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Daniel Gostas-Sims, a 21-year-old senior at UW-Oshkosh said it was hard growing up in an all white town, where he attended private schools all of his life before coming to UW-Oshkosh.

"It was hard when I was a kid being around all white people," Sims said.

He said he loved putting bandages on his hand, and when he took them off his skin would look white.

"What I would do was ask my mom to bandage up my whole body so I could look like a white person," Sims said. "Now I associate with more black people that I do white."
Sims said he been around white people all his life, so he's use to being the minority.

Three different men, who come from different backgrounds, said there was at least on time that they felt uncomfortable when race was brought up in a class.

Sims said he would feel like a minority on any UW campus.

Sims is a black man, who grew up in Milwaukee with his mother until she died of breast cancer when he was 10.

He later moved to Sun Prairie to live with his dad, stepmom and stepbrother. Two years ago his family moved to Castaic, Calif.

Sims said his stepbrother is still a "gangbanger" at the age of 33.

He said he doesn't feel like there's enough cultural things availabe on the Oshkosh's campus, and if there was he would definitely take advantage of them.

"They're trying to close down the multiculture center. That's the last place a nigger can go," Sims said.

Although Sims isn't bothered by being on a campus of mostly white people, he is bothered by attending classes, where he is the only black person.

"I don't like being in all white classes," Sims said. "Can we get some diversity so I can have someone I can relate to? There's been times when I felt singled out and wanted to get up and walk out of class."

Kareem Jackson, a 19-year-old sophomore at UW-Oshksoh says he also feels uncomfortable in all white classes when race is brought up.

“I feel uncomfortable because it seems like there only talking like that when I’m there. If I wasn’t there it would be different,” Jackson said.

Jackson said he experienced that feeling in his Speech Communication Class.

“It didn’t seem natural for them to talk the way they were. They weren’t being themselves, that makes me feel more uncomfortable than anything,” Jackson said.

Jackson grew up in Kenosha, Wis. with his two brothers and sisters and his parents. His mom runs her own daycare and his father works at a factory in Chicago.

Jackson said he lives in a diverse neighborhood, so he never felt like he was different from other people. He said he doesn’t feel uncomfortable living on a campus, where the majority of the students are white.

“It doesn’t bother me that the campus is all white, what bothers me is that people are ignorant,” Jackson said. “I can be sitting around and people don’t know I’m there and start to say racial stuff. When they realize I had been there the whole time they start to appologize.”

Floyde Waite, a 27-year-old Jamaican, who is a senior at UW-Oshkosh, said that he never experienced racism until he came to the United States.

“Race is a big issue in the United States. Living here it becomes an issue. I never had that kind of problem in Jamaica,” Waite said. “I never felt uncomfortable, but I’m more aware of my color living here.”

Floyd came to the United States three years ago from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to obtain a college degree. He left behind his father, who owns his own furniture store and three sisters. His mother died when he was 14.

Waite said that coming to school was a lot different because of the different cultures.

“When you get to know everyone you start to fit in,” Waite said.

Waite also feel that there should be more cultural things on the campus.

“There isn’t enough stuff on campus, you don’t feel at home,” Waite said. “There should be more cultural things. That’s one of the biggest things. I lost a lot of weight when I came here, because I couldn’t find food from my culture.”