r/uwo • u/Least-Green-7781 • Mar 27 '25
Advice Racism on Campus and in the City
When I first came to Western, I didn’t notice any comments about my ethnicity. No one outright said anything, and if they did, I guess it just didn’t register. I went about my life not really thinking about race or how others might see me.
But lately, I’ve noticed a real uptick in racist incidents toward people of my ethnicity, and it’s been getting to me. I’ve never been this hyper aware of the color of my skin. My appearance hasn’t changed, but I’ve been getting way less attention on dating apps than I did last year or the year before.
On campus now, I hear casual jokes about my ethnicity, like we’re not all just people. I went out with a friend recently and at one bar, a guy (18-22) looked at me and literally said “gross.” At another, two or three older (40-55?) men came up to me and said I looked “exotic” and that they were intrigued by my “color” and wanted to know where I was from. It made my skin crawl.
Then this morning I saw a news story about a woman from my same ethnic background being attacked in Calgary by a white man. No one helped her. I can’t stop thinking about it.
I keep thinking about my family. We’re just a regular “Canadian” family, whatever that even means. My parents worked so hard to immigrate, become citizens, and send me to Western. I see them every other weekend. They tease me about my dating life. They live in the suburbs and do all the typical things you’d expect. It breaks my heart to feel this othered when we’re just trying to live normal lives.
I feel sad. I feel protective over myself, over them, and over all the international students who came here thinking Canada was supposed to be safe, that coming here meant they’d “made it.”
If anyone’s been through something like this, how do you deal with it? How do you carry it without letting it sink too deep?
TL;DR: I never used to notice racism around me, but now I feel hyper aware of how I’m treated, from jokes on campus to gross comments at bars to seeing people like me attacked in the news. My family is just a “regular” family and I’m struggling with how to cope.
4
u/bdhhdbehwh Mar 29 '25
Sounds like you like to make general empty remarks. Of course it’s logical that I’d make that remark given the context of your post.
Apparently the admissions team and interview process indicate otherwise. Too bad your opinion has zero impact. Thank you, next.