Geoffrey Wodell Wheat Ridge, CO Many years ago an African-American Country-Western singer, Charlie Pride, released a live album. After one of the cuts someone in the audience yelled out “Charlie, how can you look like them and sing like us?”. I have remembered that comment ever since and now, as a Norwegian-American Jew who sings […]
Did you grow up wearing shoes?
Jessica Anderson, Denver, CO. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee, but I now live in Colorado. People always ask ridiculous questions when they find out where I’m from, including, “Did you wear shoes?” and “Where are your overalls?” Being a white, M.A. holding, middle-class woman doesn’t shield me from these stereotypes. […]
Don’t ask if I eat bacon
Jessica Grauer, Denver, CO This question has bothered me for a long time, and I’ve only recently been able to pinpoint why. The assumptions other people make about me based on my religion, though seemingly benign, suggest a lack of cultural awareness, and who knows how far that bias stretches?
I’m fortunate to have many opportunities
Maria Latorra, The University of Arizona, Lafayette, CO
White meets black Black meets white
Marlot Roads, West STL County, CO. March 10 1964 Frankfort, KY
Adopted from India lived in NH
Kayla Eckhoff, Denver, CO. I was just a year old when I was adopted, I was born in India and grew up in a small town in New Hampshire. For the most part I had a normal childhood, especially growing up in an all white community. Went to school, made friends, played school sports. Though […]
One Mirror With Many Different Reflections.
Keith R. Barnes, Colorado Springs, CO. I hear people talking about being a part of a pure race. Race is a distinction placed upon one’s physical and genetic traits most notably skin color. Race is a social construct created to make one category seemingly superior over another. Biologists and anthropologists have discovered race mixing throughout […]
I fight for Americans, whatever color
Damon Williams, Florence, CO. I served four years in the 82nd Airborne Division from Jan 2001 to Jan 2005. Served in three tours and would do it all again for my family and fellow Americans! Airborne, H-Minus, All the way!
Don’t teach kids labels too early.
Cammi C., CO Don’t teach kids labels too early. The time will come because they will inevitably hear labels at school, but while they are under four, don’t do it unless they bring it up. Only give brief explanations. Kids do not categorize based on race unless we teach them to. I almost started teaching […]
Papers? Does your dad do construction?
Josue Roberto Rodriguez, Denver, CO. A question that most of the Hispanic youth gets. They are many stereotypical questions and jokes for Hispanics. These are just some of the more common ones I receive. It is a stereotype for Hispanics to not have their green card. Also for Hispanics to be construction workers.
Who knew Hispanics could be Native?
Luis Toro, Denver, CO. They try to tell us Hispanics are either white or black but my family’s ancestry is definitely Native American, we even know what tribes.
Grandma’s racial rejection disappeared with Olivia
Elizabeth Clair Winslow, Denver, CO. No one from my immediate family showed up when George and I were married. But when Olivia was born, all that changed. George was from Jamaica… a brown man. I was from Maryland; Mom said black Irish. Olivia teaches us about Intersectionality and Bias, twenty years later.
Is your uncle Osama bin Laden?
Tiffany Compton, Colorado Springs, CO. I always thought I was like everyone else until a kid in my 6th grade class asked me this question. After 9/11 my Middle Eastern background has been stereotyped and my life hasn’t been the same.
Before 9/11….Unique, After 9/11….ARAB!
Miriam Piper Colorado Springs, CO Before 9/11 I was just this unique mix of who knows what. I am really Palestinian and White, but no one ever knew what I was (Indian, Puerto Rican, Greek). But as soon as 9/11 happened, and living in a large military community who were then trained on facial features, […]
My mom and dad were wrong.
Kim Floyde, Montrose, CO.
Being Hispanic is a good experience
Joshua Ruiz, DENVER, CO. No, I am not a gangster or some stereotypical Chicano, Mexican, or any Hispanic. I was born in New York City in a Jewish hospital to Nicaraguan parents who lived on 120th and Lexington in some studio room or something like that. Until 2 months later we moved to an open […]
Free speaking teens, changing relational space?
Tara Saltzman, Evergreen, CO. My teens arguing in favor of de-degrading(?) the word n*****, inspired by conviction that changing the influence of words (no longer receiving the word “n*****” as having negative intent or implication), changes relationships. wondering if they are empowered by the innocence of youth and lack of historic understanding AND regardless able […]
Survived racism, the depression and Korea!
Ron Corley, Montrose, CO. I’m 81 years old, and I’ve seen life from the worst to the best.
Look beyond platitudes and excuses
Paul Herring, Littleton, CO How do you go beyond the attitudes and perceptions of the past and change family perceptions that are hundreds of years old?
Tiger Moms eat their children alive
Ethan Tsai Boulder, CO Growing up with the stereotypical Tiger Mom supposedly fosters the growth of amazing children, but I have only seen the heartbreak and misery it usually brings. The incredible pressures brought on by parents that want to live vicariously through their children – raising them to only accept being number one (and […]
White guilt defines my life relentlessly.
Virginia Berthy I come from the combination of an old Alabama-Mississippi family and an old Virginia Family. I do not to my knowledge have an ancestor that did not own slaves before it was outlawed. I am told in back rooms of random family discussion that my great-great-great grandfather was the first white sheriff of […]
Tail the black guy buying moscato.
Erik Aurora, CO I was in a mixed-race neighborhood, in line at a convenience store behind a black man checking out with a white clerk. He asked if there were any larger sizes of the wine he was buying. After the clerk said he wasn’t sure, he went back into the store to look himself. […]
Indo-Pak American. Sounds like camping gear.
Talia Karim Boulder, CO
I want to be like Mom
Susan, Boulder, CO. I’ve been going through something of an identity crisis recently. I’m 31, of mixed race (1/2 Mexican and 1/2 a mix of European). Although my mom was born in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish, I wasn’t raised much in the culture because I grew up on an Air Force Base in […]
I’m white but fear white people
Charlie Zimmerman, Canon City, CO.
My world told me I’m Black.
Robert Franklin, Denver, CO. Race is a construct we all have a part in teaching to our youth. Yes, we are a part of a system, yes we are just individuals working to make the best as good as it can be, yes the oppressive ideas and incentives that keep race and other factors of […]
What am I supposed to say?
Zack Ritchie, Boulder, CO. I am a white male. Race doesn’t play a very important role in my life. I go through my daily activities without having to think about how people view the color of my skin. My uncle, however, is African American. His children, my cousins, have dark skin. Because of that, race […]
American Indians still exist. We’re strong.
Randell Baze, Denver, CO.
The Real Tragedy of 9-11
Chloe, Denver, CO. Sure. 9-11 was an incredible tragedy against the American nation. What was more tragic is the way many white Americans reacted, and the sudden rash of violence against Muslims and Sikhs within our nation. Xenophobia has never worked for us. It’s time to get over 9-11 and acknowledge the hurt we have […]
I am just different, not un-relatable.
Laura F. Milham, Littleton, CO I want diversity inclusion to not only consider different races but different personalities too.
Dad was racist. I fought him.
William G Doyle Jr., Castle Rock, CO. From the time I could remember my father expressed his racism against African Americans. I fought him because of it throughout my life. Usually it exposed itself the most after we would go to church and listen to beautiful sermons about God’s love for all people and then […]
Happy Birthday, you missed teen pregnancy.
Riley Witting, Denver, CO. More often than not, whenever a friend turns twenty, most of my friends congratulates her by saying “Way to go! You missed teen pregnancy”. Although I know this is a harmless comment, and is meant to be funny, I think it is really sad how in todays world we have brought […]
You’re wearing a hijab? I’m nervous.
Camille, Castle Rock, CO. I grew up in an area where there were no Muslims. I moved to Colorado and that’s when I was first exposed to the religion. My mom gets very nervous when she sees a woman wearing a hijab. She almost leaves the store we are in every time. It’s just something […]
You can sit in the bar
Diane Graves, San Antonio, TX. My husband and I (both Anglo) were driving our adopted daughter (born in El Salvador, adopted as an infant, a U.S. citizen since she was 11 months old) to a guest ranch in Colorado. It was 2004; our daughter was 11 years old. Late on Sunday morning, we stopped to […]
Noir, Schwartze, Negredo – I Am Black
Courtney Jones, Denver, CO. People hide behind the stereotypes, racism, politics, and labels to avoid CONNECTING with others. Are we afraid people have more in common with us than we allow our differences to believe? My pride in my race contributes to my Life & community. It takes nothing from you & we all gain […]
Where did you meet your wife?
Brian Comerford Aurora, CO I notice when many husbands are asked a similar question, the word “where” is substituted with “how”; my impression is that because I am a white Anglo male married to a Southeast Asian woman with a foreign accent, the question is actually front-loaded with curiosity about whether or not we were […]
My skin color eclipses my culture
Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, Denver, CO. Being light skinned and Mexican has been the hardest thing to navigate in life. A dark skinned mother and an Anglo father gave birth to a light skin mestiza.
My skin is not my culture.
Rachel Brinson, Centennial, CO. People always want to put me in a box and assume what I find offensive, what I find familiar, and how I choose to see myself and others. No one chooses to see human first, identity second. I will forever be explaining that the body given to me is arbitrary, and […]
This precious boy born of love.
Christine Reed, Denver, CO. This is my son, Cal. I gave birth to him on 8/25/14. We are on a journey with eyes wide open.
Deep Inside we’re all dusty bones
G. Hernandez, Denver, CO.
America, I’m not feeling the love
Anonymous, Denver, CO. Denver Public Library Hampden Branch Library Race Card project
Χιος to Hughes…we’re all immigrants
Patricia Hughes, Lake Arrowhead, CA. My father’s father took the long route of immigration from Greece during the political upheavals occurring in the early part of the 20th century, and later sent for his family. My father and some of his siblings were born in America. Growing up extremely poor in Denver, Colorado, my father […]
Before me, six Native nations here.
Minal Parekh, Erie, CO. I recently participated in a “cultural competency” exercise as part of a volunteer training. I could not answer the question about which Native American tribes/nations inhabited my (now) home state. Arapaho, Ute, Pueblo, Apache, Shosone, Cheyenne. Now I know.
Societally constructed by those in power
Eve Wesson, Boulder, CO.
Who are you? Papers? Go home!
Nicholas Cappella, Denver, CO. If someone in the United States of America doesn’t have official documentation to prove they are a citizen, they aren’t considered part of our society by everyone. These people (typically immigrants) don’t always feel like they have an identity or are forced into not having one by the environment they’re in. […]
White’s a color, not a race.
Brittni Staufer, Lafayette, CO. I hate having to check a box for my race.
Indian or American? Why not both?
Nivedita P., Boulder, CO. Why do we feel that a single label can divide us so easily? It’s more complicated than one word.
Cops beat me. Spoke up, anyway!!
Theo E.J. Wilson, Denver, CO. After being beaten by the police, I took an activist journey that landed me on the TED stage. This is my story.
Brown eggs. White eggs. Same omlet.
Peter Denzin, Greeley, CO. Since retirement, I’ve taught English as a Second Language classes for 11 years. My classes are made up of immigrants and refugees of all colors and faiths from all parts of the globe speaking a variety of native languages. In my classroom, we are a learning community of love and mutual […]
I’m racist but fight the tendency.
Mark Donaldson, Edgewater, CO. I’m white, grew up in rural PA in a mostly white school. I live in CO now and work in tech industry where you’re probably either white or Indian. I know I’m racist but try hard to fight against that tendency. I want to be better than I know I am.
Freedom to be me, just me
Sonia, Denver, CO.
Old white woman, get away with anything.
Kadi Johnson, Pueblo, CO. As a middle aged, middle class, overweight, white woman, I know that the police etc. cut me a lot more slack than a young, brown male. It makes me sick. It is not fair!!!!
Because I’m White, I’ll never understand.
Daisy Weeks, Colorado Springs, CO. Assumptions, with small grain of truth.
SKIN as either MARKER or CURRENCY
Matthew Alan Carver, Denver, CO.
Racism: prejudging ANYONE based on race.
Jeff, Arvada, CO. I was raised in a military town with such overwhelming diversity that I didn’t realize race was an issue until I was 12 and went into foster care. Suddenly I was surrounded by a predominantly African-American group that hated me because I was white. Now let me be clear I didn’t assume […]
My wife, not white, changed me.
Frank Siringo, Denver, CO. Marrying someone from a different race has allowed me to see the world through a different lens. It is an enlightening and challenging part of our relationship that continues to provide growth opportunities almost 20 years on.
My white guilt is all gone.
Caryn Boddie, Littleton, CO. I’m a goodhearted person who has always been extremely sensitive about people being treated unfairly. I’ve always stood up for people to be valued and respected individual to individual. The renewed focus on race is very sad and I’m done with caring. By the way: I wrote this, “Racism is garbage. […]
“You’re not smart. You are Hispanic”
Lauren Jewert, Colorado Springs, CO. Anthropology Class 101, Dr. Sandi Harvey
I’m not prettier because I’m white.
Rhiannon Watkins, Centennial, CO. Why are magazines always filled with white and light-skinned women? I have never in my life had a shortage of skinny, white girls to look up to in the media, but where are all the black and brown models? Why am I automatically considered prettier than any other girl because I […]
We’re a diverse version of oneself
Lucero Castro, Loveland, CO. We all share the same world today. I felt hurt when a Dad asked his son to be transfer to work with another person instead of me because of my accent. I was looking for information about how people feel when similar things happen to them, then I found the site.
A foreigner in my childhood home
Daryn Crowell Denver, CO I am a US citizen but my family moved to Peru when I was two years old. Basically my whole childhood was in Peru. I grew up with much of society telling me I could not consider myself in any degree Peruvian and that I was from the U.S. However, in […]
Teaching hope in spite of racism.
Joyce Corley, Montrose, CO. As an educator, I witnessed the results of racism that targeted the most vulnerable people in our society.
Stereotypical Loud Italian. Deal with it.
Jordan Day, Littleton, CO. I don’t care what people say about me being loud. It runs in the family.
There are no “races.” Only us.
Vicki Felmlee, Grand Junction, CO.
Educated Black and Still Not Equal
Kenneth D Crowley, SR. Denver, CO. Love this idea
Well How Black Am I Really?
Carnesia, Aurora, CO. As far back as I can remember I’ve always been told by past educators that I am very “well mannered” unlike the other students in my classroom who were all Black. At the time, I saw this as a wonderful compliment. I wasn’t loud or disruptive like the others. I didn’t play […]
I am Mexican American and proud.
Amber Martinez, Denver, CO. I have been emotionally abused just because my family comes from a certain background. I didn’t get to choose where I came from, but it also doesn’t matter. I’m a person and so is everyone else.
Differences never change but opinions do
Molly W., Denver, CO. I am a 6th grade teacher and my class has been reading Fire From the Rock about the integration of Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. This six-word story was written by one of my students in response to our reading. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/fire-rock
My Chinese daughter, whiter than white.
Rachel Drummond Highlands Ranch, CO Jasmine stands apart. She doesn’t want to. Like may people of color who also have albinism, she is often not accepted or believed to be Chinese. Very few people who meet her haven’t had some strong reaction — new age folks have told me she’s New Age magical, children tell […]
If we ignore it, it’ll leave.
Nick Lakewood, CO Personally, my experience with racism hasn’t been very bad, Growing up in this time period, my generation has come to accept the idea seeing someone for their character, instead of their appearance. In middle school, was called a couple names, but they weren’t necessarily directed towards my ethnicity, but towards my physical […]
You’re lucky you look ambiguously minority.
Cristina Gonzales, Denver, CO. All throughout my life I’ve worked hard to succeed only to wonder if any success, any award, any accomplishment was truly earned, or if I am just helping someone make a quota, create a statistic, or justify an extra dollar or two. The worst is having a seed of doubt planted […]
I’m not getting pregnant at 15.
Karen Olivares Denver, CO The stereotype of Latina girls getting pregnant at 15 is still going on and I don’t plan on getting pregnant that early because I have goals.
Let’s create truth and reparations committee
Erin Binford, Denver, CO. This is a great idea!
My privilege gained from others’ bodies
Piper Meade, Denver, CO. Social justice is our responsibility. Freedom means freedom for all people, all people or it is meaningless, or it is not Freedom. Keep on fighting. Keep on loving.
I am more than my culture
Eric Arellano Denver, CO Being Mexican has always been tough love for me, I have been bullied and given a stereotype that labels me as a gardner, a trumpeteer with a Mariachi Band, or a Peleta Man who sells Ice Cream out of carts. I am none of these, I am a dancer with a […]
A white body, a black soul
Lauren Johnston Denver, CO I may fit under the common-white-girl stereotype but I love black history and music. A lot of my friends are black and I find inspiration in Hip-Hop culture, and music. Whenever I’m singing Jazz and R&B, I feel it in my soul. No other genre of music does that to me….
More similar than different…Try Harder.
Ryan Allen Basalt, CO Relating isn’t comfortable, apparent, or always easy. You don’t necessarily have to succeed in finding common ground…you just have to make the effort. Others will notice. It becomes contagious.
Many colors inside, only white outside
Cheryl, Denver, CO.
Natives can only be poor or past.
Maranda Compton Denver, CO For most of society, the American Indian is conceived of as strictly an historical figure. People maintain images of Tonto or the Crying Indian walking alongside the highway in buckskin and feathers. And if they do allow the Indian to exist in modernity, he or she is relegated to an impoverished, […]
I am Tyrell…not half black
Tyrell Joe Grisel, Fort Collins, CO.
Race doesn’t matter! Yes it does!
Kent Willmann, Longmont, CO.
“Everyone can go through, except you.”
Ashlyn Herd Denver, CO In 2012, the top choirs at Denver School of the Arts took a trip to Boston, because we had been accepted to perform in prestigious settings such as Berkley College of Music, Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and Harvard. In Bellissima (our 33 member, 9th and 10th grade all women’s choir), […]
Yes really, my daughter is black.
Sheila Cullen, Boulder, CO.
Skin’s a prison to the soul
Amelia, Denver, CO.
I lost my race card today
Lauren Poole, Aurora, CO. I’m not black enough.
Every Race Has Been A Slave
Jimmy Naughton Colorado Springs, CO Why does any race deserve restitution for their hardships? Every race has been enslaved, yet today’s discussions only ever focus on the Atlantic Slave Trade, i.e., the black slave. Hell, the Irish slaves were more plentiful in the English Empire, they were cheaper and treated far worse since they were […]
Dear White People, See systematic racism.
Joscelyn Gay, Denver, CO. As a white woman, I’m frustrated with white society saying they are ‘color blind’ and their reponsibility is voer. I would like white people to understand the profound impact that decades of disparity in education, incarceration, and employment have had on Black society.
Great-Grandmother’s name sparked interest in heritage
Maggie Trela, Denver, CO. I was visiting California for Christmas when I was about 5 or 6, when I asked my grandma why we called my great-grandmother “LoLa”. She then explained to me that my LoLa was what they called great-grandma’s in the Philippines. I knew what the country was but I didn’t know what […]
Why don’t you date your race?
Maranda, Colorado Springs, CO. My mother says she isn’t prejudice, yet she has negative comments towards me dating a white male. I am Native and Alaskan Native and African American.
I’m black, but not “African American”
Danya Granado Aurora, CO If you must place me in a racial category, then call me black. And no, I’m not offended when you say it. My family is from Trinidad and Tobago. I was born in England. I have a Hispanic last name. I get a lot of questions. Culturally, I feel as though […]
Good heart, different skin, different treatment.
Makaela Powell, Parker, CO.
Free Black since at least 1820
Sherryl N Weston, Denver, CO. I was an adult before we learned the full scope of my mother’s complete ancestry story. Timbuctoo, NJ was co-founded by my 5-generations ago grandfather. Looks like he was a part of the 1860 Battle of Pine Swamp, where the residents beat the tar out of slave catchers who had […]
I speak better English than you.
Nicole Huber, Colorado Springs, CO. I am Asian American. Being an Asian American, no one clutches their purse tighter when I walk by, and no one finds it surprising that I teach at a university. But despite Asian Americans being perceived as the “model minority,” we are not seen as “real” Americans. I was adopted […]
We are all spirits of human race.
Katarzyna Smirnov, Longmont, CO. Yes, to expound I am tired of people misusing race or interchanging it with ethnicity. There is not one single genetic marker that distinguishes one ethnicity from another. The only time the color of ones skin should matter if they go missing or you are painting them in which case you’ll […]
No moccasins. You’ll wear real shoes.
Elizabeth, Denver, CO. My mother is mixed race, Indian and white. She grew up pretty poor, but she told me once that she always had two pairs of shoes: one pair of moccasins and one pair of boots. Depending on who her father was trading with she would either have to pull on her boots, […]
Spanish is punished, kids assumed bullies.
Sydney Arenas, Denver, CO. When I was growing up, the kids around me were punished for speaking Spanish in the classroom because the teachers assumed they were saying mean things about the other kids.
Hispanic? Really? You’re white to me.
Danielle Perea, Denver, CO. I’m a light-skinned, freckled Hispanic woman just trying to deal.
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.
You’re named Carlos, but you’re blond?
Leah Gillett Boulder, CO My mother is Mexican-American, my father is Irish-American. My brother and I are blond haired and blue eyed. People frequently react to his name, Carlos. They are surprised that suburban kids from Michigan have Mexican heritage… It doesn’t bother me, but it can be tiring to cover our ethnic background immediately […]
Being singled out is painful
Lina, Denver, CO. Being here makes me aware of how different I am, that I am female, I am Asian. People would never consider me to partake in their social life. The only people who talk to me are men who want to get in my pants. I hope this is not applicable to most […]
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