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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 the content of my character.

As the months turn into years I find myself melancholy how the media, and Hollywood describes blacks. It disturbs me when Caucasians clutch their bags, lock their car doors and cower in fear in the back of elevators when they see my smile. I’m unsure if they understand the problems they cause with simple actions. I’m even less sure they comprehend that once upon a time when we were adolescence we all played together.

It’s too bad that in 2012 we still haven’t passed our underlying fear, feelings and race relations. I was convinced we overcame this point in time until the 2008 election. It was at that point when I learned the true feelings of my Caucasian co-workers concerning Barack Obama. I was unclear if the hatred was based on politics or something more sinister?

My feelings regarding race relations will always remain the same. I believe we are all children of God, creative equally and just. I believe uneducated resentment is unfortunate side bar in our wonderful countries past. I urge those who do find themselves filled with rage and anger toward different nationalities to step outside of comfort zones and explore each other’s cultures they may be surprised what we all have in common….

Wouldn’t it be great not to be judged by the color of your skin wow… Now there’s a thought….

Not a tool against Black Women.

IMAG0309Betty Rosenda Green,
Chino Hills, CA.

With the recent controversies of Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone in blackface and Zendaya Coleman having been cast originally to play Aaliyah, I believe it is important to see how deep mainstream media like Hollywood work to erase Black Women, particularly with darker complexions specifically in this case, by casting either white Women in the past or having light-skinned Black Women play other Black Women who were of a darker skin tone. It is important to acknowledge this; it is political and there is a colonial history within it. We as Black Women of all complexions must realize and act accordingly to this history to make sure we are ALL seen. I REFUSE TO BE USED AGAINST MY FELLOW BLACK WOMEN.

Whites can’t distinguish Harvard from Hoodlum.

Alisa Dennis
Los Angeles, CA

Many white people do not personally know any blacks, or very few. As a result, their only reference point for black culture is drawn from stereotyped, caricatured images from T.V. news, sitcoms, Hollywood movies, or quickly driving through the outskirts of economically marginalized black neighborhoods where they are likely to see boys/men they may characterize as “hoodlums”. Because they aren’t exposed to a diversity of blacks, they have trouble accurately discerning their energy and intention when they encounter us. Blacks, as a “minority group” in this country are constantly surrounded by and exposed to a wide variety of white people so we learn from an early age how to “read” and assess their attitudes and intentions by noticing their dress, quality of eye contact, gait, tone of voice, hairstyle, etc. These subtleties are lost on whites because they don’t have enough practice being around Blacks.

I am an Ivy League graduate with a PhD who happens to have dreadlocks. White women still clutch their purses when I enter an elevator if I am casually dressed! Once, I was in an upscale clothing boutique and I was followed around the store. The sales girls were trying to see if I had shoplifted anything and kept asking me if I wanted to leave my bags at the counter. They were looking inside my bags! Ironically, in the moment they were shaking me down, 2 teenage white girls came into the shop and yanked clothing off a rack and ran out of the store! Serves the owner/manager right for harassing me.

“Protect” sister from favorite childhood movies.

Emmy Corey,
Harrisburg, PA.

I’m a white Alabama native from an all-white town with a black sister who is 17 years younger than I. I love passing down the things that I enjoyed at her age- dolls, movies, books. For the most part, she likes receiving them too. The problem is that before she came along, my world was incredibly white. My childhood relics are images that don’t include her. From my white American Girl Dolls to Little Women, I have so much anxiety about what or how to pass down my treasured belongings to her. And then, I have anxiety about my anxiety. Isn’t that another form of controlling her story? But I think my own story was controlled, too. It lacks the complicated beauty of the story she and I now create together.

My Industry can’t get Latino right.

image13Ricardo 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.

“Generic Brown” is my passport everywhere.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGil L. Pettigrew, MS,
The Federated States of Micronesia.

I have a very strong, very proud cultural heritage; I’m a North American Mestizo, 50% Native American (Creek and Cherokee; my tribal enrollment/citizenship is with the Echota Band of the Eastern Cherokee Nation) & 50% a mashup of Scots-Latin-AfricanAmerican-Welsh-french.

I self ID as Native American, because I am, culturally, legal, socially, that’s the most marginalized part of my heritage…& at 2% of the America population we need the numbers &/or multiethnic-mixed race.

Appearance-wise, I’m taken for everything from Native Hawiian to Middle-Eastern, though usually I’m seen as puro Latino.
Rather than getting annoyed by that, as some multiethnics are, I embrace being, in Hollywood speak “generic brown”; it means I have a global-face, a phenotypic in with folks from lots of different backgrounds. Its been especially useful living in my diverse, polyglot home-city of Miami, FL, & traveling in Latin America, the Caribbean (I, for example don’t often pay “Gringo Prices”), & I’ve found it an advantage since taking a position as the natural science instructor at The College of Micronesia’s Kosrae Campus, on the island of Kosrae, in The Federated States of Micronesia…I find folks a bit more open, a bit more upfront with me than I’ve observed they are with many more obvious Westerners, since they frequently tell me they initially assumed I was from one of the neighboring islands.

Never Accepted As American While Abroad

J Smith
Kenya

I’ve spent several years living outside the US (Europe, Asia, Africa) and being half Japanese, I am always mistaken for being from the continent of Asia. Even when I tell people repeatedly that I am also half white and that my Japanese side of the family has been in the US for over 100 years, people still ask me about what life is like in Japan. People bow to me, ask me how to roll sushi, or tell me the two words they know in Japanese on a regular basis. I think most of it has to do with the media in the US in that almost everyone they see in Hollywood is white and hence, they have a really hard time understanding how an Asian looking person can also be American.

Another day, another life, another hashtag.

blmSydney McDonald,
Bangor, ME.

In the past few years, a lot of lives have been lost. These lives, like Michael Brown, Ervin Edwards, Tamir Rice, Diana Showman, and many others, are paid attention to for a month or two, trending and used as fire for the media and for those fighting for equality. However, they then fade away, as the media finds new material to focus on. It’s sickening. These children, adults, men, women, or whoever they are, are lost, and become nothing more than another life lost, and another hashtag that will retreat to the furthest reaches of the media as other things happen. These lives shouldn’t be forgotten, and seeing lives lost should not become common and acceptable. It’s getting to a point where we can say, another day, another life lost, and have no surprise. We can’t allow this to continue: black lives matter, and those people are humans who matter. This isn’t a passing fad, and needs to be addressed.

No, I’m not like Lucy Liu.

Clare Chun,
Seattle, WA.

I’m an aspiring actress and filmmaker. Whenever I share this with others, every so often I get hit with, “Oh like that Lucy Liu girl!” First off, I am Korean American and she is Chinese American, secondly, we don’t look or act anything alike. Yes, as shocking as this sounds, we are not “penguins” where you can’t tell us apart. We are in fact individuals who have distinct facial and cultural differences depending on which Asian country we come from.

When I watch movies or television shows I am inspired to see we recognize the brilliant African American actresses Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Taraji P. Henson, Queen Latifah, Viola Davis, and many more all as individual unique entities, not one clump of “African American Talents.” I am inspired we do the same for the Latina Actresses Eva Mendes, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez and Penelope Cruz, and the countless others I can’t fill this whole page with.

I can’t wait for the day I hear “Oh Sandra Oh, Lucy Liu, Margaret Cho, Zhang Ziyi and Olivia Munn are very different from each other, and so talented! It’s hard to put them in ONE category!”

I hope I contribute in some way as an artist thru my own personal journey to shift the stereotypes and ignorance involving the Asian American experience. And if I’m lucky and blessed enough to be the 1% working in Hollywood, maybe people will recognize me and say, “Hey, you are that great actress CLARE CHUN!” 🙂

Hollywood reminds me everyday. I’m different.

mindy-kaling_wide-b2c920af64f476d4f861de6a4cd4b4e08843f781-s6-c30Seema,
Chicago, IL.

Women already have identity issues because of an extreme and over-sexed image of women in Hollywood. Additionally, women of color are marginalized because of their under-representation in TV, movies, magazines and advertising. As an Asian-American woman, I see very few Asian men and women and when I do see them, we are often cloaked in a silly accent aimed at cheap laughs. Thanks to Mindy Kaling for showing Hollywood what we’ve got!

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