OPINION
Walking the Talk
By KwaTashea Marfo / February 18, 2024Ball State needs to move beyond quotas to address the true needs of students of color.
Ball State needs to move beyond quotas to address the true needs of students of color.
Playing Sims has become a coping mechanism for me to regain a sense of control when I feel powerless in real life. I can carefully manage the lives of my Sims characters from the safety and comfort of my own home, free from anxiety and self-doubt.
I should be able to be seen as strong-willed, resilient and passionate without the fear of coming off as aggressive, irrational or sassy. I experience emotions like sadness and anger not because of the functionality of my race or gender, but the functionality of my humanity.
There was political unrest and several things needed to be addressed on Ball State’s campus. Fifty Black students were up for the test. Sparked by the racial complications and the conditions of the 1960s, college campuses across the United States were in an uproar. African Americans were fueled with determination to change academic bureaucratic policies. During the 1967-68 academic year, Ball State’s African American population faced two main concerns: the university’s lack of social activities for Black students and the need for representation of Black minorities in the curriculum and faculty. However, the demand for their issues were not met until a walkout was correctly timed.
Dr. Chin-Sook Pak, associate lecturer of Spanish at Ball State University, coordinated a campus visit of 76 students from Warsaw Community High School in order to give her students an opportunity to share their experiences and successes with them.
Whether I was gravitating toward the approval of my parental figures or being the go-to-person for everyone when they were down or in need of assistance, I adopted a lifestyle of being a perfectionist — a lifestyle that consisted of being there for others as much as I wished someone was there for me.
When our curriculum centers its lessons on a sanitized version of history, students are not taught how to respect and appreciate cultures different from their own, resulting in insensitivity and distrust toward people of color.
While Simone Biles and I are nowhere near the same level of eminence, I know how it feels to carry the weight of the world’s expectations on your shoulders, trying to prove yourself worthy of others.
