I want to help, not hurt.
Laura James,
Mobile, AL.
I want to be ok being white, but I’m not. I’ve been haunted for decades by a dream in which I was weighed in the balance and found wanting by a well-dressed group of African-American churchgoers.
Surprise surprise I was born here
Victoria,
Fairfax, VA.
I was born in Conway, SC. I’ve lived in the States for nearly two decades now (all of my life so far). It wasn’t till I was in elementary, and I had to ask my mom why boys would say “ching chong” to me that I realized that I was somehow different. I spoke perfect English, and watched the same PBS shows as them, so when they started squinting their eyes at me and saying things, I was really confused. Then I realized, oh, because of my ethnicity they treat me differently. I didn’t get to choose how I was born. I wouldn’t change myself anyway. We all come into this world, and exit in the same fashion, don’t we? . . . the funny thing about racism is that anyone can be racist. Humans are just jerks to other humans at times. That’s a pity. I don’t know. I just hope that one day I can have a normal conversation with another person that doesn’t involve them asking where I’m from… because I’m from South Carolina.
Black ? No. White? No. Human? Yes!
Douglas Rice
Fruita, CO
I struggled for four decades to find some sort of racial identity…I’m bi-racial by my DNA, but having been raised in white culture where white people called me black I’ve never identified as white, and having been raised in white culture I didn’t “experience” black culture so I don’t Identify as black…and to identify as bi-racial one needs to have some feelings of connection to both white and black culture, but I don’t feel connected to either. I’ve realized that I FEEL more comfortable and happy without a racial identity.
