Mandingo

For some reason I am always put on the spot, whether it is at home, work, or school. People tend to always ask me off the wall questions in front of big groups of people. I don’t confide in too many people, so I guess there is always a big cloud of mystery surrounding me. Only two people truly know me, and that’s God and myself.

I have now actually become accustomed to being in uncomfortable situations and handling them very well. A few years ago, I was put in probably one of the most uncomfortable situations in my life at the time. It was 2002, spring semester, and I was a sophomore in college. I’m sitting in one of my favorite classes at the time, Ethics in The Media. The class is probably about 30 people max, and everyone is white, except for me. It didn’t really bother me, because I was use to being one of the few or only black people in all my classes. Today’s topic in class was stereotypes. The professor went around the room asking us to name a few common stereotypes about minorities. People raised their hand and said what they had to say. One girl then raises her hand and says, “All BLACK Men Have BIG PENISES.” People instantly start giggling and laughing. I begin to squirm in my seat a bit and laugh. Suddenly, the teacher says, “Let’s find out.” He then turns to me and calls me by name and says, “Do all BLACK men have BIG PENISES???” I was shocked as all eyes turned toward to me. It was like a scene in one of those teen movies, where you are the new kid in town and you enter the classroom on your first day and suddenly everyone stops what they are doing to look at you. It was embarrassing to say the least. Interestingly enough, I seemed to make quite a few new friends from the class, after that incident.