friends. I asked them to tell me who made the comment, but they refused. I told my RA, but I did not want anyone to be confronted because I did not know specifically who made the comment.

In our dorm, there was a theme: “Open door, happy floor.” So I usually left my door open. Once when I was doing my hair, three white floormates stood in the doorway and asked if I was ready for dinner. I was, but then one of the girls commented, “Are you sure you are ready, because you don’t look like it.”

She made a comment about weave and then she said, “Aren’t you surprised I know what you are doing?” She said it like I was an exhibit and like I was doing something so completely weird, when I was just doing my hair. She made a big deal out of it and it was in front of those other girls. After that, I decided to keep my door closed because I did not want that to ever happen again.