'What I learned as a white girl in a black school.'

Ebony, Sept, 1993 by Tru Love

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend your senior year as the "new White girl" in an all-Black school? I went to Detroit's Finney High School alone and terrified, and left with life-long friends, great memories and a unique perspective on what it feels like to be a minority.

Your magazine has always featured unique and interesting stories. I've written this story with Ebony in mind to show how I was awakened to the realities of prejudice and accepted into the Black community.

By Tru Love

MY mother pushed me out of the car in front of Finney High and locked the doors behind me.

"You'll be fine," she yelled through the closed car windows.

"If I'm found mutilated in a ditch somewhere, you'll be sorry," I screamed. She just smiled and drove away.

I was 19 years old on that day, and I was a product of the all-girl Catholic schools of suburban Detroit. I had endured eight years at St. Clare of Montefalco, complete with horrible redplaid uniforms and church twice a week. The year that followed at Our Lady Star of the Sea was made thoroughly unbearable by all the Muffy wannabees with their Preppy Handbooks and daddies' BMWs. I later transferred to Dominican High School (which was in the city of Detroit, but still all-girl Catholic), where I spent two happy years. During my second year at Dominican, I had studied industrial electronics at Cornelius Golightly Vocational Technical Center for half of each school day.

Life at Dominican was good until the end of my junior year when I was told that my entire senior year would consist of religion classes.

The only escape from this was the Detroit public school system, and I transferred to Finney High School, generally regarded as one of the worst.

While I no longer had to worry about fulfilling religion requirements, I had a new concern: survival. Finney High School is 99.9 percent Black, and it was widely rumored that White people were beaten to death in the school yard--just for fun.

I can still remember my mother dropping me off in front of Finney on the first day of school, the day she pushed me out of the car and locked the door behind me. I thought--no, I knew--I was going to die.

I knew that a few guys from my class at Golightly went to Finney, but I didn't see any of them as I surveyed the sea of Black faces, all looking at the skinny White girl standing in front of their school. There was a group of kids standing outside the main school entrance, which was bolted closed.

"How do you get into school?" I asked a Black girl standing near the door.

"Don't worry," she chimed, "they'll unlock the dungeon when the bell rings."

With that comment she turned her back and began giggling with her friends about the "new White girl." As the bell rang, people started to move towards the doors. When I reached the door, the guard stopped me.

"Where's your ID? Nobody gets in without an ID."

"I'm new," I managed to squeak. Other students were passing through, flashing a small piece of plastic. The guard gave me a long stare and said:

"OK, go down that hallway and turn left. First door on the right. I'll be watching you."

As I was about to follow his instructions, a woman grabbed my arm.

"Walk through the metal detector, sweetheart." I felt as though I was at the airport.

I walked through and found the main office. People were everywhere. Every desk was piled high with papers. Every phone was ringing. I froze. I didn't even know who was a student and who was working in the office. Then, like an angel from the sky, Mr. Young, the father of one of my Dominican girlfriends, appeared.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying not to hug the poor man.

"What am I doing here? I'm the principal. What are you doing here?"

"I'm one of your new students."

With that he gave me a big hug and welcomed me to his school, asking: "Have you gotten your papers yet?" I shook my head, no. He signaled one of his assistants to come over. "This is Tru Love. She's a new student. Make sure she fills out all the proper paper work and get her an ID right away." As I was led out of the office, I noticed a few glares from people who had been waiting in line. They didn't look too pleased. Being identified as the principal's pet on the first day at school is not good karma, especially if you're one of the few White people in the entire school. It's not as if I'd be hard to find.

Instead of religion, my mornings were to be spent studying physics, American history and English literature before bussing off to Golightly for the afternoon. No sooner had I received a copy of my schedule than one of my buddies from Golightly Vo-Tech, William Fortune, arrived to give me a grand tour of my new school.

All afternoon I ran into buddies from Golightly. At every encounter I was introduced to new, friendly faces. Robert Barnes was very protective. "Hey, y'all, this is my good friend, Tru. Keep an eye on her for me and don't let anyone mess with her." For the next few months of school I was escorted to all my classes.