From the shadows into the light
Dulce K Struthers, Mount Vernon, WA I grew up undocumented and am still unlearning my behavior and ways of thinking to not draw attention to...
I’m Italian, West Asian, North African
Leah Granen, Santa Clarita, CA I grew up thinking I was second generation 100% Italian/Sicilian. I realized that my grandfather and great uncles had Americanized...
Did my great grandpa regret Vietnam?
Holland Eric Gray, Lubbock, TX Sometimes I just wonder if my older family members had any regrets before they died.
We assumed their father was black!
Melissa Weir, Trout Valley, IL. We like to think that we are like every other family, whatever that means. But questions like “are those your...
“Why are my baby dolls black?”
Julee Freeman, Thornton, CO I remember asking myself this question when I was a young teen going through my old toys and I couldn’t understand...
My race does not define me
Kristin Koby, Palm Bay, FL. I was put up for adoption before I was even born. A loving white family of 7 took me in...
“Why Do You Look So Exotic?”
Jaya Harrover Saxena Astoria, NY My dad moved to America from India as a child. My mom’s family has been in America since the 1630s....
Scared that we are not enough
Tanya, Manakin Sabot, VA. My (adopted) son is biracial, his bio-father is unknown. I will never be able to connect him with his biological African...
I miss eating Vindaloo with Dad.
Wilhelmine Taylor, Australia. My father’s family was originally from India, but his mother was Scottish/Danish. People tended to assume he was a white guy with...
Yeah I’m Hispanic… I’m Actually Guatemalan!
Bryan Ramirez, Los Angeles, CA I embrace being Guatemalan. I always get asked where are you from? Being from Guatemala you usually don’t get asked...
While there’s no finishline: Americans All
William Eckman, Atlanta, GA. We come from different families, different cultures, different schools but for all to win as a great nation we must be...
She’s like me, never the reverse.
Nancy G Moehle, Minneapolis, MN I don’t like to think of myself as a racist. But it dawned on me just this morning, that when...
DON’T ASK ME TO JUST FORGET
Thaddeus, Nashville, TN. I was raised poor in Louisiana where the generations of my family before me farmed and picked cotton, fished and lived off...
That girl spat in my eye.
Caprice Becker, Manhattan, KS. I was in High School in a very small town of about 1300 mostly descended from German immigrants in the 1870s,...
Your family isn’t your “real” family
Anonymous, Des Moiones, IA. Drake University This is what my mom was told in 1954 when social services came into her home and removed her...
Mom said brown girls are ugly.
Anna, Santa Maria, CA. I am a 47 year old Filipina. I remember being constantly compared to my lighter skinned cousins and feeling awkward to...
