Anna,
Columbia, SC.

I know I have “white” skin, but I really hate that word. I don’t think about myself as “white”. I am Italian and Czech. My dad was the first generation of my family to live in America. Our family wasn’t here for the Civil War, we didn’t enslave anybody. In fact, my dad came here because the Nazis, and then the Soviets, were murdering my people and enslaving them in his country. My grandfather was in a concentration camp. My dad has PTSD from fighting Soviet soldiers. So when somebody calls me white and tells me all about how my people enslaved theirs, I get a little offended. My skin color doesn’t erase the struggle of my people, and it does not define my mindset. I am not racist, and I am not ignorant of the struggle of oppressed people in this country. I do not carry “white guilt”. All I’m guilty of is wanting to live my life. When you call me white, you pretend my heritage does not exist, and you generalize who I am based on my skin color. Please stop assuming things about me just because I have paler skin than you. And please stop acting like your struggle is the only struggle that matters. We are all going to have to work together if we want to solve the problem of oppression.