Isabella Thomas,
Philadelphia, PA.

My name is Isabella Thomas, and I’m a student currently attending Central High School in Philadelphia. The concept of ‘race’, to me has always correlated with ‘color’. Or perhaps an erasure of identity. I am not simply white, just as my peers- my friends- are not simply black, or Asian. I am Swedish ice and the streets of Munich. I am Italy’s vineyards and Ireland’s fields and the tombs of Wales. Our heritage is swept away by one word descriptors that say nothing more about us than the color of our skin. I will not pretend to have a struggle with this- I am Caucasian and am privileged as any such person of my skin color, and I will not pretend that I understand- but it does not seem fair for anyone to have to hold one part of their heritage above any other. None of us is ‘simply’ black or white or Asian- we are European and Haitian and Laotian and and and- we are not simply anything. We are a mesh of countries and a smattering of cultures from all corners of the Earth. To not be able to recognize the cultures our parents passed down- to have to deny one part of yourself to satisfy the skewed statistics- is simply not right. It will never be right.