PENSACOLA, Fla. – December 11, 2019 – ( PNJ.com )
With confidence in his voice and surety beyond his years, Semme Jenkins talks about his path in life so far. Recently, he has become clearer about the impact he wants to make.
The 21-year-old was born with albinism, which makes his appearance distinctive because of the lack of pigmentation in his skin, hair and eyes. Once considered legally blind, the rare genetic condition affects his vision.
Aspiring musician Semme Jenkins works on a new musical track inside his home recording studio on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. (Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)
He recently returned from New York City on a trip he described as half-vacation and half-making connections for the work he is doing with bullying and albinism awareness.
And the world has a way of reminding him that he is unique.
“When I was in New York, I’d walk by the people knocking over stuff,” he said. “People will stare at you.”
He said the way people misperceive him for simply being an albino forces him to take measures to avoid common interactions.
“When I go grocery shopping, I have to set my alarm to go at like two o’clock in the morning because I just don’t want to deal with the anxiety and just being stared at everywhere I go.”
When Semme was in high school he got into making pop and hip hop music and eventually producing several genres.
“I started around three years ago, but I didn’t do it for an entire year,” he said. “I just started back up after my partner and producer Rodney (Goldsmith) unexpectedly died on my birthday last year.”
“I’ve never experienced a close death before, not even a pet. So it was really hard to take.”
Semme said he had to learn how to do everything on the production side in the past year because Rodney was his person for that. “I took the year and just tried to work really hard and learn it so I could do it.”
Aspiring musician Semme Jenkins lays down a new musical track inside his home recording studio on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. (Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)
Rodney’s sudden death inspired Semme to move forward with the “I Support Albinism” campaign that brought about his short film titled, “Don’t Look at Me” about bullying and rejection.
“Bullying is pretty much all I ever knew,” he said. “I was always just different by default.”
Semme deals with nystagmus, which causes shaking in his eyes, an ailment common in people with albinism.
“People would make fun of that constantly,” he said. “It really discouraged me from having eye-to-eye contact until recently. I never wanted to look someone in the eye or in the face directly, at least not for longer than five seconds, because I just instantly thought they would bring it up and then they would bring me down.”
His poor vision caused him to be slower in classes in school and he would have to use a magnifying glass. Sometimes his head would shake to compensate for his eyes.
“I probably went to over 10 or fifteen schools growing up just because my mom wanted to move me around and see where I would fit best. Because everywhere I went, everyone would just pick on me and I just always felt isolated,” Semme said.
His other creative partner, and Rodney’s longtime collaborator, Derek Ogden, have been working together since Semme was 16 years old.
“We talk about everything that goes on with me. He’s my go-to guy,” Semme said about Derek. “When it all happened (with Rodney’s death), the idea of ‘I Support Albinism’ gained traction and we have been working on it for about a year now.”
The two had been trying to figure out the right time to write and shoot a project to support the campaign. The partners bounced ideas off of several people but never found anyone who could convey the message properly.
“When we would try out other writers, we decided they couldn’t really grasp exactly what I was feeling. And then I was just like, man, no one’s actually going to understand my story better than me, so I just wrote it.”
Semme said when he was in the process of writing, he tried to think about where he could place the piece. “I was just thinking OK, what would Nike do? Or what would a brand like that do that is universal for everyone?”
He thought of the times that he would walk past people and would think, “Just don’t look at me.”
“Then it hit me, and I ended up writing it in probably 15 minutes. I sat down and just wrote, wrote and wrote exactly how I felt.”
Semme recruited multi and bilingual friends to speak in various languages for “Don’t Look at Me” to bring more unison to the video.
“The main goal right now is just to spread awareness about the movement. The United Nations recently created International Albinism Awareness Day bringing more attention to it. I know of one albino celebrity who’s a model, but there are not a lot of people that know much about it.”
He said his short film is not just for people with albinism, but for anyone who feels different, isolated or bullied – something he fully understands.
“I went to a family reunion once and had people come up to me and ask me why I was there,” he said.
“People are so quick to disassociate us because they don’t know where to put us. Every person I’ve ever met with albinism, it hurts my heart, because they all remind me of how I was up until about a year ago. It’s like, they don’t want to talk; they don’t want to be seen. They’re really shy and insecure and always worried about someone judging them.”
Semme said he wants the movement to stand for something bigger than himself.
“It’s not all about me,” he said. “I wanted to make something that resonated with people who have trouble fitting in. I’ve also felt that way before and I still do at times.”
“That’s not a good way to live,” he said. “When I was little, I used to dye my hair and eyebrows, and just try to do everything I could to be considered ‘normal.’ It just brings you down a dark hole by not accepting who you are.”
“We are different and we need to embrace it because it’s actually a really cool thing. When I realized that, I was like, you know what, it’s cool; I like it. Now I really enjoy being different.”
Want to learn more?
For more information about Semme Jenkins and albinism awareness visit iamsemme.com, graphicent.com, and isupportalbinism.com.
Semme’s video “Don’t Look at Me” can be found on YouTube at youtu.be/jCvYWubkw-w. The short film was made with the support of stopbullying.gov and underthesamesun.com.
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