Home. The Projects. White and confused.
Dolores Zacconi San Francisco, CA Growing up in the projects as one of the ” 5% white”, had a profound impact on my life; sometimes...
Are you planning to go home?
Lee Hwang Berkeley, CA Ironically, it was a black woman in Atlanta that said this to me. She was perfectly innocent and sincere. She had...
How could I live here if otherwise?
Ginger Williams St. Louis, MO If it had not happened how could one in good conscience live in this country?
As a Bi-coaster, race is terrain
Mary, Oakland, CA. Wherever I am living in this country also affects my racial/cultural identity.
I thought you were a “hoodrat”
Cierra Garza, Parlier, CA. When I first moved to my new high school 15 minutes away from my hometown, I had no friends. I am...
For Me, Racism Started at Home
Sarah S., Washington, DC. My Puerto Rican grandmother used to call me “muchacha fea,” while calling my dark-haired, dark-eyed, darker-skinned, curly-haired sisters, “muchacha linda.” That...
Deep-seated racism persists in divided city.
Jack Kiehl, St. Louis, MO. I live in a city that is significantly divided between blacks and whites. The division and living in such homogenous...
White privilege was actual, palpable relief
Xacu Seattle, WA The country we came from views us as bad and wrong. We were conquered, killed, and hated. Laws were made against us,...
I am scared to drive alone
Ariel Foreman, Raleigh, NC. I just moved to North Carolina from Virginia. I’m scared to travel on highway 14 between Home and Raleigh especially at...
This sideboard was built by slaves
Peter Seay, St. Louis, MO. After my grandparents past away, we inherited a sideboard which promptly found its home in our dining room. As it...
I don’t consider you a Hispanic.
Ruth Santiago, Rochester, NY. A very close long time friend said this to me. I was totally taken off-guard. I asked for an explanation. She...
Borderlands born. Always illegal. Always home.
Chuy Benitez, Houston, TX. When you grow up at the collision of two countries, of two cultures, of two identities, you learn very quickly the...
Not white enough and too white.
Maritza Aviles de Garcia, Dallas, TX. My entire life has been spent walking between two worlds, the predominantly white world outside of my home, and...
The only race without a country
Denise Smith, Birmingham, AL. Who am I, and where do I belong, Who am I and why can’t I sing my own song, Why in...
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...
I’m afraid for my black child
Juli, Brooklyn, NY. There are places in this country that I would never live because of the racism in certain areas. Eventually my daughter might...
