complex Archives - The Race Card Project

Armenian, Tagalog, Ilocano, no. Wolof, yes.

May 31, 2021May 31, 2021 Anoosh Jorjorian, Armenian, CA, complex, Fillipino, Genocide, Grandma, grandmother, Ilocano, Santa Monica, Senegal, Tagalog, Wolof, woman of color, WWII

Anoosh Jorjorian,
Santa Monica, CA.

My paternal grandmother came to the U.S. to escape the Armenian Genocide. My maternal grandfather jumped aboard a U.S. submarine during World War II because the Japanese Army put a price on his head. When they raised my parents, they wanted more than anything for their children to assimilate into America and so did not teach their children their first languages. I grew up a racial mystery, looking neither Armenian nor Filipina, but certainly not “American” either. In 2000, I moved to Senegal in West Africa. Whereas in the U.S. I am a woman of color, in Senegal I became a “white” woman. I understand the complexities and the arbitrary construction of race because I live it in my body every day. I blog more about this as Araña Mama.

Loving and Hating being Asian

April 14, 2021April 15, 2021 angry, Asian, CA, Chinese, complex, hate, heritage, hide, judge, judged, love, representation, San Jose, Vivian Li

Vivian Li
San Jose, CA

I deeply appreciate my heritage as a Chinese-American. It has taught me about a complex culture, thousands-of-years-old ideology, and a strong sense of identity. I am proud of the country my ancestors hail from and its incredibly rich and its understudied history. It has given me beautiful looks, and the wisdom of being a minority. But I can’t help but feel so angry every time I see the complete lack of representation of Asians in every aspect of American life.

Why is it that Chang, one of two Asian characters, on Orange is the New Black has so few appearances, speaks broken English, and is perceived as the weird, foreign other? Why am I judged so quickly because I have black hair and soft, almond eyes? Why are the mental and emotional problems of Asian-Americans largely undiscussed and generally regarded as nonexistent? Why is it so taboo among Asian-American communities to openly discuss race issues?

I’m always angry but I hide it well.

Black grandma, White grandpa. That’s weird!

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 Black, black grandma, CA, complex, drandfather, grandpa, identify, identity, mixed, San Francisco, speak, Val'Dionna P., weird, white

Val’Dionna P.,
San Francisco, CA.

Throughout the years it has been a bit difficult to understand the many emotions and stereotypes being of color and mixed. It is important to understand that how one is raised growing up in a complex world that continues to critique someone on the features or melancholy of their skin shouldn’t be acceptable. Someone being mixed doesn’t mean they’re going to act like one race over another. Some people even think because two different races become one resulting to an interracial relationship is bad. People think individuals from two different cultures coming together and do the unthinkable is confusing. People tend to push away things that they don’t understand. Thus people identify people with being confused about their identity. It baffles me that even as a child people constantly told me that I was “white washed” because I speak proper.

Complex social histories confused with colors

January 9, 2019 AK, complex, confused, Katrina King, North Little Rock, social history

Katrina King,
North Little Rock, AK

Where you from? From planet earth!

December 17, 2018August 19, 2020 Alien, Arabic, Bengali, complex, fair, light skin, Mexican, MI, Planet Earth, Saif Ashfak, USA, Warren, Wayne State

Saif Ashfak,
Wayne State,
Warren, MI

Are you an arabic or Mexican ? Lot of people can easily confuse me because of my lighter skin and fairer complex, but what I truly am is a Bengali.

Your color doesn’t make you better.

March 26, 2018October 14, 2019 Color, complex, difference, makes you better, pride, proud, Race, Richmond, Sasha Dee, skin color, VA

Sasha Dee,
Richmond, VA.

It drives me crazy that people think something as arbitrary as the color of their skin makes them inherently worth more than someone else. Your skin color should be the least of the things about yourself that give you self worth. Be kind. Be generous. Be a good person. Be proud of Who You Are, not The color of your skin.

And conversely, another persons skin color doesn’t make them worth less than you. That person is as layered and complex as you are. With good days and bad. The color of a person on the outside has nothing to do with who they are inside.

Being a Black Male in America

October 18, 2017October 18, 2017 agressive, america, being black, black male, CA, CBU 311, community, complex, drugs, fight, gangs, Jim Crow, Joseph Brown, justice system, label, Lake Elsinore, Michelle Alexander, murder, people of color, prison, systemic racism, thug

Joseph Brown,
Lake Elsinore, CA.

Being a black male in America is complex. Not only do we have to fight systemic racism, we also have to overcome various obstacles that present themselves in our in communities. One example of systemic racism is what we’ve recently been witnessing from police officers murdering people of color and getting away with it. All of these cases are deemed justified because the victim was a so-called “thug” or labeled as an “aggressive man-child”. It is sickening how the media portrays the African American male as aggressive and violent. Another example of systemic racism that you have to face while being black in America is seen in the current prison system. In her book The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander describes how the current justice system is almost identical to that of the Jim Crow System.

Outside of these external forces, as a black male, you have to navigate the negative poison of your own community. These negative influences include opposition from a large influx of gangs and drugs that infest most black neighborhoods.

CBUHIS311

I look white but I’m hispanic

May 8, 2017 assume, being hispanic, Bonner Springs, complex, Hispanic, Kassandra Lynn Pasquale, KS, look white, pale, prove it, school, Spanish, white

Kassandra Lynn Pasquale,
Bonner Springs, KS.

I never really liked how people automatically assume that I’m white just because I always really pale. Just because Hispanics usually have a tan complexity doesn’t mean that you can’t be pale. Whenever I told people I’m actually hispanic they got really surprised and didn’t believe me so they always asked for me to say something in Spanish. They always asked me and I just got to the point where I would say no because I got tired of people not believing me and I always had to prove that I was. Not only was I made fun of because of pale complexity and being hispanic by people in my school, I was made fun of in my family. They would always compare me to my cousins and talk about how i was white compared to them, it made me feel bad because I wasn’t like me. I grew up not liking that I was so pale but to this day I’m not over it what I was told when I was younger because I’m still told this everyday.

Segregation will never stop impacting us

August 19, 2015August 21, 2015 Boston, complex, fact, impact, Lisandra, MA, opinion, segregation, simple

Lisandra,
Boston, MA.

Race is not something simple but complex issues with opinion and facts.

White person, in a white place.

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015 complex, Connor York, middle class, OR, Portland, society, white neighborhood, white person, white place

Connor York,
Portland, OR.

Experiencing life as a middle class white male in a largely white area can make it difficult to understand the complex issue of race and what it means in our society, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Beautiful flecks on history’s butterfly wings.

April 7, 2014April 7, 2014 butterfly, complex, history, James Wyatt Aiken, memphis, TN

James Wyatt Aiken
Memphis, TN

Sentient life is in its earliest stages, its infancy. As a sentient RACE, humanity has the joyous opportunity to witness its own growth as the Universe tends toward life and complexity. Stepping back from earth and its petty banalities, I see the infinite variations in skin tone like iridescent flecks on a young butterfly’s wings, flashing in the sunlight, as the young creature flexes before haphazard flight.

A complex and ridiculous social construct

January 31, 2014April 29, 2015 complex, Dana Bryant, NAACP, New York, NY, social construct, Walter White

Dana Bryant,
New York, NY.

Case in Point: Walter White, Director of the NAACP from 1931-1955 . The man had about 1/27th percent black blood but was was forced to identify himself as a black man. When, later in life, he divorced his black wife and choose to marry the white woman he’d actually fallen in love with, he was vilified as someone who ‘just wanted to be white’. Really!?….sigh….

It’s too complex for six words

November 5, 2013 @briankspears, Brian Spears, complex, Des Moines, Drake University, IA, six words, twitter

Brian Spears
Submitted via Twitter: @briankspears
Drake University
Des Moines, IA

Complex, challenging, hurting, beautiful, hopeful, misunderstood

October 5, 2013December 30, 2013 beautiful, challenging, complex, hopeful, hurting, misunderstood, Seattle, Sue Johnston, UW, WA

Sue Johnston
Seattle, WA
UW-Madison

Don’t cry. Mama loves your curls.

May 8, 2013 Baltimore, bi-racial, complex, curls, daughter, hair, Hilary Roberts-King, MD, multi-cultural, Sesame Street

Hilary Roberts-King
Baltimore, MD

Children’s books and Sesame Street make multi-cultural living look so easy. Of course I want my daughters to be proud of their beautiful biracial hair. Of course I genuinely admire my daughters’ beautiful curls.

But it is so much more complex than that. It’s not just hair.