Shevon Desai Ann Arbor, MI My parents emigrated from India to the US over 50 years ago. In terms of ethnicity, I think of myself as South Asian – but in terms of race, we are officially Caucasian (my family are Parsis – Indian Zoroastrians whose ancestors originally came from Iran). Race and ethnicity for […]
We joke, but it’s not funny.
Pauline Devlin Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan This is in reference to my friends and I. I do not believe any of us would consider ourselves racist, so I feel bad when I hear people casually perpetuating stereotypes.
Citizenship is fact – race is fiction.
Ann Evans Larimore, Ann Arbor, MI.
Every race fears those facially disfigured.
Mattie O’Brien Ann Arbor, MI
Army-wide, we were all green.
Christine Cook, Wayne State, Ann Arbour, MI When I was in the Army, diversity was important. So was looking past color differences. At the beginning of basic training, the drill sergeant insisted we were all “green”–meaning the color of our uniform was more important than the color of our skin.
Born white. Married Brown. Love Conquers.
Kerri Wakefield Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
Jewish American princess I am not.
Anna Goldstein, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project=- University of Michigan
Drowning in generalizations; floating on truth
Alexis Ford Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan As an African American, I have several generalizations placed upon me. Some people just assume who I am. I am rarely asked. While a lot of these assumptions hurt, I know the truth. I know only my own actions and words define me. I […]
Any damn fool knows a catfish
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Assimilate into what we want, please?
Stephanie Betancourt Ann Arbor, MI I will never give in, and lose a part of me. Not even if you ask “nicely”.
I’m never asked about hot sauce.
Christine R. Ann Arbor, MI Before I started dating my “black” boyfriend, I really didn’t think about race very much or the privilege I inherited with my “white” skin. There have been times that people have made rude comments or asked, what I would consider, overtly racist questions upon learning of our interracial relationship. However, […]
At the hospice, everyone is blue
Debbie Taylor, Ann Arbor, MI. My mother passed away on December 14, 2012 of liver cancer at the age of 80 and she spent her last afternoon and night in Ann Arbor Hospice. The staff was loving, kind and professional. One nurse in particular examined my mother with such tenderness and care that I was […]
We are treated how we look.
Kimberly Dorsey, Detroit, MI. I am bi-racial and have been raised in a white family inside Detroit. I have suffered many racially motivated injustices in my travels and it makes me angry when people pretend race doesn’t matter. It matters when you are the one being discriminated against.
My natural hair isn’t a statement.
Michelle Mabson, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan I wear my hair the way it grows out of my head…no chemical enhancements. BUT for some reason…a reason I suppose I know all too well, the act of wearing my ‘natural’ hair is seen as larger than life. Maybe it’s the fact that […]
I am Hapa, I am American.
Mark Moldwin, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project University of Michigan
African roots camouflaged by chameleon skin.
Marilene de Ritis Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
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 from growing up in Southeast Asia and West Africa. The first question to me in 7th grade English class was “Did you see Tarzan?” This is how much my new […]
Indéfinies surprises de la différence: bonheur!
Jean M. Hebrard Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project – University of Michigan
Sir, please take your “hat” off
Jasneet Kaur Palaha, Ann Arbor, MI. University of Michigan. Sikhism, a monotheistic religion from Northern India believes the idea of simplicity, therefore requiring to never cut your hair, along with other requests. Men usually tie their hair neatly in a turban, whereas girls commonly let it down. Wherever we were, my father would be frisked […]
The Word Race Was a Mistake
Eric Brooks, Ann Arbor, MI. It makes simpleminded people go to biological differences when their complaints are with culture.
They were Asian and left 20%!
Caitlyn Rize, Ann Arbor, MI. As a waitress on a college campus, the people I work with constantly stereotype their tables before even walking up to them. Oftentimes the other servers will “give their table away” — meaning they don’t want to serve them — to us other servers who give everyone the chance to […]
1964: Mom happy my friend was black
Jan Afonso Ann Arbor, MI
The house I did not build
Adam Paberzs, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan Here are some other 6-word essays that you may use under my name (I know that’s probably breaking the rules – just wanted to share if nothing else). Whiteness. Welcome to the real world. Not who I thought I was. Fear. Guilt. Shame. Courage. […]
Ask who not what I am
Martha S. Jones, Ann Arbor, MI. Submitted via Twitter: @marthasjonesUM #TheRaceCardProject @michele_norris
No, I’m “really” from New York.
Kate Lee van Loveren, Ann Arbor, MI. I was born in New York, grew up in New York, and live in New York (when I’m not at school). I’m of half Chinese and half Dutch descent, but for some people that registers into me not being American for some reason. Just by looking at me, […]
We can’t defy the Inevitable!!! Truth
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Japanese and American, not Japanese-American.
Aya Mimura Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
Refugee. Iraqi AND American. No Hyphen.
Banen Al-Sheemary Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
I didn’t think it effected me.
Jillian Manning Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project – University of Michigan I was wrong.
New experiences: better late than never.
Bryce Beckwith Ann Arbor, MI I attended a catholic, all-girls high school in Sacramento, California. Race and diversity were things I had only experienced through informative assemblies. However; the University of Michigan has made those assemblies a daily experience.
Increasing my understanding through travel experiences.
Alexandra Naski Ann Arbor, MI
I’m white. You’re not. So what?
Maureen Burns, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan I have three lovely granddaughters. We’re all different. It doesn’t matter. We’re family.
Awakened by 1967 Dreaming about 2067
William Barr Ann Arbor, MI
What music do you listen to?
Emma Williams Ann Arbor, MI
A construction. A box. NOT ME!
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
“Hey, are you a doctor yet?”
Kevin Cai Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
A foundation of strength never falling
Tushar Shetty, Ann Arbor, MI. On Location: University of Michigan
Acceptance, like art, comes in all colors.
Harold Rice, Ann Arbor, MI. On Location: University of Michigan The University of Michigan has the 8th most international students in the country, which causes all of it’s students to be both accepting and interactive with cultures far different from their own. I came to the university from a town that was 99% white, and […]
Being biracial makes me an edgewalker.
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI The concept of being an “edgewalker” is from Nina Boyd Krebs–it means you can move between cultural traditions and cultural communities with some level of ease, comfort and enjoyment. Being raised in a Black/White family, we talked about and lived race/ethnicity/socio-economics/etc. daily. I know now that this is a blessing as […]
Repent, Forgive, Grace, Heal, Pray, Repeat!
LaKeisha Vereen Ann Arbor, MI
Hundred dresses. All beautiful. All different.
Lesli Weston, Ann Arbor, MI. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes For more interesting conversation about Eleanor Estes and The Hundred Dresses visit: The Back Seat Book Club
Please don’t tell me that you’re colorblind.
B., Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project – University of Michigan It’s just another way of saying you’re racist. (What does it say about you, that you have to deliberately ignore an intrinsic part of my identity in order to see me as a human being?)
We are lazy, we shouldn’t be.
Gil, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan I believe that discrimination and racist attitudes derives from human nature to be lazy. Because we humans are so lazy, we do not spend the effort and time to learn about the individual but instead, discriminate people by their skin color. This attitude is wrong, […]
A construction, A box, NOT ME!
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Stuck on white guilt. What’s next?
Sarah Kerson Ann Arbor, MI
Race is neutral….We are challenged
Dr. Larry Rowley Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
Friendship, respect… but WE still have power
Anonymous, Ann Arbor, MI
Inclusive, outsider, owner, leverage, advantage, introspective
Adrian Ohmer Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Law
Our legacy is students, not law
Martha S. Jones Ann Arbor, MI Submitted via Twitter: @marthasjonesUM
We, variations on a theme, gods
Carolyn Rockafelow Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
This one a slaveowner in Barbados
Margaret Condon Taylor Ann Arbor, MI My mother and her sister visited me decades ago when they were researching their ancestry. My mother orally provided me with one sentence summaries of some of these ancestors. Sentences included this one scalped by Indians (in Herkimer County, NY), and this one — an epileptic– crushed to death […]
1 reason I came to America
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
I avoid people that are different.
Jill Noeh Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project-The University of Michigan Explanation: I’ve found that throughout my life, I have avoided people who look and act differently than me. I grew up in a white neighborhood that was sheltered from people who were different. At first it wasn’t me purposefully trying to avoid these people, […]
Washtenaw students use The Race Card Project to confront bullying
Powerful words from a high school student—shared during the second annual Youth Diversity Forum with a room full of Washtenaw County high schoolers—helped set the tone for a day-long discussion Friday at Eastern Michigan University.
About 200 students and teachers from every public school district in Washtenaw County attended the forum, held at EMU’s College of Business in downtown Ypsilanti.
High school students participate in a social identity exercise at the second annual Youth Diversity Forum at Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business in Ypsilanti.
Police? I’m white. Scholarship? I’m black.
Hassan Hodges Ann Arbor, MI
Race is everyone’s opinion but yours.
Rianna Johnson-Levy Ann Arbor, MI Your own opinion on race doesn’t matter, how you identify doesn’t matter. Race is all about how others see you and treat you.
I’m white. I love (my) Black daughter.
Steven Hsu Ann Arbor, MI
Nation built on racial discrimination, exclusion
Georgia Ann Arbor, MI Think about it. The building of this country was facilitated by making it ok to destroy or enslave someone who was not white to get what they had or could provide to advance this country. Genocide was committed on a people to get the land. Enslavement was committed to get free […]
So ambiguous, a different race everyday.
Mintii Ann Arbor, MI You ask me my race just to comfort your mind because it’s hard for me to fit in a box. I can say anything to you and it would please your curiosity.
“What are you?” they always ask.
Usha Pasupuleti Ann Arbor, MI
Silencing the many, empowers the few
Maja Tosic Ann Arbor, MI
You mean to say Native American
Swapnil Deopurkar Seattle, WA I moved from India to Ann Arbor, Michigan; age 26, male, long hair, parted down the middle and with a pony tail. My first day at the bus stop, started a conversation with an African American undergrad. The conversation abruptly halted with me saying “I am Indian..” and he interrupting “..you […]
One day it won’t matter anymore.
Jean Hagen Ann Arbor, MI
Brownish, but don’t make me choose.
Marie Lynn Miranda Ann Arbor, MI
Painful regret about an assumption made.
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI The year was 1997. I was part of a small committee selecting MBAs for highly sought-after internships in China. I wasn’t prepared to be tested on my passionate belief that skin color doesn’t matter. But I am white. And when another white colleague said, “this candidate is African American, he might […]
Young, Black, Gifted… America’s worst nightmare!
Chaddrick Gallaway Ann Arbor, MI
White is a lack of race.
Eric Brooks Ann Arbor, MI
There is only one race: HUMAN.
Sheila Calhoun Ann Arbor, MI I married an anthropologist and truly believe this. Our children have always listed Human on forms when asked.
So many PERSPECTIVES, so little TIME.
Cynthia King Ann Arbor, MI
Altering appearance hoping for acceptance, celebration.
Jenny Rickard Ann Arbor, MI
White people: not the only bigots
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
You talk like a white person
Jessica Mitchell Ann Arbor, MI
Afropean-American, I made it up.
Laura Kupe Ann Arbor, MI My parents are originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was born in Germany, raised in Luxembourg and Metro-Detroit. I am a German-speaking black American, and people would never make that assumption about me.
Foot in sink, awkward first meeting
Salimah Mohamed Ann Arbor, MI
Not better or worse. Just different.
Jessie Micallef Ann Arbor, MI
What’s it like, in your skin?
Leslie Pincus Ann Arbor, MI
Stolen Land. Identity Adrift. We Persevere.
Pilar Parish Koopman Ann Arbor, MI Amazing Project!
My grandparents met in the KKK
Alisa Rose Ann Arbor, MI I didn’t know that until recently. My aunt found my grandfather’s robes in a trunk when he died. My grandmother was a little embarrassed. The times have changed in my home town–the KKK is not active anymore that I know of. But the town is still less than 2% African […]
Blond hair, white skin, he’s jewish
Thomas Larsen Ann Arbor, MI I have said it over and over, that I actually am not Jewish, but every time I say so they give a start of surprise.
I am one of ‘those people’
Mary Donaldson Ann Arbor, MI When said out loud, ‘those people’ must be said like something of nasty flavor is on the speaker’s tongue. When I hear people say ‘those people’, I know they are referring to a nameless-faceless group, but have sooo many criticisms they have identified, no less, in vivid detail.
March, sing, study and keep active
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Race is always in my life
Charles Ransom Ann Arbor, MI
Feel guilty checking the Caucasian box
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Global consciousness must heal the separations
Sister Andrea Dillon Ann Arbor, MI
The Gift my parents gave me
Kavitha Iyengar Ann Arbor, MI
I never thought race really mattered.
Holly Clegg Ann Arbor, MI Culture makes us who we are; our roots make us who we are. We are defined by our interactions, identified by our achievements. But we are not who we are because of race.
Stories should be told, not hidden
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
Didn’t know I was so prejudice
Christy Moeder Ann Arbor, MI While taking a college course, we were challenged to learn about other ethnicities. As well, we were asked to reflect upon ourselves in our views of other cultures and whether we are diverse or not. During this course, I realized I was not a diverse person at all. I have […]
If it’s race, no one wins.
Colleen Seifert Ann Arbor, MI
Profoundly meaningful and profoundly not meaningful.
Suellyn Scarnecchia Ann Arbor, MI We are torn by the competing beliefs that race matters in important ways and that race does not matter at all.
Confederate flag not about Southern Pride.
Patrick Ann Arbor, MI
The Help. The Helped. Who’s helping?
Christopher Rapisarda Ann Arbor, MI
In the space, I mark human!
Elizabeth James Ann Arbor, MI Being of mixed ancestry and believing in only one race, human, it’s very difficult to be yourself in a country where determining “who” you are is so closely connected to your ethnicity. I am Elizabeth and that should be enough.
Understand privilege. Understand inherent worth. Change.
Deanna Y. Cho Ann Arbor, MI
Race has been a loaded weapon
Tiya Miles Ann Arbor, MI
Owning my Whiteness, Becoming an Ally
Becky Christensen Ann Arbor, MI Despite growing up in a somewhat racially diverse area in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had never thought about the privileges I had based on being White until I read Peggy McIntosh’s “White: Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” in graduate school. Since then, I’ve been actively exploring and acknowledging […]
My heart is blinded by experience
Ava Dupre Ann Arbor, MI Though I am real with everyone I meet regardless of appearance or origin, my experiences from growing up in a multiracial home often misguides my heart. I identify as a Mexican, White and Black Woman. When I see a white man, I see the absent father of my mother and […]
I’m comfortable with my color blindness.
Laura Kosteva Ann Arbor, MI
The human race shouldn’t have losers.
Katie Koziara Ann Arbor, MI
Hispanic box checked on standardized tests
Alejandro L. Zúñiga Sacks Ann Arbor, MI
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