More than “just a Black girl”
Jolie Anne Chevalier, San Jose, CA. This is me at eight years old back in 1979, the daughter of an African-American/Seminole Indian mother, and a...
I will always just be Human!
Matthew Workman, Oviedo, FL. We are all human beings. I’m not saying to throw away what race you are but to open your mind to...
I’ll experience this, hopefully they don’t.
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...
My history is only slavery! Why!
King Kellz, Fayetteville, NC. We only learn what America has taught us about our specific race.
The Only One In The Room
John Lane Cincinnati, OH In college and through my entire professional life, I have always been the only African-American in the “room” I am “safe”...
Please Doctor King, do it peacefully.
Sister Kathleen Reilly, UAC, CSAC Union City, NJ The above summarizes my main prayer when the movement for racial equality got started. I think of...
White-skinned negro: community of one.
Jada Golden Sherman, Boston, MA. I’m so frustrated with people’s limited understanding and acceptance of genetics, and upbringing. The labels ‘white’ and ‘black’ are over-generalized....
You don’t belong, but same birthplace
Sebastian Portillo, Fort Myers, FL These 6 words are just a personal meeting to interactions I’ve had in the past with people against my race....
Wearing your difference on the outside.
Mona Khadr, Washington, DC. “But where are you from, originally?” is a question I get a lot. When I was younger, I answered proudly (“Egyptian!”)...
Apparently, I’m Jesus, or a terrorist.
John Abraham, Grand Rapids, MI. Thanks to my Italian and Lebanese heritage, I am blessed to say I have a fairly full beard and curly...
I am more than religion requires
Hannah Drillings, Chester, NY I am ethically an Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jew, but have always felt disconnected from my religion. growing up in an orthodox...
Where are you from? You’re exotic!
Abbie Elliott Leesburg, VA For my entire adult life, dating has been a challenge. As an Asian-American, I vehemently resisted falling into stereotypes. But, as...
Latinx adoptee naturalized immigrant Jewish American
Jeffrey Nolish, Detroit, MI. We all belong. Diversity is a gift.
How did you get a boy?
Claire Wallick Moy, Maplewood, NJ. This is what I was asked in 1998 when I moved to NJ. Our 3 children look much more like...
Usually I’m ashamed to be white
Thomas Williamson, Cool Valley, MO Born the end of 1949, traveled throughout the country, changed schools every year, in D.C. when Dr. King was killed,...
Busing: white girl, black schools, lonely
Clara Silverstein, Boston, MA. As one of the white children in Richmond, Virginia in the 1970s whose family willingly participated in busing, I had few...
Blacks beat me, I forgave them
Bob D, West Chester, PA It happened in the summer of ’68. I was alone at a concert at the city stadium in Glen Cove,...
