Last night's gospel choir rehearsal

If you're reading this, you probably know that I'm happiest when I have friends who aren't all like me. I don't want my friends to be all sociologists, or all girls, or all white, or all Christians like myself. The race one is a big one to me, and I loved having friends from all different backgrounds when I left Rice. Here in the Bend and at the Dame, it has been really hard to find that kind of diversity. There's just fewer non-white people in the Bend, and the area is SUPER segregated. The Dame is even worse, only 22% of the student body is non-white (as opposed to 33%+ at Rice), and among graduate students it is way less than that. So I have been looking for more creative ways to meet people, since it doesn't just happen as it seemed to at Rice.

In part of this quest to find non-white people here at the Dame, tonight I went to the Dame's gospel choir practice. I had a great time. A part of me was a little on edge, being in a big group where I know exactly NO ONE. But a bigger part of me felt a big sigh of relief walking into a room that wasn't entirely white. The choir isn't all black. There were six or seven white girls and one white guy there (there were probably 40 people there total). As I was standing there, I realized what an amazing group of people was in that room.

First, the black students. At the Dame, black students are 3.5% of the undergraduate population. That is an incredibly small minority, and I imagine these kids have faced their fare share of discrimination or being misunderstood. They are also at a top tier university that almost anyone would be proud to get into. While certainly not all blacks are extremely disadvantaged, I bet a higher proportion of these kids than the white kids had to overcome obstacles or fight through things to get where they are. To me, they represent much strength, determination, hard work, and endurance, along with the courage it takes to attend such a predominantly white university. Some people would look at these kids and think they were undeserving of being at the Dame ("they only got in because they are black"); I think these kids deserve to be here more than anyone else.

Here are the words to one of the songs we rehearsed tonight:
You don't know my story / All the things that I've been through / You Can't feel my pain / What I had to go through to get here / You'll never understand my praise / Don't try to figure it out / Because my Worship / my Worship Is for real / I've been through too much / Not to worship Him

I love those lyrics, they are so expressive especially with the music to the song. And I started thinking about the depth and real-ness of worship in black churches. When black people sing about getting through struggles and pain, they know what they are talking about. It means so much less to privileged white people. Have you ever met someone who has been through all kinds of crap? I have found that often these people are deeper, more insightful, very aware, and very purposeful in what they do. Blacks in America surely fit this bill as a group, and I think I caught a glimpse of why the black church has remained so strong throughout American history, even still today.

The second set of amazing people I saw in that room were the non-black kids who were in the choir. These white students are not the norm. Most kids at the Dame are very white, come from decently wealthy families, dress preppy, and work out constantly. I saw so much in these students, getting out of the all-encompassing white bubble that is most of the Dame. I was impressed at their boldness and courage to do that, and I was impressed that many of them have stuck around and become really a part of the gospel choir group. These kids are a testament of love and courage, going off the beaten path, being willing to put themselves out there when they could live a comfortable all-white life.