GA Archives - The Race Card Project

Misty Johnson, Lilburn, GA. I moved to Georgia in 1988 when I was 8 years old. My father left his job on the oil rigs to start his own landscaping company in Lithonia, Georgia. I was a minority at my elementary school back in Texas, which was predominately Hispanic. The move to Atlanta was different […]

I hate fearing for my sons.

Christina McConnell-Hicks, Lawrenceville, GA.

Brown marries white. Lives happily forever.

Sid Atlanta, GA

My Family Well Kept Secret Revealed

Mary F. Howard, Stockbridge, GA. I discovered I am one-fourth Native American. My paternal grandfather is full blood Cherokee. I just learned several months ago by eavesdropping on a conversation about race between my paternal uncle and aunt. They had just learned of additional children by their father outside of the marriage. It has often […]

No way, Miss, you’re not white!

59 Comments

Joan Evans, Lawrencevillve, GA. And I am 100% white. But (far too many of) my students associate “white” with oppression and bigotry. When they tell me I’m not white, they are trying to tell me I’m not a racist. Telling me I’m not white is a compliment. Pretty damning, huh?

Why is HATE a ‘family value’?

Crystal Woods Lagrange, GA We don’t talk about it nearly enough.

Because I’m dreaded, I’m categorically placed…

Valaire L. Moore, Morrow, GA. I am a black woman with locks. From white people I am seen as an Islander and from blacks I am seen as a weed smoker…from all I have been labeled Rastafarian, Hippie and basically everything, but ME…the image people have of me clouds the actual vision of ME…they see […]

Stop explaining why black lives matter

Tonisha C., Jonesboro, GA. All lives didn’t matter until black lives mattered. This response is no mistake. It is intended to be dismissive of the perils faced by people of color. It is humiliating and degrading to have to explain why black lives matter. It is a waste of time to explain, time and time […]

A costume I can’t take off.

Anonymous Athens, GA Centuries ago, on the Horn of Africa, where my parents originated, Arabs crossed the Red Sea then crossbred and/or raped the indigenous Africans. This event has confused generations of “my” peoples’ sense of identity. I pose the question to my mother, “What are we?”, to which she responds, “Look in the mirror. […]

Showing my black daughter the cabins

Benjamin Baugh, Athens, GA. I am a white man and my daughter is a black girl. One day, I will have to walk with her down into the woods behind the old family farmhouse and show her the place where the short row of cabins once stood, and I’ll have to own that ancestral sin […]

What if everyone was the same?

Drew Middleton, Summerville, GA. My six words are about people thinking that they are different but they are all basically the same in one way or another.

Too articulate to be from Harlem

JaNohn B. Snellville, GA. When we look at someone or find out where they are from, we assume they speak a certain way. When the person debunks that myth, it appears that everything that is said is some wonder. I went to school just like you did. It’s just a place you’re scared of and […]

Not all innocent. Not all guilty.

Caroline Kish, Dunwoody, GA. I will not deny that race continues to reek extreme havoc on modern day social order. I see it every day at my high school, in the news, and even on the billboards lining the highway. We can all say that we ‘don’t see color’, but in reality, there are not […]

White Privilege makes me very bitter

Jessica McMurtry, Collins, GA. I am white, yes, but it makes me very bitter when other white people refuse to see how being another “race” could affect their life. Empathy is not the same as not being prideful of your heritage. My ancestors were Irish, Scottish, and Native American- and I am supremely proud of […]

Then he died in our alley.

Sue Blanshan, Okemos, MI. My family lived in segregated Georgia when I was young. A playmates mother called the police to report a black man smelling her clean laundry on the back yard clothes line. The police came and chased him three blocks and shot him by our house in the alley. He died there. […]

White trash married to black man

Tamera, Evans, GA. I still hear this comment from people even after being in a 32 year long loving marriage, having 3 children, and 5 grandchildren. I have heard that comment or a similar one from whites and blacks and that is truly sad to me. Love has no color boundaries in my eyes and […]

Mom always said “You’re too American.”

Ben Sian Atlanta, GA Born in the US to Filipino parents.

Latinas with fros are sexy too!

Jeanette Ruiz, Atlanta, GA. Growing up I learned to hate my afro hair. I was the only one in my family with course African hair texture. Although there were others in our Hispanic neighborhood with course hair and dark skin, my mother with straight silky hair made it seem like a problem. She would take […]

You’re you. I’m me. We’re beautiful!

Leah Wright, Cartersville, GA. My mom is my hero because she stood tall against her racist family and refused to pass on the fear and hatred my ancestors clung so tightly to. She raised me with the understanding that we are ALL God’s children. That is why I don’t understand so-called Christianity today. So much […]

Race shouldn’t mean “a professional victim.”

Malorie, Statesboro, GA.

“You look nothing like your mother.”

Katherine Brooks, Marietta, GA.

Family contrast black white shows beauty

Sherry Weaver, Woodstock, GA. Our family is a beautiful rainbow. We are pink with brown spots and brown with pink spots. We are just a family. I didn’t “rescue” anyone-we gave each other gifts. I was given the incredible gift of love and diversity, and they got a family who loves them and can appreciate […]

I cannot open carry and survive.

Durand, Stone Mountain, GA. Rights are completely equal in theory. But ill-advised in practice. Secondary essay: White guy. Crowded theater. Anybody scared?

My identity is not a box

Mason Colquitt, Athens, GA.

I wish demographic questions didn’t exist.

Heather Holdridge, Dunwoody, GA. I am a high school student and every time I take a standardized test it asks me for my race and ethnicity. Why do these questions matter? We are all human.

Not White Nor Asian But Wasian

Bryce Barrett, Summerville, GA. I am Asian-American and that means Asian jokes. People call me Wasian when I say am part Asian, Thai in particular. Im not offended by it and sometimes I play along with them. It sometimes gets on my nerves that that say “Hey Wasian!” instead of my name. :L

The beaner who served our country.

Salvador Palacio Elk Grove, CA

“Race” is fake; I am not.

6 Comments

Dennie T, Atlanta, GA. “Race” is a human-concocted, cultural construct that has nothing to do with biology and everything to do with (negative) cultural conditioning in racist societies. Human DNA produces a single species of humans – not multiple races of humans. If we are to have an honest discussion of “race,” we need to […]

They hate me because I’m Black?

Alexander, Sandy Springs, GA. I grew up in a majority neighborhood during the eighties and nineties. There were only a few other minority families in the area at the time. It wasn’t until college after high school graduation I learn I was black and highly disliked based on the color of my skin and not […]

Ugly, Invisible, Accused of Insanity

Molly Katerson, Atlanta, GA. I’m a black woman and I feel ugly and invisible most of the time. When I talk about it – the white washing of Hollywood or how that Adria girl’s twitter blew up with racist sexist shi*, I am told I’m crazy. It hurts. Everything hurts.

Recovering Southern Privileged White Girl

Tiffany, Indianapolis, IN. I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. But I grew up in the middle class suburbs. My schools were overwhelmingly white. Black was something you saw on the news, heard about from others or saw on Marta. I grew up in a neighborhood where ding dong ditch was called N-word Knocking. […]

Color Defined, Now Mixing is Fixing

Doug Shipman, Atlanta, GA. The demographic changes seen in the census are at a turning point– race has to change because the categories are rapidly falling with intermarriage, internationalization and the rise of majority-minority in America.

They told me I couldn’t be Asian

Phil Vongsavang Midland, GA I volunteered to join a faith based prison ministry and was told by the local sheriff’s department that I was not allowed to join as an Asian. Said the deputy “we only do white or black. Do you want to be black today?” After more than a year, including receiving a […]

Government, media, businesses all perpetuate race.

Manu Jeffers, Atlanta, GA. AMERICA could effectively end racism easily but its a revenue based immorality. Basically when a group or person loses it becomes another person or groups gain. Marketing, sales, city developers all use those statistics and data samples to determine who and where these people are.

My creamy white baby, new minority.

Stephanie Hawkins Atlanta, GA

You’re athletic, for a white guy

Jonah G., Athens, GA.

“You remind me of my mother.”

Susan Boyer, Decatur, GA. These words were spoken to me by a young black waiter. I’m an old white woman. “We got a connection”, he said. And I felt it. I was so touched by his generosity of spirit. I walk around my diverse city, aware of my racist culture and upbringing and practice looking […]

Are you a honky, or not?

Jeremy Wilhelm, Atlanta, GA. Got this from a peer while living in Kansas in the late 1980s. I didn’t know what honky was. Picture is me with my Indonesian great grandmother.

Sicilian urged to embrace black roots

Charles Aloisio, Atlanta, GA. An African-American friend at the Y has encouraged me to get in touch with my African roots since I’m Sicilian Italian as well as Neopolitan. I have often thought of my roots since Sicily was occupied by the Moors for several centuries.

When will the next one go

David Rotenstein, Atlanta, GA. In April 2012, I sat in an elderly African American woman’s Decatur, Ga.,dining room with a digital recorder asking her questions about gentrification in her neighborhood. For more than a decade, developers have been buying small homes and tearing them down to build large new homes some people call “McMansions.” The […]

Dance is color blind universal language

Brian Hayes, Atlanta, GA. I got into Salsa dancing because I wanted to try something new. I never knew it would open my eyes and allow me to meet people I never would have interacted with before. Upon doing that, I realize that we are much more a like than different. I found my love […]

Don’t fix anything; Create something New.

Andrew De Loe, Statesboro, GA. We seem to be focusing on fixing the wrongdoings of past generations. As important as it is to look back and know where you come from, it is also important to look forward to see where you will go.

A Mississippi secret – not “accidental drowning.”

David Morath, Wrightsville, PA. On August 14, 1973 three black children from Atlanta, GA drowned in Waveland, Mississippi. Eyewitnesses reported that the children had been harassed by white boaters, The coroner’s jury closed the case without investigation the following day. Because of Jim Crow mortuary policies, locating a funeral director who would deal with African-Americans […]

I wish the voice would stop.

Al, Atlanta, GA. I was born 51 years ago. I grew up with a father who would definitely be considered racist today, but was probably just typical blue collar in those days – kind of an Archie Bunker figure. I heard the N word at least a dozen times a week. Fast forward to my […]

My origin, why not my personality?

Ileana Contreras, Athens, GA.

I wish I knew my roots…

Tiffany Chatman Loganville, GA African-American? Well, where in Africa? Should I just be American since that is the only place that I have ever lived and that’s the culture that I know. Sometimes I feel like I don’t truly know who I am. I wish that I could trace my roots to a particular country, […]

Love Classical music and I’m black

6 Comments

Yolanda, Lithonia, GA. It’s very tiring an disappointing to hear many in my community say to me “You like white people stuff”. I would like to know exactly what’s classified as “White people stuff”. Since when did enjoying a good Opera or visiting the local symphony considered something only expected or FOR one race of […]

We have to fight just to dream

Arielle Ramey, Atlanta, GA. I see humans but no humanity.

I do not need your validation.

Sheila Caldwell, Gainesville, GA. It appears that minoritized groups are constantly trying to explain race to be understood by the “majority.” I hasten the day when minoritzed groups do not need to be validated or prove they are good enough or just as good as the “majority.”

WHITE AND I AM NOT SORRY

Holly Rhodes, Pitts, GA.

Honestly, I’m sick of white people.

8 Comments

Priscilla Almonacy, Atlanta, GA.

Intelligent and black, hated for that.

Consuelo, Stone Mountain, GA. This is because the two of the men in my life have dismissed me because I do not fit the ideals of what an ideal women should look like. Their spouses dismiss, disrespect my existence. My father and younger brother believe that white people are the epitome of all that is […]

People aren’t ready to face Race

Yusuf Wyatt, Atlanta, GA. The history of race in America is a topic that makes many people uncomfortable because it’s a perpetual issue and not one that dishonest or politically correct speech will make any better. If we don’t understand what racism really is, there can be no honest dialogue.

I’m just as perfect as you

5 Comments

Gavin, Summerville, GA. People think they are better than other people just because of their race.

Many different roads, but all connected

Ethan Triebsh, 12 years old. Marietta, GA. Read more about the racial divide in Marietta, GA.

Prayed God would make me White

Amber Price, Atlanta, GA. I was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I grew up ashamed of my Blackness. I heard the n-word for the first time in elementary school. I prayed every night for God to make me white. At the age of 17 I was told to go sit with the rest of the Blacks […]

My three boys will check “other”.

Elaine Oyzon-Mast Avondale Estates, GA Filipino, German, English, Irish, supposedly with a touch of Cherokee and Iroquois. The melting pot serving up three beautiful boys.

Pale faced; I must be guilty

Katherine Atlanta, GA I am not responsible for the actions of people one hundred and fifty years ago who enslaved an entire race. The institution of slavery is a horrific part of American History, and it was a heinous crime against African Americans. Because of that institution, there is racism alive and around still and […]

Come look, black people on television!

Ron Boose, Atlanta, GA. It wasn’t until 33 years after the first television was invented in 1927 that a black actor and actress were seen on television.

Hate overwhelms us; love is submerged.

Susan Knight-Smith Marietta, GA

The suffix “ism” ruins everything.

Dallas Yates, Dunwoody, GA. Race is merely a form of innocuous classification used to identify and group individuals of a common heredity. The concept only becomes socially divisive when people begin to erroneously assume that their own race is inherently superior to others and act in accordance with a such a belief.

Police reports had the notation TND

Lois Norder, Atlanta, GA. One of the experiences that forced me to shed my naïveté about race. TND in Urban Dictionary: Police jargon to be used for the really shi**y area of town which is usually primarily ococupied by races of “color”.

Confederate Flag: The American Swastika

Wayne K Robertson, Decatur, GA. That’s how we should think of it – a banner that intimidates.

“Black-Looking” Female, White Father, Glaring Eyes.

Kayla Doering, Statesboro, GA. My father is of Irish descent and my Mother is Native American. Something I’ve always dealt with while being out in public with my father is people staring at us like we were a rare species. Growing up, while running daily errands with my father, I remember older women asking if […]

What white neighborhood has MLK high?

Karen Gold, Atlanta, GA. Collected during: Six Word Stories on Education Last fall, ProPublica and The Race Card Project teamed up with two Tuscaloosa, Ala., high schools — one integrated, one almost entirely black — to tell the story of resegregation in the South. I am a 25 year veteran teacher in metro Atlanta GA […]

What is, uhmm, race is uhmm…

Mahlon Gumbs, Atlanta, GA. What is uhmm… Race is uhmm… The thin line that Blinds us, Confines us, Keeps us at home base. If we cross that line It’s a crime, No matter the time; Society will put us back in our place. But what is uhmm… Race is uhmm… The thing about which we […]

Emanicipation is still just a word

Winfrey Young, Atlanta, GA. Emancipation did not reinstate self-esteem, justice, dignity or reality. Freed slaves were not endowed with freedom to love or with pride of self. There was no one to help us heal. We cannot move toward each other if our self-image and ideals are shackled—and we continue to wallow in the sicknesses […]

Your different than other black people.

Marie Adams, Lilburn, GA.

Hispanic chick doesn’t speak Spanish, WHAT?

Cynthia Deras, GA. Are you hispanic? Why don’t you speak spanish? What part of Mexico are your parents from? Say something in Spanish! Your not really Mexican if you dont speak spanish. Basically thats the reaction I get from the latino community when someone finds out I dont speak Spanish. I lost Spanish as a […]

Mountains of terrible history to undo

Jonathan O’Neill, Evans, GA.

I’m happy for my sister’s engagement

Benjamin Boober, Doraville, GA.

Easier to pretend not to notice

Anna Dolder, Dunwoody, GA.

I am more than my skin

Lisa Gullion, Nocross, GA. I only look white, I am a high percent of Cherokee (whom were murdered by the dozens for land), I am Irish who were shipped as slaves just like Africans (they were bred with africans for higher priced mixed slaves). My ancestors faced the same deadly history as your’s but I […]

Black kings sold people into slavery

5 Comments

Robert Michael, Atlanta, GA.

No seriously I am not Hispanic

Emily Alfonso, Summerville, GA. Everyone thinks because of my last name, that I am hispanic. But I’m not, I am Italian, Irish, and French.

Not all southern people are racist

Logan Money, Summerville, GA. As southern citizens, we are often accused of being racist, homophobic, and resistant to change. Some are, but not all of us are. Most of my friends are minorities and that includes homo/bisexuals. as a matter of fact, most of the major towns are culturally diverse.

Hate overwhelms us; love is submerged

Susan Knight-Smith, Marietta, GA. Read more about Michele Norris and Crossing the Racial Divide in Marietta, GA. One Church was founded by slave owners, the other by former slaves.

But Elizabeth, you’re not really black…

Elizabeth D Atlanta, GA But I’m sure not white either. You think because I speak a certain way and dress a certain way, because I don’t fit your stereotypes, I’m not ‘black’ enough? Sorry if I shatter your preconceived notions, but as always I’m just being myself.

What are you? The ubiquitous question.

Laura Mariko Cheifetz Atlanta, GA I call myself hapa yonsei. I’m biracial white Jewish and Japanese American, fourth generation on both sides. However, there are two assumptions that I run into all the time. First, “what are you?” People want to know my ethnic background (not racial… that doesn’t satisfy their intrusive curiosity), but they […]

People are selfish, race provides cover

Errol Stewart, Statesboro, GA.

I’m Jewish. I have worse. Promise

Jake Abraham, Statesboro, GA. I get attacked for religion and skin color and have to live my life walking a completely separate spiritual path than the social norm.

Choose one: White, Asian, Other

Mia Manning, Atlanta, GA.

Bird Watching: A Metaphor on Race

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 […]

Forgotten history will always be repeated

Maranda L. Glass-Shelhorse, Grovetown, GA. We can forgive; we must never forget. History forgotten is doomed to be repeated.

Self-image shattered living in South.

Carol Salami-Goswick Eugene, OR I’m a white woman who was born, raised, and lived in CA until I was 54. I was in college during the 60’s and was sympathetic to the black folks struggling for equality in the South. In my 30’s I had a serious relationship with a black man. I worked in […]

Perceptions of race…change….over time…

M’Karyl Gaynor, Decatur, GA. I am 52 years old and I am from the Midwest (Rockford, IL) and while there was not an absence of racism per se…my friends and I were fortunate enough to grow up in a community where our families, communities and educational experiences allowed us to experience integration at its best…I […]

Growing Together Within The Same Soil

Steve Wilson, Marietta, GA.

From a white teenage girl’s perspective

Victoria N. Fortson, GA My ancestors came to America just like many others. Just because I am white, does not mean my family “owned” “slaves”. When an African American girl says to me “you’re so lucky to have that hair” or “I would pay a lot for some of your hair”, it makes me mad. […]

Racism isn’t gone it’s just tolerated

Lorain Henderson, Dunwoody, GA.

Tomorrow’s promise Yesterday’s shame Today’s discussion

Vivian Johnson, Marietta, GA.

Beyond the divide, all one tribe.

Susan Knight-Smith, Marietta, GA.

Walk a mile in their shoes.

Kelli De Guire, Calhoun, GA.

I’m amazed at Lillian Smith’s courage.

Bob Thomas, Rabun Gap, GA. I have been working on a web site for the Lillian E. Smith Foundation located in Rabun County, Georgia. In doing research for the project I’m learning more and more about a remarkable woman who as a Southerner spoke out frankly and with unflinching certainty against segregation. As an author […]

White, male, privileged, finally getting it.

J. Calvin Smith, Ranger, GA. After years in the Federal workforce trying to engage said workforce in my own philosophical struggles with whether statistical under-representation should be sufficient reason to favor female and minority candidates for hiring or promotion, I finally heard some speakers talk about the implicit privilege that comes with being White, Male […]

I never understood why. Do you?