First Week of School: BIPOC Edition
Here are 5 essential reads about the way students of color navigate college
Hey Write and Seekers,
Happy (or not) first week of the fall semester! Quarter system friends, ew to you for having a few extra weeks of summer.
This is the first week back to campus for a lot of you, and no matter how many years you’ve been doing this, it’s always a nervous time. New batch of students, new projects, new colleagues, new classes, etc. At least that’s the case for me.
For all the nerves that I have right now, there will never be a time when I was as nervous as my first year of college. Being a Los Angeleno (a real one, not someone from like, Irvine), I was nervous to move up north to the Bay Area for college, where my closest friends and family would be a five-hour drive away. Being Filipino, I was nervous to attend a PWI because, well, in LA you can grow up your entire life and not interact much with white folks. Being gay, I…actually I didn’t realize I was gay yet. This was the 90s! It’s not like I had Love, Victor or Pose or Noah’s Arc to help me figure that part of me out. The only gay anything I’d seen at that point was Tom Hanks in Philadelphia and the dance floor scene in Basic Instinct.
Anyhoo, I digress.
My first year in college was supposed to be epic, but instead it was a hot mess. And to be honest, I attribute 99.9% of that to not knowing how to navigate a PWI where my schoolmates were equestrian riders, Olympic Champions, and Chelsea Clinton. To put it plainly, I didn’t know how to interact with white people. (I know some of you are like, how is that possible? Well, ask any person of color who grew up around mainly other folks of color, and they’ll know).
Nowadays, whenever I feel that way, I tend to turn to biographies and memoirs of other people of color who have gone through some shit—in the academy, in Hollywood, in politics, etc. These books are comforting because they’re evidence that someone like me can survive whatever I’m going through. As an 18-year-old kid who wasn’t exposed to these kinds of books, I ended up feeling lost that year. And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t really find my footing socially until my senior year. That’s a lot of wasted time!
This first week of the semester, if you’re feeling lost for any reason, or if your students of color are feeling lost for any reason, here a couple books that I wish 18-year-old Anthony had back in 1999. I was nearly 40-years-old when I first came into contact with them, and I can’t help but think, Man, my life woulda been different had I had these books back then.
Disclaimer: The college years aren’t the entire focus of these books. Some of the essay collections, for example, might have one essay on the college experience. The reality is, though, all of those other experiences outside of college play a serious role in how college plays out for you, amirite?
My Time Among the Whites by Jennine Capó Crucet
Crucet may have been named after a Miss America contestant, but it was hard to feel American when she moved from her hometown of Miami to super white Cornell University. Besides being Cuban American, she also felt different for other reasons, and her essays are an acknowledgment of the labor and creativity college students of color—and faculty of color—feel is necessary to survive.
Fairest by Meredith Talusan
But what if everyone at school thinks you’re white? Well, Talusan’s memoir shows us that it’s not that simple. AT ALL. Talusan is a trans Filipina immigrant who writes about what it was like to pass as white at Harvard University because she is albino. Trust me when I say you’ll be totally enveloped by her gorgeously vulnerable storytelling.
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon
Before Laymon went to Oberlin College (where someone by the name of CATHY PARK HONG was also going to school), he was at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. His essay collection is a reminder that college administrators, the folks literally hired and paid to protect students, can be more trifling, violent, and racist than you could imagine.
No Ashes in the Fire by Darnell Moore
For Moore, who is Black and queer, college was supposed to be his chance to reinvent himself. But when the institution and the student body don’t feel safe, the possibilities for reinvention evaporate pretty quickly. Not every Black and Brown college student is gonna have a smooth ride, but Moore’s memoir shows that despite the challenges (aka the racism), the possibilities for tomorrow are endless. (P.S. if you are in need of a writer-fashion icon, I encourage you to check out his IG).
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
That chapter on Oberlin, whew. I read and re-read that chapter ALL. THE. TIME. It’s unlike anything you’ll ever read. Promise.
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There are obviously a ton of other books about college students of color, but these are the ones that would’ve been by my nightstand back in college if I could go back in time (and if these were written back then lol). I know a lot of colleges and universities have support programs and centers for BIPOC students (some of which are amazing, and some of which are condescending and white supremacist AF), but for me, these memoirs and essay collections matter too. They’re like Google Maps for how to navigate white supremacy.
All love,
Anthony
Not to toot my own horn, but I think my new book Brown and Gay in LA does a little of what these books too. It’s not a memoir of a person, but it’s the story of a community that often gets the short end of the stick in all parts of life, including higher education.
In case you want to hear me IRL to talk about the book, good news! The first two debut events are happening at my two favorite indies in LA: Bel Canto Books in Long Beach and Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Hope to see you there.