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At FAMU, White Male Is Double Minority

To the editor of The Hilltop:

Cory Thomas/The Hilltop

I am a white male freshman majoring in journalism at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fla. I came to FAMU through happenstance, frankly, and then realized there was practicality involved. I've lived in Tallahassee my whole life. I didn't want to leave yet, and I felt the overwhelming need to study journalism. I was raised in a journalistic, ultra-intellectual, Jewish, liberal family that taught me to be accepting of people who are different from me and, if possible, love them too.

My academic career was spent in predominantly black schools with African American percentages of 70, 80, and even 90. Certain people referred to them as "ghetto schools," and with complete ignorance, I might add. Rickards High School was an amazing chapter in my life not only because I took part in the International Baccalaureate program, but because I took . . . in a kind of culture osmosis. These experiences have made me the person I am today and I am proud of it.

Not only does being white on many HBCU campuses make someone like me a minority (which I am used to, and even enjoy to some extent), but being male makes me one as well.

This thought is leading me to a point of thesis/dissertation idea I first had some time ago. I attend FAMU for journalism, and take other auxiliary classes (Arabic, French, political science, international affairs, education courses) at Florida State University, a very fratty, Republican, white, football-worshipping college in Tallahassee.

Through experiencing student life on both campuses and utilizing the psychology of a white male who has adapted to the social changes of minority to majority (and vice-versa) in the blink of an eye, I hope to be able to use my experiences (and certain materials that are written in excellent college papers like these) in that long-term project.

I feel a bit self-indulgent for talking about myself so much but all of this has hit a nerve, and I thought you guys might want a perspective of a "double minority" of sorts.

Paul de Revere
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, Fla.