highschool Archives - The Race Card Project

You are dating a black girl?

April 19, 2024April 22, 2024 black girl, dating, grandmother, highschool, interracial dating, Johnson City, Michael K. Wallace, TN

Michael K. Wallace,
Johnson City, TN.

This was the opening question to the most consistent family conversation I had during my freshmen year of highschool. It was said as a question, although it was a statement. Yes, I am dating a black girl. Thank you for the reminder. Would you care to know who she is outside of her race? For my grandmother, it was inconceivable.

My grandmother’s reaction stuck with me, and I’m glad it did. I want to be reminded of a reaction that I don’t want future generations to see. Equality must be found, and everyone is a part of it.

Yo, dumbass white honky mother f*****

January 1, 2022January 2, 2022 African American School, highschool, honky, majority, Man's Search for Meaning, OR, Portland, racial slur, Rudy Owens, St. Louis, Viktor Frankl

Rudy Owens,
Portland, OR.

So, you want six words?

Here are six I heard so many times I can’t even count them. They came in various themes on being a “honky” or “f*****” or “dumba**.” They weren’t intended to provoke, to share hatred, and to demonstrate power. They were repetitively used by many people, my peers at my high school (a majority African American high school in the St. Louis metro area) in the early 1980s. I was in the minority, and I am Caucasian. There really has been no Race Card story I have heard on your show that highlights that racism is a two-way street that can sometimes impact groups in ways that flip the conversation. I have not really heard a very hard conversation that no group, regardless of their race, is immune from this problem that is universal in scape and human at its core. (For reference, I reference Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, where he states that sometimes those in the prison could be the cruelest and those who were guards were not all evil, as a way of framing the universality of choices made by all of us, every day, to do good or bad.) Maybe you will take this on. I can assure I was not the only one who was baited with hateful words and a lot more. But that’s called life, and no one said it was supposed to be without challenges. The trick is to master your response to these challenges and grow. So, here’s a chance for the Race Card Project to grow. Enjoy your work and keep it up.

Rudy Owens
Essay on public school and race I wrote: http://iwonderandwander.rudyfoto.com/2013/09/09/making-the-case-for-public-schools-the-highest-stakes-poker-game-around/
www.rudyowens.com

Just call me a human being

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 alone, CA, category, century, equality, highschool, human, human being, humanity, Lily Campbell, Race, religious studies, San Francisco

Lily Campbell,
San Francisco, CA.

I am a Freshman in Highschool, and for the past month, my religious studies teacher has been teaching us what the meaning of race is. Race is a category that humans have created to tell each other apart from one another, but we are all apart of one race, the human race. We shouldn’t be placed into categories based on the color of our skin, everyone should be treated equally, and in the 21st century, we should not have to be fighting to gain this equality. No one deserves to be shown such disrespect and inequality based on what they look like or their “race.” There is no such thing as race; there is only humanity alone, for we are all human.

My brown skin is beautiful okay?

April 12, 2018April 12, 2018 brown is beautiful, brown skin, CA, Corona, dark, Dora the Explorer, eyeshadow, Family, first experience, highschool, Hispanic, light skin, make-up, Mexican, Mexican-American, negative, skin, Vanessa Guzman, woman

Vanessa Guzman,
Corona, CA.

I am a Mexican women who has brown skin and all my life I was always self conscious about it because people would always point it out to me even those who were also Hispanic but they were lighter skinned. Even my family would. And I always took it as negative thing because sometimes that’s what it felt like they were conveying. And then growing up and becoming aware of that some people weren’t always so nice to hispanics, I always tried to be less Mexican as I could be. When they would ask me if I was Mexican I would say “Yes but I was born here so Im Mexican-American”. It wasn’t until I got to highschool that I started to embrace that I was dark and that it didn’t that mean I was any less beautiful. I began to realize that being Mexican was nothing to be ashamed as either, its who I am. EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL. But I began to make sure people I knew I was Mexican because I felt like it was important to do, to give my heritage and culture an opportunity to shine through me and began to be confident in myself. And to those who made comments about my skin color saying, “Oh you’re so dark” , “Yeah you can’t really see you’re eyeshadow because you’re so dark” , “You look like exactly like Dora!” … I made sure I would tell them, ” Yeah and? My brown skin is beautiful okay?”.

Brown skin, speaks spanish, ethnically white

February 5, 2016January 1, 2017 act Mexican, brown skin, CA, English teacher, ethnically white, highschool, Korean baby, Latino, look down their noses, Marie Recine, Mountain View, Spanish, white

Marie Recine,
Mountain View, CA.

When I’m with Latinos, people think I’m Mexican. When I’m with whites, people think I’m white or mixed. When I’m alone people have no idea. When I carry an Korean baby, people look down their noses. I’ve been by people that my English is “actually pretty good.” I’ve been told there is no way I’m white. I’ve been told by my Mexican English teacher that I should stick to speaking my own language. The fact that I spoke Spanish offended him after he found out I wasn’t Mexican. I’ve been asked why there are black kids as my laptop wallpaper. (They are my non-blood related Dominican nieces). I’m sure if they were white the question would be completely different. A white peer in highschool coughed “Mexican lover” when I handed my Salvadorian friend a pencil. I’ve been asked disapprovingly by whites why I “try to act Mexican.” Is having latin friends “acting Mexican?” Is speaking a language other than English offensive? Is it offensive that I would not fully accept my whiteness, but also appreciate another culture?

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