Anonymous, Lincoln, NE. I teach Native Studies (among other things) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I volunteer with the Native groups in the state prison system. Walking across the quad I see mostly white faces– walking across the yard not so much. Makes me sad. And mad. Also wanted to comment on your “South […]
Your words do not offend me!
Anonymous, Austin, TX. With the onslaught of social media, people feel that that they can judge and pressure any and everyone into being afraid to say anything that might be considered different or something that someone may disagree with. Like the old saying, “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt […]
“He’s not heavy. He’s my brother”
Anonymous, Spokane, WA. Playing on the radio when my 16-year-old friend in high school came back to school after her brother was murdered someone playing Russian Roulette while drunk in her home. Native American Family.
Only one’s sexuality trumps skin color.
BL, Iowa City, IA.
I’m told to get over it.
Anonymous, Houston, TX. It’s hard being a young “smart” black man, especially in the military. If to good at my job it’s because “we helped you out more because we don’t want you to think we where racists” then if I’m not good at my job its. “Well you know black people are lazy…” Plus […]
We all say stupid things sometimes.
Anonymous, USA.
Needing to introduce myself as “adopted”
Anonymous Morris, MN
Don’t see racism where it is not
Anonymous, San Francisco, CA. I am so grateful for increased awareness about racism in our society (it certainly still exists and we should continue to focus on efforts to achieve equality) but I am also concerned about suggestions of racism (with ensuring public outrage) in cases that do not seem to involve racism at all. […]
America, I’m not feeling the love
Anonymous, Denver, CO. Denver Public Library Hampden Branch Library Race Card project
You’re from Africa? But you’re white?
Anonymous, Namibia. White black and everything in between. We’re all African in spite of some Africans claiming to be more African than others.
I’m called “Ch*nk” by African-Americans most
Anonymous, Washington, DC.
Blame the Founding Fathers, not me
Anonymous, USA.
Difficult Childhood With A Racist Father
Anonymous, Omaha, NE. My mother is black and father who I never knew was latino. When I was 3 my mother met and married a white man fresh off the boat from Europe. Together they had a daughter,my baby sister. I only ever knew this man as any sort of father figure and because I […]
You speak Spanish??? You look white.
Anonymous, Perris, CA. I have green eyes, blonde hair, and light skin so I must be white, but wait.. I speak Spanish. I am Mexican American.
I’m starting to hate white people
Anonymous, United Kingdom.
Be color brave, not color blind.
Anonymous, Norfolk, VA It’ll all be different.
Dating: I’m too dark for him?!
Anonymous, Northampton, MA. He’s a white European, and has never considered black women to be attractive, apparently until he met me and we got to know each other. Since he is curious about interracial relationships, he’s often on youtube watching videos on black and white couples/babies/marriages. Yesterday, he proudly told me that he watched an […]
The Truth Spoken Behind Closed Doors
Anonymous, Miami, FL. Though I was born and Raised in a suburb a few miles south of Miami, Florida. My mom and dad are from Ethiopia and Sudan respectively. As a child, I’d say about 99% of the community were “white”. During middle and high school it shifted to about 49% “white”, 49% Hispanic and […]
God has a sense of humor
Anonymous, USA.
Indian-American but live like white
Anonymous, USA. I speak no Hindi. Live in a big suburban house. Dress and eat like a yuppie white person. What makes me Indian?
Brown Lives Matter Too
Anonymous, Perris, CA. African Americans get much of the publicity nowadays while Mexican Americans face the same stereotypes and discrimination issues without retaliation. CBU HIS311
We built this country, not them.
Anonymous, PA.
See you at the finish line!!!
Anonymous, MN. Can’t draw to save my life. Picture up for interpretation.
Scared of being shot by cops
Anonymous, Detroit, MI.
Just try and guess my race
Anonymous, Detroit, MI.
Not fully White, not fully Black
Anonymous, Columbus, OH. I am mixed race and have always felt in the middle in terms of race. “Legally” I am Black and more often than not experience the same benefits and determents as the Black side of my family. I have also had the misfortune of being mistreated by both races for being “light […]
Pick ’em up & lay ’em down.
Anonymous, Seattle, WA. My five-month-old Ameri-Kenyan daughter and I were part of a group of 300 Americans with the National Parks Service who commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights March. For five days, we marched from Selma to Montgomery. She rode just over my heart, clapping and singing as we went.
White privileged with a blended family
Anonymous, Saint Paul, MN. I grew up northern CA in a very middle class well to do with family that was racially homogeneous with a strong catholic upbringing. Some years after my dad passed away, my mom remarried to an Asian American man who had three children of his own- our families merged – my […]
A costume I can’t take off.
Anonymous Athens, GA Centuries ago, on the Horn of Africa, where my parents originated, Arabs crossed the Red Sea then crossbred and/or raped the indigenous Africans. This event has confused generations of “my” peoples’ sense of identity. I pose the question to my mother, “What are we?”, to which she responds, “Look in the mirror. […]
Playing by everyone’s rules is exhausting
Anonymous, Madison, WI. To Fred down the street I’m half-Asian; to Nick the bus driver I’m from southern France; Veronica thinks I’m obviously Native; McKayla says I’m White; to Esme I look like one of those pochos who thinks he’s too good to be associated with “them.” Sometimes it’s okay for me to talk about […]
“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 we can speak to each other, however small.
Better music, less ignorance, more peace
Anonymous West Hempstead, NY
Lie. Pretend to be “less Black”
Anonymous, USA. Someone, maybe many people, in my family took on the persona of mixed race Black/Native Americans so they could be, what? Less Black? I don’t know if it was my father’s generation, or his father’s, or even farther back. I grew up thinking I was Indian and consequently less connected to my Black […]
White Guilt is offensive and condescending.
Anonymous Hong Kong, China I’ve always thought white guilt was condescending and offensive towards people of extra-European origins. Do we really need to see more movies like Avatar and The Help and campaigns like Kony 2012? I’d like for formerly colonized peoples to have more autonomy and be able to speak for themselves.
I Never Know How to Feel
Anonymous Plattsburgh, NY I grew up in a rural upstate NY town–hating everything that seemed bigoted or prejudiced. I loathed a lot of the people I knew in adolescence who held tight to old racist values. I went into college with an open mind and an open heart. I don’t know what happened next. Our […]
We all have a cross to bear.
Anonymous, Milwaukee, WI. After writing/blogging about race for over 15 years at Blackfriendonline.com there is only 1 thing I’ve learned. We all want and fear the same things, hurt to us and those we love and also failure.
Your family isn’t your “real” family
Anonymous, Des Moiones, IA. Drake University This is what my mom was told in 1954 when social services came into her home and removed her and all of her siblings from her mom. At that time they were truly poor and were having a hard time finding enough food to eat. Her mother had a […]
Married to a Conservative Trump Supporter
Anonymous, Chesapeake, VA.
But you’re half white. Stop that.
Anonymous, USA.
There is no race, I’m colorblind
Anonymous, Virginia Beach, VA.
“I suppose they’ll all want dignity.”
Anonymous, St. Paul, MN. “O’Hare had a little notebook with him, and printed in the back of it were postal rates and airline distances and the altitudes of famous mountains and other key facts about the world. He was looking up the population of Dresden, which wasn’t in the notebook, when he came across this […]
I hate being called a “white boy”
Anonymous, USA. “White boy”, , , . What I don’t understand is why there has always had to be a race at the bottom. No one seems to be able to get the freaking idea of racial equality through the six inches between their ears. First it was Africans. Then Jews, Asians, Latinos, Middle Eastern […]
When money talks, people are silenced
Anonymous, USA
I take my race for granted.
Lily Waxler, NA No thanks, I’d rather not say., . I was going on my 8th grade trip for Costa Rica last year and I was with one of my best friends; (I’m going to keep their name anonymous). Wore a hijab for their religion, because of this she got stopped for three “random” security […]
You’re scared, so I’ll act different
Anonymous, Mechanicsburg, VA. It is hard not to be myself to please someone else who does not really care about me at all. I hate having to be someone different when I am in public so I do not scare anyone else. It would be different if I was ignorant and loud in public, but […]
No One Traces Ancestors Back (to) America
Anonymous, USA. I find funny it when people say, “I’m full American” or something along those lines because all Americans are immigrants, or of the family of immigrants. Therefore, no one is “full American.” The United States is a young country, and most people can use common technology to trace back where their family immigrated […]
“American” is the most accurate label
Anonymous, San Antonio, TX. Look, I’ll keep it real simple. My family is from Texas. Now we’ve had a French Texas, a Spanish Texas, a Mexican Texas, a Republic of Texas, a Confederate Texas, and finally Texas, USA. Am I Mexican? Hell no. I’m from Texas, and this is the United States of America. My […]
Why do white people fear us
Anonymous, Warren, MI. Why do white people hate and fear black people to such a point that white people set a global system of a racism against black people in every way? Are white afraid of losing to black in some way or is it something deeper and hidden?
Mexican Spanish American Female White Washed
Anonymous, CA.
Christian and Gay: We exist. We’re beautiful.
Anonymous, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX.
Can’t we all just get along?
Anonymous, Concord, VA. Not my words, but Rodney King’s. Did we not get that message?
Take a wild guess …
Anonymous, Seattle, WA.
Blacks are more racist than whites
Anonymous, Jackson, MS. Dissatisfied with black racism. But we never want to talk about it, and when blacks are tyrannically racist against white people, we just act like it’s no big deal. Black people today were not slaves, and no one I repeat NO ONE is stopping them from succeeding except themselves…but they want to […]
I’m an Eastern European Ashkenazic Jew
Anonymous, Philadelphia, PA . For a long time, I have known that the concept of “race” is a false way to identify or classify human beings. Race is not a biological reality. In the 19th century, in Europe, the concept of ranking people by color was used to justify conquest and slavery. The attachment of […]
Why Can’t I Like Rap Music
Anonymous, USA. Ever since a young age, I have been super passionate about hip-hop and rap music, but have received constant criticism, weird looks and other disapproving messages from some people who claim “there is no way you can like rap”. Although it’s a minute issue compared to other stories, it still makes me feel […]
New option at doctors – Eastern European
Anonymous, Baltimore, MD. When people discuss race, they seem to refer to only people of color. I always check Caucasian on forms. At the doctors yesterday, there was a new option, Eastern European. It felt like a better fit for me. Just because my skin lacks pigment, doesn’t mean that I am the same as […]
All this, and still just white.
Anonymous, Memphis, TN. I feel like I have a wonderful heritage full of rich culture. Italian and Native American mostly, but when people look at me, that all goes away and I’m just white. Especially where I currently live, when my husband, who has his roll number, marks Native American, human resources directors say, “Same […]
Don’t Bring Home No White Girls
Anonymous, TX. Said a well travelled Black American female veteran to her biracial, trilingual, and dual citizen son. Behind her, in full agreement, stood her Eastern European Jewish husband. As madly in love as was at first sight, their relationship was taboo, condemned by family and friends alike. Now years later they faced their resultant […]
Still a threat to your security
Anonymous, USA. A fellow customer I saw shopping for the 30 minutes I was in the store walked to the front as we were leaving. He noticeably pointed his key fob towards the parking lot to ensure his door was locked.
White people are not the enemy.
Anonymous, USA. White people of TODAY are not your enemy. As a white person, I have nothing to do with what happened 60-100 years ago. I see you as just another person. My main concerns are about managing my own problems, and surviving on a very low income. I am poor. I just want to […]
Doesn’t include only blacks and whites.
Anonymous USA I’m Indian and Pakistani and often feel left out of the “race discussions” which only involve two races
Black girls can rock bold lipstick!
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX. Often black women are told that we shouldn’t pull any more attention to our lips because they are sooooooo big! We have to stop feeding into the Eurocentric ideas of what is beautiful!
A divisive dividing line against commonality…
Anonymous, Summerdale, AL. To fully understand the reasons why race is such a hot button topic in my opinion,is that one must look at the historical basis that set the foundation for the racial discord in this country and beyond its shores.We will never be able to get beyond race until we are truly able […]
Change must come from within you
Anonymous, Portland, OR. Honestly, the change had to come from within. I grew up in a very white area and my parents were raised in a way that was unacceptable and I had to change myself and their views. So I say, it comes from within because if you truly believe things should change, it’s […]
We all have bright white eyes
Anonymous, Spokane, WA.
My eyes don’t make me Asian
Anonymous, Saline, MI.
Teaching race to white students tomorrow.
Anonymous Flagstaff, AZ
Don’t judge me based on color
Anonymous, Riverside, CA. People usually judge me within seconds based on the color of my skin. Not only does it hurt, most of the assumptions are wrong. I am proud of my skin color just like everyone should be, but I wish people would not go around making assumptions based on a color. CBUHIS311
Black people ruin anyplace they live
Anonymous, USA.
We can’t defy the Inevitable!!! Truth
Anonymous Ann Arbor, MI
I’m extremely racist and I’m not white.
Anonymous, UT. I’m not white, I’m not black. I’m a mixed Latina. I honestly despise brown/black people, I can’t stand their ugly skin, noses and hair. It goes from blacks to Polynesians. I don’t like their culture, I don’t like their looks and how they act. I’m racist, and I’m not white. I came from […]
Discriminated parent hid Native American ancestry
Anonymous Bandon, OR
Oh sorry I am new here!
Anonymous, Sacramento, CA. I remember the time when we just moved here in the United States, we were called “beggars” by an old lady because of the way we dress. Coming from a country where lifestyle was just simple and plain affected our adjustment, and made it hard for us to adopt, especially the place […]
White, Daughter, Italian, Counselor, Catholic, Dumb-Blonde
Anonymous, West Long Branch, NJ. Monmouth University
Judge my soul Not my color.
Gloria Bozor, West Orange, NJ. Monmouth University I attended a dominate white college for my undergrad degree. For four years professors, staff, as well as peers assume I was an anger, bitter, African American because I didn’t have too many friends, I didn’t speak much in class, and I stayed to myself. My grades were […]
I’m A Black Mother Not Monster
Anonymous, Eden Praire, MN. Prejudice robbed me of my child. 15 years ago my only living child was stolen from me by her white daddy and took overseas when she was 6 because I didn’t live up to his standards of what he thought was a good mother. To keep her away from me he […]
Don’t see just race, see people.
Anonymous, West Long Branch, NJ. Monmouth University
Nice butt for a white girl
Anonymous, West Long Branch, NJ.
Indian, first generation, American making waves
Anonymous, Monmouth Universtiy
Not American, Not Italian. Not sure
Anonymous, Monmouth University
White girl marrying a muslim man
Anonymous, Monmouth University
Jewish Girl disguised as a white girl
Anonymous, Long Branch, NJ. Monmouth University
I am a white Italian Female
Anonymous, Monmouth University
White Girl always trying. Always learning
Anonymous, Monmouth University
Hardworking illegal immigrant although a citizen
Anonymous, Monmouth University
Address privilege, challenge what you “know”
Anonymous, Monmouth University
I Am Black I Am Worthy
Anonymous, Omaha, NE. Self-hatred most often begins in childhood.
Dad said date your own race
Anonymous
I’m a white male; I’m unwanted.
Anonymous, Purcellville, VA. Living in a world where quotas of minorities must be accepted into major institutions, being a white male becomes a disadvantage. If I am paired against a minority of same academic and extracurricular achievements as me, I will most likely be brushed aside. I believe the only true way to make things […]
Irish. Childhood passing as English. Shame.
Anonymous USA
“Coloreds,” “Grandma, what color are they?”
Anonymous
Infertility = anonymous sperm donor…my race____?
Donor Conceived USA My dad will always be my dad, but at the age of 30, my parents decided it was time to tell me that my dad was not my biological father. Everyone in my immediate and extended family already knew this except for me. They were afraid of how I would respond. All […]
The color black: say with care.
Anonymous, USA. The world we have created now makes it a challenge to say the word black.
I’m white; where do I confess?
Anonymous, Annapolis, MD. Shouldn’t blacks learn something about white attitudes. I’m often surprised by what we hear about whites.
I just want to remain anonymous.
Hades, Colorado Springs, CO. I came up with this instantly without even thinking. I think it fits the Race Card project because I believe some people truly don’t want to be known by their race or gender. Some just want to be who they really are without labels.
Do hillbillies have white privilege too?
Anonymous, Knoxville, TN. I’m from the Mountain South, where white privilege and racism take on a range of meanings outside the mainstream. I’ve heard our regional identity described as a kind of “otherized whiteness,” and I think that’s about right. Whatever else we were, we always knew our whiteness was the wrong kind. That’s what […]
Same finish line; different starting points.
Anonymous, Syracuse, NY.
I have privilege, so what now?
Anonymous, USA. Once we’ve made the realization, or just simply acknowledged the obvious, what are we supposed to do now.
I won’t apologize for my ancestors
Anonymous, IL. Life is hard enough for everybody without guilting everybody for transgressions they had nothing to do with. My ancestors fought for the South, and they were poor white conscripts who starved to death in a prison camp. They didn’t care about race.
white white white white white white
Anonymous, St. Louis, MO. I truly believe that for me, the down sides of being black would be worth a full sense of acceptance into the beautiful culture of hip-hop and rap that I identify with at the soul level. I’m hated for that and I understand why.
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