For this post I thought I’d share the connections I’m discovering at Middlebury. In one of my classes called Education in the U.S., taught by Tara Affolter and Stephen Hoffman, we are creating a racial autobiography. It’s an analysis of several incidents that have taken place during our lives and have shaped how we came to understand race today. By the end of the writing you are to explore your current understanding of race on the Middlebury College campus. I personally wrote about how I am aware of my racial identity but have yet to think about other racial backgrounds. Because I’ve lived in Vermont, the second whitest state, I’ve learned to navigate conversations about race and spaces with white people. I’ve been observing that a lot of people of color (POC) are having a difficult time making the transition at Middlebury. Several people are coming from big cities with diverse communities. Of course there are various races in those locations but never was white the most dominant race. For them, problems with race have never been so blatantly obvious. For me, navigating race has never seemed like a problem.

This assignment drew a lot of parallels to Cane and Jean Toomer’s personal story in the forward. As explained, Toomer dealt with a lot of race and ethnicity problems. He was of mixed descent and looked “white passing.” He never explicitly claimed a particular identity, arguing that he belonged neither to the white race nor the negro, but the human race. With this in mind he was able to maneuver the North and the South. I wouldn’t say this was easy for Toomer. However it does make me think about who gets what pass and why? For me, I get a pass because I grew up in Vermont. For other POC there is no pass at Middlebury.

Tonight I saw the Howard Gospel Choir perform. The entire choir was made up of POC. While I was hearing them hit unbelievable notes and listening to their voices vibrating as one entity, I was also noting the various shades of black skin. These observations reminded me of Toomer’s poems in the novel. In these poems words like yellow, honey, and gold are used. I think of these descriptions as shades of black. These words surrounded the larger text about the negro race. This leaves me questioning, who or what defines race? What are the consequences of race in different settings? What’s the difference between familial race and capital race?

The last thing I want to note is the current political change we are seeing. In the recent election the Republicans managed to retain their control of the senate. Yet in the House 92 women won, a total of 112 women — the most women to ever serve in Congress. Women also hit a series of significant milestones. Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids are the first Native American women elected to Congress. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are the first Muslim women representing their states in the House. Even greater is the 17 African-American women who won Houston court elections. With these drastic racial power shifts, I’m excited to see where the race conversation will go!

–Hawa