Keith R. Barnes, Colorado Springs, CO. I hear people talking about being a part of a pure race. Race is a distinction placed upon one’s physical and genetic traits most notably skin color. Race is a social construct created to make one category seemingly superior over another. Biologists and anthropologists have discovered race mixing throughout […]
Alex, North Hampton, NH This is part of a quote in the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” and as a Greek woman myself, this is one of my most cherished part of the movie, when the Greek father of a daughter grapples with the fact that his daughter is in love with someone who […]
Tommy G., Durham, NH I never gave it much thought before. I have a great summer job at a private golf course. A job I got because my Dad is a member. I’ve met some great contacts there, one of which helped me get an internship for next year. Now, I can’t help but think […]
Adam Minkema, Hamden, CT My father always taught me to be proud of my roots. As a young boy, I was susceptible to getting picked on because I was very pale and had long blonde hair. He explained to me that my ancestral make-up of genes was to blame for my unique complexion, but it […]
Michelle Del Pin, Brooklyn, NY. I can’t even tell you how many times people have come up to me and started speaking Spanish. Sometimes it even goes as far as telling me that it’s sad I don’t speak my native language. Yes my skin is brown and my hair is black. So? There are other […]
Patty Reed, Greenville, SC. Originally from Pennsylvania, I’ve lived here the majority of my life but I cannot say I’m a native South Carolinian. While it seems to be more widely acceptable now, during my high school years in a small town it wasn’t okay to be from “up north somewhere”. A foreigner in my […]
KSt.C Charlotte, NC
Danielle Hammond, Plaistow, NH For a long time, people argue that they can’t be racist because they have a black friend or that they are “color blind”. However, having a “token black” in your circle doesn’t mean you’re not racist and saying that you “don’t see color” isn’t really helping anyone either. Instead, we should […]
Akshan Chand, San Jose, CA
Alison J McCarron, Durham, NH If you can get the job done successfully, truthfully and respectfully, it shouldn’t matter where you come from. Equity says that there is no discrimination in the casting room… but how true is that? What about those that are ambiguous? Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Fran, Philadelphia, PA
Diane Payne, Monticello, AR. I grew up in Holland, Michigan, a town where most everyone considered themselves quite lucky to have a job in a factory. Just about all my relatives worked in a factory. I remember the first time I visited General Motors for a family day, and I was continuously on the lookout […]
Alex, Pittsburgh, PA
Lauren Harwood, Loganville, GA I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, niece, cousin, friend, dog mom, student, Yankee, Type 1 diabetic, and a recovering alcoholic. I have drank coffee in Costa Rica and I have sipped water from inside a jail cell. I have been on the college’s President’s list and I have been on […]
Catherine Liguore, Columbus, OH I am a white, conservative woman in my middle years. I grew up poor but with a lot of sacrifice, perseverance and overcoming many obstacles, I would be considered upper middle class now. I am fit, young looking for my age and dress in classic style. I am also immediately judged […]
Devonna, Lawrenceville, GA
Madeleine Birchenough, United Kingdom I was born in Derry, raised Irish Catholic, now studying at Queen’s in Belfast. Up here in Northern Ireland, the divides are not racial in the biological sense, but ethno-religious, one that pits Irish Catholics against Scots-descended Ulster Protestants, one that dates back to the Plantations of Ireland established by King […]
Alyssa Banas, VA. Before I attended college, I was known as the “quiet girl” that sat in the back of the class. I loved meeting new people, but I just had a hard time communicating with people without being shy. My teachers always told me to participate in class because the ideas I wrote down […]
Ruth Mengesha, Snellville, GA.
Steve Cox, Jackson, OH. Prior to having kids, people usually thought my wife (Chinese ethnic, Thai national) and I (white) were separate. If we went through a line at the store and we were both caring something, they would assume we were separate. Same thing would happen at airports and people would send us to […]
M. Barton, USA. Found on Google under the keywords “I hate being white”
Catherine Sullivan, Keene, NH I am a very white woman raised by two very Irish Catholics. As I move through this world and meet people from all backgrounds, I feel uneasy that I cannot empathize with the prejudices and hardships lots of people face simply due to the color of their skin. I am educated […]
Desiree, Chesapeake, VA. When I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s I use to hear about black people are the most uneducated race, and have the highest drop outs rates. In my family neither mother or father side have education. If anyone is educated there are distant family members. Therefore growing up the […]
Sarah, Dallas, TX.
Patricia Dunn-Serota, Sonoma, CA. I had rocks thrown at me as someone shouted no Chinese, but I am Caucasian .
Nicholas Herndon, Antwerp, OH.
Anonymous Brooklyn, NY I’m not taking on the burden of race anymore. I am who I am, I love myself and that’s it.
Victor Vega, Los Angeles, CA. What troubles is on his mind? What’s he hiding from the camera? What’s in his jacket? That’s what I think when I see a picture of mine taken from several years back. If a white person was wearing street attire, one might think he’s cool, trendy, or might not even […]
Rosita Gonzalez, Madison, WI. I am not who I seem. Roads converged to make me a person of three races, of which only one sticks. My children only identify with the one that sticks. But I cannot tell them much about that race that defines them. I blog about it to examine and heal both […]
Margaret Hayes, Bartow, FL. I am mostly White on my mother’s side. Her family is all Southern. I do not look anything like them nor was I raised in the South so I don’t always think or act like they do. I am Native American on my father’s side. I definitely look much more like […]
Pat Grauer, DeWitt, MI. We are the comma. We are the now. We are the small point between great ancient forces and a future of positive change in human relationships.
Lily Leggat, Pittsburgh, PA
Mary, PA
Ibrahim Waheed, Pittsburgh, PA
Joris Mertens, Belgium. I’m a security guard at a cultural centre in Belgium. Eventhough this is a private organisation, we keep our doors open to the public each day until 11pm. This off course also attracts the attention of our city’s street youth. Most of the time I don’t mind them, for their presence actually […]
Mary Tell, North Chicago, IL
Maria Sullivan, Fort Worth, TX Mama never had an SS card, I could not find a birth certificate I know she was illegal to the US. My daddy’s last name is chapman and color is white who am I?
Cole J. Powell, Milwaukee, WI mixed half black half white. I don’t get why I have to one box when I’m two. I know there’s that box that says other but that makes me feel like I’m… different
Parker K, Cleveland, OH
Natalie Sabes, Minneapolis, MN I chose to include three words about my identity (Jewish, white, woman) because they affect every action I take and every thought people have about me whether I acknowledge it or not. My next three words demonstrate how I tend to think that I am not directly affected by extreme racism, […]
Jennifer Amara, Manhattan, NY I’m tired of talking about “race”. It exhausts me to no end. In a perfect world, we would all be the same. Or we would all be different colors. That way nobody would say one thing about one group or another about another group. If we were all the same color, […]
Ava Nanjung, San Diego, CA As an Indian/White mother to my three biological children of color, strangers find no issue asking me or them if they are adopted. Not one inherited my white skin. I wish one of them looked more white. If they did, I wouldn’t have to worry about them simply existing in […]
Susan Nappi, Middlebury, CT It is interesting to me that when I am asked for six words about race my heart becomes heavy. I am a middle-aged white woman. For a long while, I resisted the notion that I could be privileged. I felt anything but this. I grew up working poor in a severely […]
Heather Wohl, Dallas, TX White are treated so badly in Dallas TX that I have zero compassion left. I will not listen to any more about being woke until it is called being awoken. Treating people in a way that makes you nonfunctional in society is a choice. It is not my choice. I am […]
Aishashree Giri, India
Katherine P., Canada. I live in Toronto. Only white girl in a class of 30 students. My half white, half Korean friend is the next most white kid in a class of otherwise entirely Asian and Middle-Eastern students. We’re all friends though 🙂
Tomee Seltzer, Sheboygan, WI I don’t like to be around people who use racist slurs. I feel uncomfortable and out of place. I think what white people did and how white people treated other races was horrible and just downright wrong. I would never have done those things. I think everyone is equal. I grew […]
Geri, UK If you want to be respected and if you want your skin colour to be respected – fight the stereotype, don’t pull the ‘you are racist!’ card, don’t make white people feel guilty for something someone else did – not all white people are rich or with a central European ancestry, dress with […]
John L., Orlando, FL Just because I’m of this race and you’re of that race do you assume my actions are driven by this difference between us? I tell you no, and you think, “It must be because I’m ______ that this ______ person is doing this. He is ______ racist scum. I will tell […]
Margaret Noble, San Diego, CA We are sorting this difficult work out as educators at my high school. Mostly I feel shame for my whiteness and access. But I am more than this identity – I am working hard at growing, serving others, and see the world as it is around me.
Jessica Elaine Matz, LaVergne, TN. I look white and I was raised white, but when we were kids, we went to the occasional pow wow and were told “this is part of your heritage.” My uncle recently joined one of the Cherokee tribes, but I haven’t yet. I feel weird about it because there’s so […]
Salvador Palacio Elk Grove, CA
Takiyah L., Oakland, CA. If all it takes for me is to take on the burdens of intersectionality, just so my brother and sister, and future generations of Black and Brown youth will not have to experience that, then I am all down for the cause. I would not want them to endure such things, […]
Tecia Mose, Price, UT
Noa L-C, Salem, OR My heritage is not always clear by the color of my skin, but it is no less real just because you can’t tell.
Miles, Pelham, NY
Osvaldo Oregel, Santa Ana, CA me being Mexican doesn’t have anything to do with me handling spicy food. I mean we all do have a high tolerance for spice, but that irrelevant, right?
Laura Kelly, Salem, OR White people who do not speak up about racism are cogs in the machinery of white supremacy, quietly furthering it. If other cogs are turning, that is enough to turn you as well unless you actively fight back. Resisting white supremacy necessitates action, especially from white people. We need to start […]
Serena M., Salem, OR
Ashley Medina, Salem, OR
Rachel De La Luz, Tustin, CA There was this one time where this crazy lady yelled at my older brother from across the street, “Hey Indian go back to Mexico!” Here we all thought my brother was Hispanic…
Zuri Sizemore, Salem, OR
Joshue Javier Fuentes Ventura, Salem, OR
Saki Watanabe, Salem, OR I’m an international student and studying abroad now. When I talk with native English speakers, many of them speak English slowly to me. It might be unconscious, but I actually feel uncomfortable, and it is frustrating. I always think that I can understand English with normal speed.
Makayla lynn Prentice, Salem, OR.
Kazuto, Salem, OR
Stephanie Wichowski, Mount Olive, NJ,. I’m proud to be Polish and part Irish but because I’m white and a girl I automatically get grouped into other categories. I get told I can’t dance “because I’m white” and I’m told to prove that I can dance. (Mind you I’ve been training at a dance studio since […]
Adam Won, Sacramento, CA This will represent deep healing for me, considering that I am both a Chinese Cantonese and have a grandmother with mostly indigenous Peruvian background with a recently discovered distant Italian/Spanish Basque background. I grew up with both cultures because my father is a Chinese Peruvian mestizo (he does look more Chinese […]
Afrika Afeni Mills, Randolph, MA Black Boy Joy is a thing, too, and both are important to embrace. The narratives about Black girls and boys are so often absent of magic and joy. We need constant reminders of the full humanity of Black children.
Keenan Chandler, Atlanta, GA. There are all sorts of birds in the world: big birds, small birds, flightless birds, aquatic birds, birds with wondrously colorful plumage and those with subtle, dull feathers. If we want to appreciate them equally, do we pretend not to see their differences? Do we say the pigeon is the same […]
Phoebe Varney, Albion, MI Based on the way things are now, everyone assumes that I grew up in a perfect life full of white privilege and smooth sailing. I go to a private college, I am a cheerleader who is in a sorority who enjoys name brand clothes and has an expensive taste. I am […]
Jeremy Martin, Cincinnati, OH. My 7-year-old daughter about the only African American girl on her cheer team. How do we move past skin color as an identity, even for children?
Lindsay Rich, Lawrence, KS Everyone lives in a world where they are constantly judging others, and looking their best in order to fit in. My six-word story means that I am comfortable in my own skin regardless of what color it is. I am also comfortable with my appearance and am happy to show my […]
Stefanie Bernosky, Houston, TX. I was raised as an All-American girl to an All-American family in an All-American town. I even looked “All-American”, proudly featuring my braces and American Flag sweater in this dated family photo (circa 1994). We can trace my family (both sides) to the United States prior to the United States Revolution. […]
McKinley Dixon, Richmond, VA. In the dominantly caucasian school that my sister used to attend, she would get picked on for her hair being curlier and fuller than the other girls in her school. It got to the point where she would straighten it every morning before we go to school. Damaging her hair, for […]
E.C. Boyd, Canton, OH. I was not born, but I was raised in a predominantly white neighborhood because the school system was better in Perry Township than the low-income, mostly black Canton City Schools. As the only black person on my school’s debate team, I dealt with a lot of people surprised that I could […]
Susan Kosior, Fredericksburg, VA.
Kehinde Yemen I sat down at a store today in the middle of Mumbai and a cute little girl about two years old was walking by with her grandma. She took one look at me and refused to come any further. I smiled at her encouraging her to take the few extra steps but she […]
Zhuo Tong, Irvine, CA There are several races in this world, and not a single one can be omitted, because their race is the sign of their culture, we should respect each races’ skin color and respect their culture. Different races’ people look different, they have their own characteristic, we should love each other and […]
Tate Caraway, Dana Point, CA I feel all people no matter what race or color they are should be proud of who they are and where come from.
Joseph Monaco, Rancho Santa Margerita, CA On a short vacation to my home town in Pennsylvania, I realize that this state should be considered a southern state due to its obsession with the confederate flag.
Jacob Young, Laguna Niguel, CA Race is an issue being discussed frequently in popular culture in today’s political climate but I believe that America is not doing enough to talk about race in person. We are seeing a lot of the discourse around race taking place online, on twitter, facebook, chat boards. However, I don’t […]
Adrian Hernandez, Mission Viejo, CA The word race is a social construct that categorizes people. In reality, were all part of the same race which is the human race. What society does is group people and were judge based on that group when we are actually the same. Instead, judgment should be based on intentions, […]
LeAnn Dunson, Aliso Viejo, CA I am half Filipino/Chinese and against popular belief and the stereotype, I actually suck at math. I have struggled since math was first taught to us now. I am currently taking a statistics class and my partner always puts me on a pedestal for understanding the material but it didn’t […]
Shawn, Mesquite, TX I came from nothing, I did not get my first phone until I was 15 and I bought it myself. Anything materialistic I have I got on my own.
Lizette Martinez, Mesquite, TX
Xavier Juarez, Mesquite, TX People judge by my last name being ‘Juarez’ that my first name must be ‘Javier’ because I guess stereo-typically Juarez is a Latino last name and Javier is also stereotypically Latino. I take it kinda good and bad like yee I”m flattered you think I’m Hispanic not just Caucasian or whatever […]
Cailie Currier, Durham, NH
Yau Shing Alan Tse, Irvine, CA We from the same religion place: Our ancestors all originated in Africa, which means we all came from the same place. We are changing in every corner of the world. It may make us different from each other now, but it doesn’t change what happened in the past. We […]
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 […]
Samantha Salas, Mission, TX.
Nathaniel Simmons, Hostos Community College New York, NT Do not let anyone say that you shouldn’t be Proud of who you are or the Culture and Race that you are apart of, Be Proud of Who you are and Your Race/Culture as well as Embrace it.
Paula Scaglione Buffalo, NY
Teresa Figueroa, Stafford, VA.
Tawana Littlejohn Washington, DC We were welcomed with mostly open arms, the year was 1967.
Native of San Diego, San Diego, CA Yes I was born having blond hair and blue eyes, yes I was born here in America. That’s where it stops. My family was poor and we Never had things handed to us. We literally had a field in our backyard where we grew our own food and […]
Steven W Grudzinski, Clarksville, TN I was born white (not my choice, none of us get to pick our parents). I lived poor, on welfare, homeless a few times and fatherless, all of the things that people who identify as disadvantaged state yet I am also called privileged because of a lack of pigment in […]
Dusty McCarrel, Vernal, UT Please stop this generation from becoming worse.
Keegan James, The Blake School, Minneapolis, MN Although in the literal sense race is a real thing, the stigmas that come with are completely made up by society. The idea of race has been used to ostracize certain groups while it has also been used to justify egregious acts. I believe that whereas race has […]
Charlotte Nevins, Pittsburgh, PA. I am originally from The Bahamas and I think I have a unique experience as a dual citizen of there and the US. Back home, I was always assumed to be a tourist and often felt like I didn’t quite fit in in a lot of social circles. The population is […]
