Reflections

“I don’t believe they meant to be racist, but shortly before graduation, a faculty member tried to encourage me not to seek a college education. They felt it would be better for me to go to a trade school. My father was a professor at Howard University at that time and when I told him that he hit the ceiling.” — David ’72 “ In my time at CSW, it was pretty common, especially for Black and Latino men, to not make it through CSW. They would be suspended or pushed out to leave, to struggle to keep up with the academics and have to leave for those reasons… — Anonymous ’04

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS “ What impressed me was how different my worlds were. And nobody ever wanted to come to my side of the street. I always had to go to their side of the street. People want to bring everybody into their world. They don’t want to investigate the richness of the world of the “ I know for me, growing up, I’ve always been told, ‘You have to work twice as hard to get half of what someone has. You always have to be at the top, number one. other.” — Sandy ’66 You have to strive for that, or else people are going to think you’re lesser than.’” — Shari ’12

“The amount of times I’ve been confused for other Black girls in the school (by white teachers especially) is ridiculous. Our population is so minuscule yet you still manage to confidently call me the wrong name and carry on a whole conversation before I stop you and tell you I’m not who you were looking for.”— Anonymous, @voicesofcsw instagram

“At the time, my Blackness was really tied up with my socioeconomic status, which often for me meant feeling insecure about what my family had compared to what my more affluent friends had. And so I don’t think at any point, during my four years at CSW, any of my friends visited my house or came inside of my home. That was not a thing that happened. — Anonymous ’04

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS “ My first few days at CSW I felt lost as I tried to mend two worlds that were drastically different. As a Black student I quickly realized that I could rarely be comforted by my white teachers because of their lack of awareness of their own whiteness. My BIPoC peers “ I’m Black and queer and I feel uncomfortable in the spaces for Black people because of my queerness, but I also feel uncomfortable in the spaces were outlets when I could not for queer people because of articulate my experiences at the my Blackness.” — Anonymous, time.” — Orion ’21 @voicesofcsw instagram

“It is more difficult for an African American to succeed in an environment that doesn’t seek to understand that person’s ethnicity and struggle.” — Earl ’72 “ I have definitely been forced to answer questions about race in class. Almost every time a topic about race comes up in class, I am looked at and I think others (who are white) assume that I have an answer just because I’m a kid of color. It’s uncomfortable for me because I don’t know everything about race, ethnicity. etc, but others think I do.” — Anonymous, @voicesofcsw instagram