How are you folks doing today? I want to tell you the story of how I met my wife. I was only a University freshman when I met her. She was simply the most amazing chick on campus. Vanessa Saint Richard. Daughter of Boston-based Haitian-American Lawyer James Saint Richard and Brazilian-born Canadian Real Estate Legend Maria Ramos. A five-foot-nine, lean and athletic young woman with golden brown skin, long Black hair and light brown eyes. This African-American princess ruled the Carleton University campus.
That's right. Does that surprise you? A Black woman basically runs the social scene at Canada's Capital University. And everyone knew it. Jennifer Saint Richard was Captain of the Cheerleading Squad. There were thirty young women on the Squad and only six of them were of African descent. There were three Latinas and two Asian young women. Yeah, women of color are an anomaly on Canadian cheerleading squads. Yet a young Black woman ran the whole show. Amazing. How did so do it? With strength, determination, and the inability to take no for an answer.
I've always been fascinated by North America's Black women. Black Canadian women are okay but African-American women fascinate me. They're amazingly beautiful. They're also smart, strong and passionate. They fear no one. Growing up, I had crushes on Black American female celebrities like Hollywood actress Angela Bassett, TV Legend Jada Pinkett Smith, World Tennis Champion Serena Williams, Pop Culture Icon Pam Grier, Award-winning Singer Alicia Keys and many others. I fell in love with a young Black woman named Elise Nielson during my senior year at New York's Saint Joseph Academy. She was the first gal I ever made love with. After graduation, she went on to attend Boston College. These days, she's dating a football player from the University of Massachusetts. I'm so jealous!
Who am I? Aabideen Akbar Mahmoud. A young woman from the United Arab Emirates. My family moved to New York City when I was much younger. I grew up in America but will always feel like a foreigner here. I stand five feet nine inches tall, chubby and busty, with dark bronze skin, Black hair and pale brown eyes. The life of an Arab woman in North America is never easy. I have family in the United States of America, particularly in New York City. I'm attending Carleton University on an academic scholarship. There are quite a few people from the Middle east living in the City of Ottawa. However, I can't stand to live in the City of Ottawa. If you ask me, Ottawa is home to the most bigoted and racist people on the planet. They hide their contempt for immigrants of non-European origin behind their fake smiles. I can't stand the typical Canadians. I find the sons and daughters of immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America to be really nice people. That's why most of my friends at Carleton University were either Black or Hispanic.
Among these lively young men and women, I felt quite welcome. Most people assume I'm Hispanic due to my looks. I don't find this annoying or offensive in the least. I have lots of friends from Latin America. However, I'm a proud Arab woman. Being an Arab gal in a very Western City wasn't easy. A lot of the White guys and White chicks at Carleton University didn't hide their contempt for Muslims, especially Arab women like myself. I complained to the Dean of Students but she told me there was nothing she could do. Canadians are racist. That's the way they all are. All of them without exception. And they're not changing anytime soon.