Being a minority in a course can be daunting. Whether you like it or not, you stand out from the rest of your fellow students, and with that attention comes an overwhelming load of emotional pressure.
Whether its teachers calling me out repeatedly for being Nigerian and that I have a “rich heritage” to draw from, or only being acknowledged for work opportunities that have a diversity quota: I am more than a poster boy for my race. I am unequivocally me.
Voodooism is not something I have shown interest in nor believe in, neither is it something I wish to learn about. A teacher that I had tried to shift my perspective to focus on the voodooism within Nigerian culture focusing on the hyper-spirituality for my project. I was taken aback at first, thinking they were joking because voodooism goes completely against my own beliefs. I’m a Christian, a proud one. However, she was serious about this, forcing me to do my best to respectfully shut this down. After speaking for a while, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head, “do I sacrifice my faith for the sake of a higher mark?”, a thought that I never should have had.
As a student, you like to feel that your work and what you produce is something that is valued in the eyes of others, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case. I always used to receive emails about job and internships opportunities with diversity policy or ones that were specifically focused on students from diverse backgrounds – when it came to universal opportunities, I never received them. My work was only valued when looked through the lens of a DEI quota. It felt like my background defined me and the quality of my work.
What I came to understand though is that acceptance comes from yourself not others, external acceptance should be secondary not primary. My race and work do not define or equate my worth.