¿Eres mexicana? Entonces, ¿por qué el disfraz?
Maria Seattle, WA You’re Mexican? Then why the disguise? I was asked this by a viejito selling his wares in Tijuana, México, probably about 20...
White moms. Brown kids. Colorblind love.
Melanie Gilbert, Boston, MA. Love who you are not what you are.
Borderlands born. Always illegal. Always home.
Chuy Benitez, Houston, TX. When you grow up at the collision of two countries, of two cultures, of two identities, you learn very quickly the...
Not a Race, Still a Human
Cameron Warren, Downingtown, PA. I’m a very Irish child, and being proud of that has always been hard due to the fact I have red...
How’d your baby get RED hair?
Ahtum, San Antonio, TX. I often get asked what are you but when I had a baby with red hair, the question became how did...
Dad fired the housekeeper, my fault.
Sandy Balazic, Tempe, AZ The year was 1960 and I was 4 years old. My parents had a housekeeper/babysitter to help while they both worked....
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...
You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself
Lauren Russell, Springfield, MO. Words my babysitter told me when I was 7 years old. I remember–she sat me down one day, studied me for...
It’s okay to be black, Promise
Maureen Shaw, Durham, NC. Thank you for doing this. This is a photo of my mother’s family, this is the reason why I wrote it’s...
Failed to befriend first black student
Lynn Scott Cochrane Washington, DC I grew up in a deeply segregated Charlotte, NC in the 1950s and 60s. When my high school, North Mecklenburg,...
