Still want to touch your hair
Brenda Becker, Brooklyn, NY. I grew up in a white Queens neighborhood where neighbors worried that “they” would “get in,” and the cool girls had...
Wash your hands. Brown is dirty.
Michelle C-H Dorchester , MA When I was a little kid, in the 70’s, My family was the only black folks most of the people...
Black. Good hair? Indian in your family?
Nicole, New Orleans, LA. Black women are so obsessed with their hair that it can totally consume their life… “I can’t get in the pool...
Mama said, “It’s alright, take it.”
Rhoda Locklear, Las Vegas, NV. Words of my mother the first time I ever saw a black lady who offered me a glass of water.
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...
I was always different growing up
Julie Long, Pioneer, CA. When I was 8, we moved from a big city to a small country town, where there were, maybe two other...
We can always change the channel.
Audrey Lee Cho, USA. My parents immigrated to America in 1973, with my older brother Lee Wan Young and my sister, Lee Shin. I was...
Damn Yankees don’t go back home
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...
Passing under streetlights… shouldn’t we nod?
Tom Capuano Kirksville, MO In the Midwest, in small and mid-sized towns at least, people who are strangers to each other sometimes acknowledge each other...
Χιος to Hughes…we’re all immigrants
Patricia Hughes, Lake Arrowhead, CA. My father’s father took the long route of immigration from Greece during the political upheavals occurring in the early part...
Ashamed that accomplished minorities surprise me.
Anonymous, Seattle, WA. No matter how liberal and progressive I might claim to be, no matter how many workshops I’ve been to or essays I’ve...
Girl, you are not black enough.
Flora Griffith, Omaha, NE. I was eight years old when I first began to feel like an outsider. My school was very segregated, white people...
“Othering speaks against diversity” — rinse, repeat.
Anonymous, Coconut Creek, FL. Never heard of the term “othering”, until the PBS special. If nothing else, it’s a great example of creating language where...
A misunderstood southern white jew
Benjamin Beadle, New Orleans, LA I was born and raised in Louisiana. I was raised a Christian on my father’s side and Jewish on my...
Where Are You From? No Answers.
Charley Sullivan, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan It was 1976. I was 12, and just moved back to the DC suburbs...
My children can be badly behaved
Erin Seaton, West Newbury, MA. I have two great kids. They are smart and kind and thoughtful and sometimes they also fall apart. We are...
Hated wearing green on St.PatrickDay mom.
Daniel Luis Soto New York, NY I consider myself Puerto Rican. Grandparents from PR My great grandfather on mom’s side is from Ireland. Going further...
Oh, I expected a Black woman.
Jamila Wolters, Portland, OR I am a White-passing, Mexican woman with an Arabic name and have heard this statement from people of all races. The...
