Madison – The day he moved into his residence hall as a freshman, Christopher Loving heard the whispers of his hall-mates.
“There’s a black guy on the floor. Somebody go talk to him.”
Finally, three fellow University of Wisconsin-Madison students appeared.
After noting he was from Chicago, one asked Loving if he was from a rough neighborhood.
No, Loving said.
“My dad told me that all the black people in Chicago live in the projects. . . . Are you sure you didn’t grow up in the Robert Taylor Homes?”
Nope.
“Well, does your dad play for the Chicago Bears or something?”
No, Loving said. He wasn’t rich.
“Well, how do you go to school here then? I thought you had to be either really rich or really poor to go here if you’re black.”
Loving, now a junior and president of the campus Black Student Union, recalls the encounter with humor and sadness.