Four instances of discrimination in my life that I will never forget

The first incident was when my mother and I were going to looking to buy a new house. It was a Saturday of Sunday morning and we went to an open house in a nice neighborhood in Cincinnati. We looked around the house with the other people who came for the open house and everything was great, or so we thought. A few minutes later the real estate agent, who was showing the house, came out of nowhere, pulled us a side and asked my mother if she could even afford a house in this neighborhood. It turns out that my mom ended up buying a house in that same neighborhood that was even bigger and nicer, but she had a different real estate agent sell it to her, so the rude racist lady would not get the commission.

The second incident occurred when I was applying to go to Ohio University. OU went above and beyond on their end of things, so I have nothing bad to say about them, but that is more than I can say for my high school councilors and the bureaucracy that was the administration at my high school. I kept going to my councilor to get my transcipts sent and she kept messing up the paperwork and having excuses for why she couldn't send my information. I was also discouraged from even applying to OU , and I was told to go to a community college even though I had a high GPA and high ACT score. My councilor would also always have an attitude every time I went to see her and she would never know how to help me. Some of my friends, who were also black and some with higher GPA's and ACT scores than me got the same treatment. However, I talked to some white students who had the same councilor as I did and they had nothing but good things to say; the councilor was getting her job done like it was no problem and she was really pleasant and helpful to them. However, my friends and I overcame the odds and we are all at colleges.

These next instances happened to me about three weeks ago.

The third incident occurred when I was in a class looking at different newspaper layouts and the teacher was showing an award-winning layout that sparked positive dialog about race in Cincinnati after the Riots. this was just one of many slides and we could have just moved on to the next slip but on girl in the room had to raise her hand and say "I don't know why we have to talk about race anyway...there ain't but 5 of them (black people) on campus anyway...I just can't relate..." Everyone in the room looked at me to see what my reaction would be. However, at this point in my life nothing surprises me. I just looked at her and didn't say a word. I was not about to get loud and "ghetto" and prove the stereotypes right.

The fourth incident occurred when I was just stepping into on of my classes. I took my book bag off and went to sit down while still wearing a puffy down jacket (bubble coat). This girl, who things we are friends, turns to me and says you look like a "Marshmallow hoodlum." I guess I fit the stereotype of a young black male with a big coat. She probably has never seen a real "hoodlum" in her life. I didn't pay her any attention I just kept focusing on getting my textbooks out and what I had to do that day in class.

People often ask me, "why don't you correct these people who say these awful things?" I say that I don't correct them because one day someone else will... One day these people are going to make one of their racist/ignorant comments to the wrong person and they are going to get what is coming to them. One day these people might cross paths with a real "hoodlum," "thug"or "gangster" and they will quickly learn the error of their ways!

Has someone ever said anything discriminatory or racist towards you: Share your story. Is your philosophy on correcting people the same as mine?