In Indonesia I am asked “Dutch”?
Nancy Deschu, Anchorage, AK. My Dutch ancestors arrived in New Amsterdam in 1624. Now, four hundred years later, I live in Alaska but my roots...
I trusted adults that taught hate.
Stan Pitts Anchorage, AK I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and was 10 years old during the fateful year 1963. My father was a Birmingham...
Privilege is real. I get it.
Eric Moore, Anchorage, AK. “I get it” cuts three ways. First, I understand this is true. Second, I am in most ways the example of...
West Asians Count As Asians Too
Ali Arturo Mansour Hull, Anchorage, AK Im mixed race. My maternal grandma is of Syrian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Saudi, Iranian, Indian and Pakistani Ancestry. My maternal...
Blond hair – can’t use Afro Sheen
Diane Smith, Anchorage, AK. I was the only white girl in my 6th grade class at Windsor Hills Elementary School in Los Angeles. I wished...
No, I’m not Italian or Spanish
Arturo Mansour-Hull, Anchorage, AK My mom’s biracial Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese,Yemeni, English, Turkish, and Kurdish. My dad’s English, Scottish, German, and Irish. White people think...
A “Racist” charge changed my life
Robert Crosman, Anchorage, AK. Explanation: I was a good liberal, with the milk of human kindness in my veins, when a black student I viewed...
Didn’t know/you don’t sound black.
Charity Son Anchorage, AK I was disappointed that this seems to even surprise a congenitally blind white woman I work with–“I didn’t know you were...
Black. Not Black Enough. Too Black.
Toolie, Anchorage, AK. To the black community, I “act” too white to be like them. To the white community, my skin is too dark to...
What am I, I am human.
Anne Ward Masterson Anchorage, AK Growing up Black, White and Cherokee in NH in the 1960’s and 70’s made for some painful tensions. In Kindergarten...
Having a foot in two canoes.
Emily Wood Anchorage, AK Growing up in small town Minnesota where the local summer celebration was “Swedish Heritage Days” could be awkward for a girl...
