Deanna Loggins is a freshman admissions counselor and coordinator of African American recruitment for the University of Minnesota. She is also a student in the The College of Education and Human Development master’s program.
“Being from Chicago, it’s one of the more diverse places in America just based on where people have been placed throughout history. Price point has definitely caused a racial divide throughout the city. I personally did not have a white teacher, a white friend or anything until I got to high school, and still my high school was predominantly Black and Hispanic.
When I went to college, I went to a predominantly white university, so I went from being the majority to the minority. They had resources there, but it was still the experience of being a Black person at a predominantly white school. Being the one Black person in a class, you would have racist or rude things said to you, but the diversity chief of our school was always there for me. He was always someone I could talk to or reach out to whenever things were happening.
Now I just want to be that resource to help Black students. I know from experience what it’s like to be the one Black person in a class and being a Black woman at that. I know everything is not preventable but being able to stop one less person feeling like they don’t belong or feeling uncomfortable – that’s making a big enough impact for me. Every day is a learning experience, and every day we are trying to strive for better equality. But it just takes time.
We are doing the best we can to try and push for that, but unfortunately it does take time.”
Interview by Natalie Paynter