Valerie Braimah, Los Angeles, CA.
American Indians still exist. We’re strong.
Randell Baze, Denver, CO.
My Industry can’t get Latino right.
Ricardo Chavira, San Antonio, TX. Actor who splits time between SA and LA. Alumnus of TV series Desperate Housewives. Id say I was shocked that industry can’t tap into Latino market, but I’m not. I also realize that we as Latinos have a tendency to get in our own way.
My Not So White Life
Joye Beard, Corpus Christi, TX. In the 23 years that my husband and I have been married I’ve noticed some disconcerting things about being in a mixed race marriage. First, I’m not comfortable around other white people at all. If they’re open minded it’s not so bad. But most are not, and once they learn […]
Heroic face seldom seen in media
Charles Los Angeles, CA Leaders of color are seldom portrayed in our theater, films or story traditions.
Bicultural and Bilingual should be enough.
Megan Medrano, Houston, TX. Growing up Latina in south Texas, I have always been surrounded with rich culture. My home was filled with both the English and Spanish language and I was encouraged to live both my Mexican and U.S. Latina identities. I did not realize how important an ethnic identity was until I came […]
Thirdculture and don’t understand white culture!
Kit Robison, Doral, FL. I am most comfortable when the primary language is other than English. People assume I understand when they hear a lack of accent and see my skin but no your cultural logic did not compute in my head.
Becoming American, it is not easy
Sandra Castañeda Anaheim, CA I have spent 42 of my 44 years in this country and it doesn’t make an ounce of difference, I’m still treated differently. My head says I’m American my heart says I’m Colombian, because that’s where I’m accepted.
Always hold your head up high
Harder, Hanover, NH.
Music teacher listening to student cries
Jamie Coppa, Asbury Park, NJ. As a music teacher with an almost entirely black and hispanic student body, I was met with stories of oppression, lack of food, disrupted sleep, abuse, incarceration, and even the murder of the loved ones they so deeply cared for. I will never forget the beautiful music my students expressed […]
Concerning. Scary. Exciting. “Hi, I’m Elaine.”
Elaine, Rochester, MN. These were the words that come to mind when I met my first non-white person — an American Indian girl. We were in first grade at a small school in SD. Her family moved to another community later in the year. I wonder why.
Citizenship is fact – race is fiction.
Ann Evans Larimore, Ann Arbor, MI.
My gut is racist; I’m not.
Stephanie Turner Cincinnati, OH I mean that I have knee-jerk reactions, for example, when I see black men out late on the street, but I was raised not to be a racist and don’t want to be.
Shoshana must be a black name
Shoshana Snyder, Eugene, OR.
Every race fears those facially disfigured.
Mattie O’Brien Ann Arbor, MI
With burnt flesh, we’re the same.
Brian Makris Blacksburg, VA I’m from a small town in upstate NY, and we had two African American families in our town. We just viewed them like everyone else, and I didn’t experience any racism growing up. When I went into the Army in 1991, I experienced my first bit of racism from Southern white […]
Don’t ask why families don’t match
Alicia Barnes, Starkville, MS. Shared race is not a qualifier of being a mother to a child. Some of us birth kids who don’t look like us, and it’s hurtful for people to question our status. When I saw people trying to figure out if a white mother with brown daughters had adopted them, I […]
I stay in my “own lane”
Livi Dom, Napa, CA. I have opinions on things, but because I’m white I feel as if it’s not my place to talk about them, because I have no idea what it’s like to be discriminated about because of my race. Which is fine! I just stay in my lane, and I try to support, […]
I’m white. How can I help?
Anne Huntemer, Sonora, CA. Coming from a place of privilege, how can I help welcome and fight for my friends of color? I know I haven’t experienced what you have, but I’m here to support you in any way I can.
White. Live on Indian Reservation. Blessed!
Terry Larson, Cass Lake, MN. I have lived my whole life with Ojibwe people, am a fishing & canoe guide at the beginning of the Mississippi River. My life is filled with their customs, hunting and gathering for my table. We spend the winters on the border of Mexico, now, and they are much like […]
No offense BUT, what are you?
Francesca Sam-Sin, Katy, TX. “No offense BUT, what are you?” That’s usually how the conversation about my race begins. When I arrived in the U.S. in the 80’s I was really surprised by the emphasis on race. The first time someone asked what “race” I was, it took me a minute to understand exactly what […]
You’re black, and you love hunting?
William Nash Jr. Albemarle, NC
“Your name doesn’t match your face”
Kimberly Jackson, New York City, NY, Most people do not associate the name “Kimberly Arlene Jackson” with a half-Vietnamese, half-White American person. The surprise is often hard to hide.
Because I married a white man
Patricia Osborn Grand Rapids, MI People are always surprised when they see me. My last name doesn’t. “match” how I look. Although my parents are awesome and didn’t think twice about any of their children’s spouses race , my aunts and uncles made so many comments ranging from me not wanting to be a true […]
Even a poor conversation beats silence.
Nicholas Howe, Northhampton, MA. Smith College I attended a mixed-race suburban public high school in Connecticut, where I competed on both the swim team and the track team in the late 80’s. Only one member of the swim team was African American, and his race was the elephant in the room that nobody would talk […]
When did borders start defining ‘race’?
Sarah Naomi Burnett, Norristown, PA. Being a ‘white’ girl raised on the border of Mexico the ‘race-card’ issue was raised daily. I always felt that if I was a color, and they were a nationality, those two identifiers didn’t quantify either of us equally. I had a culture at home that was Irish/Italian but where […]
No black kids in my school
Howard T. Uhal, Mentor, OH. I attended twelve years of public school in the town of Mentor, Ohio, birthplace of President James A. Garfield. To the best of my knowledge, there was not a single black kid in the school system, and perhaps none in the entire town. This was in the 1954-1966 time frame. […]
I’m not your contestant to judge
Olivia Paez, Destrehan, LA. My mom is white, and my dad is Cuban. I was told a lot of times I am to white to be Hispanic, but I know my blood.
You’re wearing a hijab? I’m nervous.
Camille, Castle Rock, CO. I grew up in an area where there were no Muslims. I moved to Colorado and that’s when I was first exposed to the religion. My mom gets very nervous when she sees a woman wearing a hijab. She almost leaves the store we are in every time. It’s just something […]
Puerto Rico’s Identity Crisis Defines Me.
Isabel Nicole Otero Hernandez, Silver Spring, MD. I was born in Puerto Rico to a Cuban Mother and a Puerto Rican Father. The summer I turned 10 my family moved to Jacksonville, FL, and only a year later moved again to a small town to the north: Ringgold, Georgia. When people ask me where I […]
Ashkenazi Jewish, my race, not me.
Zizi Greenberg, Los Angeles, CA. Your race is your race, yes. But you are your own person independent of your race -unless you choose to let your path be made for you.
My Mexicanness doesn’t tell my narrative
Arely Herrera, Memphis, TN One of my professors of the “(De)constructing Race in America” course I am currently taken has embedded the importance of having your own “narrative” in my mind. Now, for me, it is always important to look at the history and re-write what my race means to me. “Mexican” doesn’t completely describe […]
Black And White Together Always Better
Mike Magee, Baton Rouge, LA Being a 60 year old white man my live would not be as full and joyful without my black friends.
See my humanity first, problem solved.
Sylvia Stancil, Detroit, MI
I feel guilty, being born white.
Hayley Franklin, Virginia Beach, VA.
I see colors. Colors are beautiful.
Richard Sullivan, Fort Worth, TX
Division doesn’t make America great again
Lucas Fabry, Dillonvale, OH
Who in your family is Korean?
Sameese Smith, Philadelphia, PA.
I’m cognizant of my inherent privilege.
Damian Lair, Kansas City, MO
Somewhere between Salsa and Country!
Stephanie Connors Eureka, CA Music is one of my biggest reminders of the cultures that I grew up with. It fills me with nostalgia and pride, longing and love of the people who came before me. The people from: everywhere! I love all of it now. From day to day I swirl around in a […]
Please stop trying to justify racism.
Harper Grey, Philadelphia, PA I see too many white people saying being white makes them a scapegoat, and complaining that everyone calls them racist “just for speaking the truth”… all while publicly espousing racist views & white-supremacist opinions that are as far from “truth” as it gets. Almost without exception, these are white conservatives. I’m […]
No thanks; I am with him.
Yuko Taniguchi, Rochester, MN When I am in a line with my white husband at the grocery store, hotel check-in, or flight check-in, etc, I am approached by a staff with “Can I help you?” “No thanks, I’m with him,” I say. My husband also gets approached when I go through the line first. He […]
Lost in race as a mixed kid
Ninasophia Stowe, Riverside, CA I am mixed with Black, German and Mexican. Growing up I was very confused about what it meant to be mixed. I didn’t feel fully accepted by the Black community because I didn’t have enough black features, was called the “black friend” around white people and didn’t speak Spanish so felt […]
Got an accent. In five languages
Ioana Hojda, Aberdeen, SD Immigrant, white wife of an African immigrant and mother to mixed boys. We have moved to the US from Italy, our first country of immigration. When we travel abroad we have three different country passports for 5 people: Romania, Cameroon and the US.
Proud of my blackness for real
Hazel Wishart, Chesapeake, VA
Living while black, a criminal offense
Cassandra Gordon, Morristown, NJ
Yes dude, I actually play basketball.
Roy Yuan, Mountain View, CA Is there something peculiar about this image? Well, whether you’re racist or not, you probably guessed it. Out of the four players sitting down, I’m the only Asian kid. Hi, I’m Roy, and as you can probably tell, I’m Asian (Chinese in particular). Being of Asian descent is a part […]
Afraid for my Native American children.
Jarret Cummings, Rockville, MD My wife and children are members of the Cherokee Nation, but we have the good fortune to live in an area where they are unlikely to face discrimination. I worry about what may happen if my children ultimately go someplace where racial discrimination is still prevalent and how I should prepare […]
Guide To Your Privilege Right
Z Frohna, Los Angeles, CA. So. I’m a white woman who lives in L.A. But I’m also disabled, and a part of the LGBT+ community. Am I privileged? Yes. If someone has privilege, whether it is the dreaded white privilege or economically fueled privilege, it doesn’t mean, “they are a terrible person,” or, “their life […]
It should not be this hard.
Tina, England
I can’t look away anymore. JUSTICE!
Beth Feagan, Berea, KY White folks have the luxury of not thinking about race, and that’s a problem. We are coded as “normal” or “default” in America, but that’s a part of white supremacy. It’s possible to construct a white identity that is in solidarity with people of color, and that’s what I’m trying to […]
Black beat me up, I’m sorry
Mike, USA When I was a young child I lived in an area where there were no people of color. My family went to visit my grandparents and while I was playing I saw a kid who was black. I had never seen anyone that had skin color other than my own, at least not […]
Earth uses race as a weapon
Jay, Philadelphia, PA
Our Outer Appearance Does Not Matter
Drew Murray, Owensboro, KY I grew up in a very divided household when it comes down to the words race and racism. When I 7 my parents divorced, I moved in with my mother and she began dating, 9 months rolls around and she is pregnant by her then boyfriend, now husband. This man was […]
I’m not a basic white woman
Sydney, OH Assuming who I am based on what I look like will keep you from moving forward. Don’t judge me and I won’t judge you. We are all smarter than that.
Stereotypes are a result of laziness
Christal L, Wayne State, Detroit, MI Instead of getting to know people, some find it easier to put people into boxes. Black = bad. White = good. Mexican = illegal, etc. It’s sad. Get to know people. Skin color gives a hint to who a persons ancestors could have been. It says nothing about the […]
Change On Counter Not In Hand
Kristina T. Sanders, Sumter, SC. A regular day at work turned into an eye opening experience. I had helped a customer pick out a pair of shoes, and it was time for him to purchase them. The customer was a tall middle age Caucasian gentlemen. I gave him his total and he pulled out the […]
I am always the Black bestfriend
Roslyn Jefferson, Albany, NY. I grew up in a majority white city, so this was the story of my life! When younger, didn’t know how to address racial issues or topics, when they popped up, with my white friends. Thank goodness I feel comfortable with that now!
Dear Ebenezer Baptist: I still cringe
Elizabeth Rodriguiz, Ypsilanti, MI. In the early 2000s I tagged along with my husband to his professional society meeting in Atlanta. While he went to lectures, I explored the city. I took the Metro to the stop nearest Ebenezer Baptist Church and walked through the neighborhood to get there. At the church, I actually asked […]
Strange fruit in a Plum Tree
Ronnie Dunn, Cleveland, OH My family was the third African American family to move on my street, Gay Avenue, on Cleveland’s Eastside in 1964. I was three years old and the youngest of three children. My siblings, a sister and brother, respectively and four years older than I, had already started school. The grandchildren, a […]
I have been alone among many
Gordon Lee Pattison, Los Angeles, CA. In 1959, when I was 14 years old, I moved from Los Angeles to Honolulu. I had just started taking French as a foreign language at my junior high school in Los Angeles and wanted to continue. However, there was only one junior high school in Honolulu at that […]
Trying to Navigate, Willing to Fight
Donna Scott, Seattle, WA. I’m passionate about social justice, but I sense the amount of space that I take up, as a white person. I noticed race early on (I’m thinking I noticed it in Kindergarten, I was one of two white kids at my school of ~300) and I’ve been trying my best to […]
You can sit in the bar
Diane Graves, San Antonio, TX. My husband and I (both Anglo) were driving our adopted daughter (born in El Salvador, adopted as an infant, a U.S. citizen since she was 11 months old) to a guest ranch in Colorado. It was 2004; our daughter was 11 years old. Late on Sunday morning, we stopped to […]
Child of deaf mother, hearing world.
Heather, Fishers, IN If you have never heard about deaf culture, please go and read about it. Growing up the oldest child of a deaf mom, I never remembered learning sign. I didn’t know we were different. I didn’t know I was loud! I still don’t know when I am being loud. I love my […]
Which one: sushi, hamburgers, or both?
Julie Taeko Gramlich, San Francisco, CA. Love the idea for this Race Card Project. Thanks for starting it. I am currently writing a book about growing up mixed-race and identifying as Hapa.
Sick of being “The White Girl”
Ellie Warring, New York, NY. I am a 14 year old white female and every single day I am judged for my skin color. Everyone assumes that because I am white I am a Trump supporter, rich, happy all the time, racist, and snobby. They tell me that I have no culture. And I’m tired […]
Expansive Roots, Exquisite Tongues, Diversity Perpetuated
Christopher Ramsey, Phoenix, AZ. From Mexico, to Ireland to Guam and then back to Spain. I embrace the wealth in language, food, faith and tradition. I intend to continue what my parents started and charitably inform those inquisitive minds to breakdown their misconceptions into fertile ground for understanding and respect.
Puerto Rican. Mexican. Caucasian. That’s me.
Carissa Renee Chacon, Wayne State, Detroit, MI Born with the curliest, thickest dark brown hair (well now it’s auburn). Hazel eyes that have green and specks of gold. Skin white as snow. There’s always been a push and pull situation regarding my ethnicity. Most people don’t believe me when I say I speak Spanish fluently. […]
Veil, black, nationality, gender, food, proper names
Asmaa Benbaba, Auburn, AL. In more instances than one, the veil is considered as a symbol of subservience and exclusion by western media. As a result, a lot of people reproduce the same thoughts and behavior towards those women who choose the veil as an identity and refuse to think critically of the socio-cultural and […]
Rice is my LIFE. Deal with it.
Emily, Perris, CA. I have NEVER been so proud to be a Filipino-American. My culture is my everything and I would not trade it for the world. Being the handful of Asians at my school makes me even more unique. I want to promote diversity, I want people to be okay with the color of […]
Shouldn’t matter so much in America.
Brandi Jones, Wayne State, Detroit, MI Growing up as an African American in America is exhausting. We are supposed to be the land of the free where you can be who you are. Instead black people who are born here are treated worse than immigrants. We are not terrible people just because we are a […]
See me, not my skin color.
Refugio Zavala, Stockton, CA. All throughout my life, people have judged me by the color of my skin. When I was in the United States, people would call me things like “beaner” and “wetback.” These are racial slurs meant to humiliate and make me ashamed of my culture. So what that I liked to eat […]
White, Korean, southern, AND atheist
Melanie Mills, NC. I am 1/4 Korean, but I only look caucasian. I live in the “Bible Belt”, but I am an atheist. I am so much more than what I seem. I am so much more than just WHITE.
Our different skins hold one love.
Ty Martinez, Oak Lawn, IL. Black Mexican Korean Italian – sharing the best of each other with each other through similar yet very different cultural experiences. We amplify our togetherness by honoring our own mixed uniqueness.
White Jewish girl in a bubble
Emily Einhorn, Beachwood, OH. Whenever there is talk about racism, a part of me feels guilty. I have lived in a small suburb my entire life. In this town, people joke you’re either black, Jewish, or Asian. I have never witnessed a racist act and I feel as if I’ve missed out on being a […]
No. I’m not your average face.
Clara Chun, Los Angeles, CA. I’m a Thai-Chinese, Korean, White girl. It’s about as confusing as it sounds, but I refuse to not acknowledge a single part of my identity. Because all of it exists.
Biracial White/Asian Travels to Southern States
Sean B., Riverside, CA. I am half white and half Filipino. Growing up in a melting pot such as Southern California has been awesome. I never truly understood how lucky I was to live here until I traveled to the south (multiple states) to visit family. My wife is Filipina (born in the south). While […]
Do I look like a Twinkie?
Jacob Tanes, Durham, NC. A stereotype that people call the Asian race is Twinkie because Twinkies are yellow on the outside and white on the inside.
Brown girl rejected with red blood
Anonymous, USA. Grew up as the only little brown girl in class, always having to explain why my hair grew up to the skies when it rained and the humidity took control of my tresses, then drew tightly too my head. Never getting assistance from the PTA moms passing out red and black combs on […]
Self segregation in classrooms baffles me!
Sandy Yarrington, Wayne State, St. Clair Shores, MI I am always amazed at how far we have come, but I am frustrated at how far we have to go. It disturbs me that in many of the classes I have taken, the black people all sit together. The white people sit together. The foreign students […]
You’re not one of THOSE Asians.
Linn Won Cook, Irvine, CA. I guess that’s a compliment?
My Voice Matters No Matter What
Tamia Davis, Wayne State, Detroit, MI No matter how bad this world gets, my voice and space will always matter and be valid. If I don’t have space or feel like my voice is being silenced, I will continue to fight to create a safe space for people like me that feel like they don’t […]
Ni de aquí, ni de allá
Ana Rodríguez, Wayne State, Antioch, IL Selena’s dad explained it best in his monologue where he talks about how tough it is to be Mexican-American. He goes on to explain that, “Anglos jump all over you if you don’t speak English perfectly and Mexicans jump all over you if you don’t speak Spanish perfectly…We have […]
We’re one people on one planet.
Jedd Birkner, Torrance, CA. Race is a social construct. Prejudice is a way of expressing ignorance and fear. Senseless hatred is passed from generation to generation. I pray that the people in my country with hatred in their hearts for those they perceive as “the other” become a smaller and smaller minority with each generation. […]
Running for the freedom in myself.
Bob Preston, Seattle, WA. On Location: Seattle Community Colleges I thought of this while being told about this project, immediately, and since it has helped me through my transition back to my regular life from military life.
“Good Morning!” But there’s no response.
Clyde Jasper Oakland, CA I’m a tall black man with dreadlocks. I’m a husband and a father. I’m a property owner, and a taxpayer. I’m a veteran. I vote. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from a world class university in Berkeley, CA. In passing, I many times acknowledge a white persons presence and humanity with […]
Lincoln Hills Harlem Renaissance Resort Restored
James Edward Mills. Madison, WI. Often the guidance we need to create a brighter future can be seen through the fading images of the not-so-distant past. And by coming to a better understanding of where we have been we can set a path toward where we most want to go. Less than an hour’s drive […]
Disabled Combat veterans also face discrimination
Stan Lightner, Elyria, OH. As a disabled combat vet I have been a target of discrimination on numerous occasions by “Christian” conservatives. Imagine how it feels to be called lazy, welfare queen, worth less than an Iraq POW just for starters. BTW I have an earned doctorate in Occupational & Adult Education from Oklahoma State […]
Proud to be an American woman
Sue Christensen, West Valley City, UT.
African American Veteran. Never been incarcerated.
Brian Easterling, Paoli, PA.
I like kimchi more than potatoes.
Sarah Diggins, Berlin, MA. I’m almost entirely Irish by heritage (my dad’s side is 100%), but I never really clicked with the culture. I grew up loving Celtic music, looking at gorgeous landscapes of the Irish countryside, and hearing stories about my Irish cousins and ancestors from my grandparents. But when I went to live […]
Only through interaction, foreign becomes familiar
Ansel Oommen, Queens, NY. Once we realize that all people are uncannily similar, we can start to support a diverse human ecology of symbiosis.
Never belonging. Puerto Rican or American?
Lorna Hagen, Brooklyn, NY. I am Puerto Rico born New Yorker that moved to the US when I was 12. Somewhere in the plane ride over I lost something – I have no shared childhood experiences with my North American friends (lullabies, games, etc.) and no shared adolescent experiences with my Puerto Rican friends. It […]
Grandma didn’t let dad speak Spanish
Allen Nunez Wickham, Molalla, OR. I remember being asked by my mom at 5 years old if I wanted to learn Spanish., and replying that I didn’t want to. Only later did I realize later that people actually grew up speaking Spanish and English, and my dad’s inability to speak Spanish has greatly impacted my […]
Will they ask me or assume?
Hillary Buren, Kansas City, MO. As a biracial women growing up in am almost entirely white community I have adapted to addressing my racial ambiguity (I am most commonly mistaken as Hispanic but even have been confused for as Indian) and usually I resort to humor when it comes to this topic. However it never […]
You are still someone without it.
Clarence Butler, Canonsburg, PA. Humans are humans are humans. Race does not exist. I think that people will not let go of this idea, because it gives their ego something easy to cling to, that helps to buttress their esteem.
Hair color does not equal incompetence.
Megan Schluentz, Muskegon, MI. Your dumb blonde jokes won’t stop me from becoming a doctor.
RACE isn’t culture or beauty. Brains are.
Aida Verri, New Orleans, LA. You are not ugly, pretty, stupid, smart, strong, weak, violent or calm because of your “race”. Your skin color isn’t your race, isn’t your culture, isn’t your identity.
Caught between defying and affirming stereotypes.
Ryan C Los Angeles, CA Chinese, 20-something-year-old male, university student, and gay. Never going to be a doctor, lawyer, or businessman–contrary to familial and societal expectations. Still looking for peace of mind in my life choices.
You are holding the binoculars backwards.
Andrew Schlager, Kansas City, MO. “You are holding the binoculars backwards.” We are so consumed by generalized assumptions about race that we fail to see that every individual is different. We see people from afar, just as a person would see looking through binoculars backwards, and make judgments without really looking closely, like a person […]
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