No you’re NOT Latina, YOU’RE white.
Karen Davis, Cupertino, CA. Recently, I was told by my closest friends that I am NOT latina I am white. I can not understand this...
“What are you? Where’re you from?”
Bettina Sferrino, Oakland, CA. As a mixed race person, I get these questions all the time. The persons asking have a strong desire to know...
You’re pretty for a Black girl.
Maya Segirah, Los Angeles, CA. As if the qualifier, somehow, makes me different from the rest, which are by implication inferior, and therefore I’m better?...
“White” papers over background identity.
Catherine Kehl, Cleveland Heights. OH. When we divide ourselves into “us” and “other” we don’t only lose the other, we lose ourselves. I was twenty-seven...
You Can’t be of Mexican Descent!
Damian Solorzano, Sacramento, CA. Don’t let my skin tone, size and acculturation fool you. Like the Author of the above piece, I check “Hispanic” on...
Treat every race as your own.
Eva Dotti, Long Beach, CA. This is the best way I can be the change I want to see. I don’t ever want to be...
I actually live in a house
Ribora, Riverside, CA. As an International student, it can be offensive to think just because a person is from Africa, they come from a jungle...
White, female – begin to speak – IMMIGRANT!
Åsa Nojd San Francisco, CA For better or worse, my accent changes others’ perception of me in an instant when they hear me speak. That...
My name is Eve, not Eva.
Eve Lopez, Arcata, CA. When I tell people my name, they don’t hear it. They hear “Eva,” because of the “a” that is often at...
Get out of my country!
John Wong, San Francisco, CA. I’m an American Born Chinese and am in my early 20’s, while riding the train, this was said to me...
My children have no heritage day.
Mac Los Angeles, CA My children grew up in southern California and attended fabulously diverse schools that frequently featured “Heritage Days” where the school children...
Light brown, dark brown don’t matter!!!
Shaunta Whitaker, Lompoc, CA. I am a grandmother and I love being a grandmother but with it comes some heartache because of some of the...
Do you all live in Glendale?
Anait Kazaryan Burbank, CA I am an Armenian-American. There is a large percentage of Armenians living in Glendale. When people ask me this question, I...
