Sydnee Nicholle Chamberlain: What Detroit and GSP Taught Me About Belonging

In Detroit, Black people encompass 75-80% of the city's population. 

Growing up in Detroit, I was told that I was a minority, I was told that in broader societal structures I would not experience the same social luxuries and that racism and oppression were prevalent, but I never experienced it. Because in Detroit, when your teachers are Black, your mailman is Black, and everyone wears their heritage proudly for all to see, it’s hard to imagine a larger world where their Black identity is put down. It was hard to imagine a world where I was the other.  

In America, Black people take up roughly 13% of the country's population and the Black student population at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus is approximately 4% of the total student body. 

Though I’ve been a minority my whole life, college is the first time I’ve ever felt like one. IMy grandmother would call this phenomenon, “a few raisins in a bowl of oatmeal.” And that’s what it felt like. Outside of the walls of the major city I grew up in, there are not as many people that look like me as 

I thought. The otherness of being a minority was especially felt about two months after Welcome Week during Halloweekend. After a lot of convincing, I was dragged to a frat party by my friends. Walking in, I noticed that everything was different from what I was used to. The people, the music, the atmosphere, were all different. In fact, the most different thing I saw during my short time in that fraternity house was a white man covered in brown paint, wearing an afro wig and a dashiki. Learning about racism, and standing five feet away from it are two totally different experiences. Almost four years later, I still cannot come up with the words to fully encapsulate how small and uncomfortable I felt at that moment. 

The following year, I was one of the unfortunate many who did not receive housing for the 2023-2024 academic year, and according to my mom, I was not responsible enough to live in an apartment quite yet. Running out of options, I decided to look towards learning communities on campus. This is when I was introduced to GSP. I figured acceptance into the program wouldn't be a huge detriment. What’s a two credit class and a couple of events to being homeless in a crazy expensive college town? Walking into the GSP orientation, I noticed the space was a little more diverse than other spaces on campus. It certainly wasn’t Detroit, but it also wasn’t my Econ 251 lectures either. 

I entered GSP very fearful of encountering the same uncomfortable experience I had encountered my freshmen year. The culture shock I experienced my freshman year really made me reconsider my place at the University of Michigan. However, the last three years in  GSP have really surprised me. 

Through teach ins, classes, and the study abroad programs I have participated in, partially funded by Mr. Sprayregen,  I have learned so much about myself and others. Because of this learning community and the experiences and opportunities I have encountered through it, I have been introduced to so many rich cultures outside of my own and I have grown to recognize that otherness doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.  

Most importantly, GSP gave me a community. The summer following my senior year of high school, my friend group had a major fallout, except with me specifically. I came to college with no friends and during my freshman year, I struggled to find a stable community in such a fluid environment. 

Through this community, I have been introduced to amazing people. I’ve been on a study abroad trip with Ore, every Thursday, Maddy, Rea, and I watch a movie in Rea’s CG room, and despite now living off campus, I try to show up to at least one chai chatter a month to show my support for Paige. I think one of the most impactful moments I have experienced throughout my three years in this community would be every Friday, when I would walk into ALA 410. I was always greeted with warm welcomes by all of my friends. It feels good to know that you are appreciated and loved by your community as much as you love and appreciate them. 

In the current state of our country, the melting pot is a myth. We cannot claim to be a country welcoming of all cultures when systematic and social divides still prevail. However, my experiences all throughout college have shown me that while the nation as a whole may fall short of this ideal, smaller communities like Detroit, like GSP, prove that it is possible. They remind me that community is not something guaranteed by geography, but something intentionally curated through understanding and shared human experience. Otherness in spaces where people choose to engage, listen, and learn, can become connection and a catalyst for widescale change.