Susi Matthews, Kansas City, MO. I am 1/4 Navajo plus Cherokee and Mohawk. I am also English, Irish, Scots and German. I LOOK white; my full sister looks Native. I experienced the reactions she got when we were kids on vacation. A small restaurant in Colorado thought she was Native America and refused to serve […]
Daniel Harrison, Auburn, AL. What do I mean by neglected? I don’t just mean the easily targeted racists who are the enemy to be removed or reformed. Nor do I mean to target anti-racist activists who may unknowingly add fuel to the fire with false accusations. I mean the moral problem deep within the human […]
Anonymous, USA. “White boy”, , , . What I don’t understand is why there has always had to be a race at the bottom. No one seems to be able to get the freaking idea of racial equality through the six inches between their ears. First it was Africans. Then Jews, Asians, Latinos, Middle Eastern […]
Julia Formicola, Warrington, PA.
Jeannie Coicou New York City, NY Brooklyn The story behind my six words is that in this world there are forces that benefit by keeping the masses asleep. Realizing that we’re all a human family. Separation and devision is merely a tactic and as long as we don’t see each other as brothers and sisters. […]
Tommy Edward Sarmiento, Columbus, OH. Don’t wash anything, with color, with darkness nor with white light. All human beings have a right to express and interpret and grow within themselves ideas; ideas of love, of what we fear, what makes us think “isn’t that strange?” Freedom and equity should belong to each human. We should […]
John Michael Rendon Nicholson, San Antonio, TX. Growing up around Latinos and Caucasians, I was either “too White for Latinos” or “Too Latino for Whites”. Very few people saw me as “one of them”, even to this day. Of course, this didn’t stop me from indulging in my culture. I learned Spanish; and I even […]
Naette Lee, Philadelphia, PA. The nature of humans is that what we see is what matters. What we see has little to do with what is, or what is important. Maybe one day that will change.
Wanda Keala Anae, Waipahu, HI. That’s me at 3 years old. I’m currently 53 years young.
Cara, UT. I have been having debates with my husband for a long time. We have spoken about how there is trained racism and acknowledge white privilege to a point. There are still one points that do not make total sense to us but we are tired. We have best friends who are of other […]
Jill Orange County, CA Assuming “equal-opportunity” and “ass-kicker” are each one word. Listen, we can all cry victim for one reason or another. If you want to be happy, you have to take ownership of your experience. If you need some perspective, go to a children’s cancer ward or go to a repressed and/or poverty-stricken […]
Brenda Mitchell, Minneapolis, MN. I am me, but also you.
Marsha Lynn Bragg Myhand, South Euclid, OH. I’m curious to know if the state of race relations in America has gotten worse or if the same percentage of people still harbor racist views. Very hard to gauge as the reporting isn’t balanced. This project sheds light and as many people have said, still more work […]
Philip Harding, Chesterfield, MO. Let’s build communities that are strong. Let’s have dialogues. Let’s become each other, let there be empathy, learning and understanding. Break down walls, build up culture. Create. Communities where we educate our children, eat well, and build lasting bonds. Let’s make our communities racially diverse. As long as we segregate ourselves, […]
Ce Submitted via Twitter: @CelesteAurora Sunday March 11, 2012- 140 character exchanges spark a rich conversation… The Tweets that ignited the conversation… We aren’t all “Strong Black Women” @CelesteAurora Has “strong” become a euphemism for “it doesn’t matter how we treat them because they’ll survive”? Pamela Upsher @PupsherLive It seems so. […]
Kimberly Davenport, Elizabethtown, KY. Irregardless of our containment, the color of our skin, our heritage, our social structures…one element binds us all and that one element is that which cannot completely be embodied.. the human spirit. I just ordered a dna test..so once and for all I can clarify to some degree what my exterior […]
Micha Palmer, Killeen, TX
Mary Jo Nash, Oakland, CA The one connection we all have is that we are human. I am lucky because when I was pretty young I was put in a group where I was the minority and I think in a small way that changed my perspective in life. I grew up in Portland, Oregon […]
Rhonda McGinnis, Wayne State “We come from every corner. We speak in every tongue. Brought here by a vision of what is soon to come. No longer will we stand for bigotry and fear. The call of peace and justice is what has brought us here. The world that we’ve been given is not so […]
Sylvia Stancil, Detroit, MI
Olga Johnson, Wayne State, Detroit, MI Race is becoming more difficult to distinguish according to google, due to intermarriages, travel and better communications between humans on earth.
Ansel Oommen, Queens, NY. Once we realize that all people are uncannily similar, we can start to support a diverse human ecology of symbiosis.
Clarence Butler, Canonsburg, PA. Humans are humans are humans. Race does not exist. I think that people will not let go of this idea, because it gives their ego something easy to cling to, that helps to buttress their esteem.
Patti Downing, Kansas City, MO Attended the Race Place & Diversity Symposium and luncheon yesterday. It was a fun and wonderful experience. If all of us REAL HUMANS black, brown, yellow, white (all) could unite into the Purple People Eaters the hate groups would disappear or have to move off “OUR PLANET”. WE ALL BETTER […]
Jacob Russell, Wayne State, Detroit, MI. I’m proud to be me! Because I am unique and am like no other. Race should not divide us because we are all human and that’s all that matters!
Courtney Jones, Denver, CO. People hide behind the stereotypes, racism, politics, and labels to avoid CONNECTING with others. Are we afraid people have more in common with us than we allow our differences to believe? My pride in my race contributes to my Life & community. It takes nothing from you & we all gain […]
Margaret Metobo, Chicago, IL. I feel that anywhere I go people look at my race first before I’m human and that’s the way I carry myself out of security.
Lily, Lake Forest, CA. Currently taking Biological Anthropology and am finding it both fascinating and eye-opening. My six words are an excerpt from Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way”. It probably looks corny or, perhaps, cliché but I did put some thought into it! When I had first heard those lyrics, I had to research […]
Rachel Brinson, Centennial, CO. People always want to put me in a box and assume what I find offensive, what I find familiar, and how I choose to see myself and others. No one chooses to see human first, identity second. I will forever be explaining that the body given to me is arbitrary, and […]
Kerri, Riverside, CA. I’m a Hispanic/English woman that was raised very, very Italian. It wasn’t until a few years ago I learned I was Hispanic and not even slightly Italian. CBU HIS31
Chase Sponseller, Riverside, CA.
Gabrielle Guzman San Diego, CA Yes, I am Mexican. Yes, I know I apparently hold the same facial features as someone who would be considered Asian. No, I did not just cross the border. No, I do not speak Spanish, although I can understand it fluently and am taking classes to learn it. I am […]
Nancy Eliot Corrsin, Baltimore, MD. Somewhere in Japan is a snapshot of a black man, an oriental man, and a white man galloping down the Lincoln Memorial steps arm-in-arm with three wildly various white women, one petite in shorts and dark braids, one sleepy-eyed blonde earth-mother, and me in bib-front overalls. I think we all […]
Malcolm Harris Jarvis, San Diego, CA. Unfortunately, the apple does not fall far from the tree leading, in many cases, to generations of racists. Racism in any of its myriad, ugly and self crippling forms will always be deeply entrenched and ensnared in the soul of countries and their citizens unless we have the unthinkable, […]
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 […]
William Jones, Reisterstown, MD. It’s Vitiligo. Yes, it’s what Michael Jackson had. It basically means the cells that make skin color stop doing that. All though you can’t see it as well in lighter complexions, anyone from any race can develop it, and at the age of about 30, I became one of the 1% […]
Erik, Netherlands. Obama said in Athens: “To see different cultures and meet different people is important to understand ourselves and our place in the world. Here, so many ideas about democracy, notions of citizenship and rule of law began to develop. That is something of value.”
Lynn Orosco, Washington, DC.
Jan Saecker, Markesan, WI.
Diamond, Detroit, MI.
Julie Murphy, Plainfield, NJ. I wrote this in response to the excellent article in Nat Geo. White people talk about feeling outnumbered by other races. How do they think people of color have felt for hundreds of years? 30 years ago I moved to a town that was predominantly black and sent my daughter to […]
Patricia Butler Phoenix, AZ When did we start calling people from other countries aliens? I hate that term and the inequality it suggests. All of us are inhabitants of Earth and that fact should connect all of us as we travel together around the sun, year after year.
Timothy Jodi, Mountain View, CA. Being black or white doesn’t make us any different from others. We are all equal despite our color, gender, and ethnicity. I believe that we have the same equal rights no matter our race is. We are all human being.
Ernest Leon Tyree Jr Dravosburg, PA After spending 12 years in the military I learned a lot about fear and the power it holds. One the most powerful motivators is fear which is unfortunate, that being said the person who holds the power has a great responsibility to know that people fear them and to […]
Mika Derifield, Wadsworth, OH. It’s so sad that we live in a world that requires labels. Applying for a job, home, or even a social media account? In the first few questions you will be asked race, gender, age? WHY? I AM JUST A HUMAN.. aren’t we all?
Cameron Warren, Downingtown, PA. I’m a very Irish child, and being proud of that has always been hard due to the fact I have red hair and freckles. While most say, “oh but you’re white, whats the problem” the problem is just that. I have been bullied and teased almost my whole life and not […]
Maeve, Ypsilanti, MI. I grew up in an international school where we celebrated each other’s differences. It was a rude awakening to grow up and learn that this is not the way it works in the real world. We are one human family, with a fascinating variety of cultures. We need to step out of […]
Thomas Lloyd, Fair Oaks, CA.
Trealavon Grier, Harrisburg, PA. As a dark skinned African American, I have only experienced racist rejection from others that look like me. Self hatred, unfortunately, is real. Now in my 40’s, I realized how much of my life was wastep on other people’s issues. This was the beginning of self love and the fulfillment of […]
Blake Frisch, Blue Springs, MO. We’re all humans just trying to get through life the best we can. Your brothers and sisters need you in this time of chaos. Life was and always will be difficult. Don’t make it any harder than it has to be.
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 watered-down Puerto Rican culture of my home. Growing in Central Texas, there were three Puerto Rican families. We were one of them. I translated for my parents whether they […]
Bella Marcom, Kailua, HI.
Sarah Martin, Wichita, KS. Perhaps this is my artistic side coming out, but when you paint a human being, they are not painted simply using white or black. No, they are painted with a wide variety of colors that blend together to make a beautiful picture. Too often people separate persons into categories that divide […]
Robin Fisher, Boulder Creek, CA. I identify with people in marginalized demographics who have experienced victimization at the hands of the social majority since I suffered abuse there as well; not the same kind, but abuse nonetheless. I watch their journey carefully to discover clues on how to move beyond victimhood. I understand the rage […]
George Days Jr., Newark, NJ. I think when you do, you’re see the reflection of your own image & needs…….
Vincent Zaal, Minneapolis, MN. We come from a very liberal area and are staunch liberals ourselves and yet in people’s attempts to “not be racist” they’re being extremely racist. Humans are different, get over it! Try thinking about “race” in the French adjective placement: “that human is black” rather “than that is a black human.” […]
Rebecca Myers, Battle Creek, MI. I wish we were all treated and acknowledge each other as equals. After all there is only one race and that is human.
Jim Solomita, Portland, OR. Enslavement is one of the most evil things a human can do to another. However, no one likes to think of themselves as evil. Therefore, the slave owners needed a way to justify what they were doing. Their solution was to consider Africans as less-than humans – tantamount to animals. Then […]
Sheree Lewis, Fontana, CA. The term American should represent the vast multitude of cultures, ethnic backgrounds, languages, complexions, origins and spiritual beliefs of its inhabitants. When those in power do not address the mistreatment of humans because their race is considered inferior, or choose to scrutinize and negatively profile individuals because of a difference in […]
Loren Broyles, Spokane, WA. We all have our own path and yet we all want to be happy and avoid suffering.
Sophia, Norfolk, VA.
Erica McCullough, Rancho Cucamonga, CA. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion, people must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”- […]
Some experiences that I have had with race and racism would be that when someone would try to guess where my ancestors were from or my race. They would say white or places in Europe like England or Scotland. When I tell them that I’m one fourth Philippino, most of the time people don’t believe […]
When I was younger, I always thought that race was real, I was surprised to find that it is not biologically real. Now that I know this I realized that some stereotypes I made about people are not true. I had always thought that if you looked one way then you were from a certain […]
I used to think that race was something like ethnicity. It was who you were, where you came from, or where your ancestors came from. Racism, I already knew was insulting, or stereotyping a certain “race”. Something I wasn’t so aware of was it’s history and how big of an impact it made on other […]
R.E.A.L. Talk, High Tech Middle Media Arts, 7th Grade Trailblazer I’ve been called racist just by talking to someone of color. As someone whose ancestors are English, American, French, and Belgian, I realize, that being called racist isn’t the worst thing someone can do to you in terms of discrimination in ethnicity and racism, but […]
R.E.A.L. Talk, High Tech Middle Media Arts, 7th Grade Trailblazer Lots of people have asked me if I was Filipino. I’ve always had the same reply, ”I am a Jamaican and Chinese mix”. After encountering people who asked me such questions, I wondered why it mattered what race I was. I have read books where […]
R.E.A.L. Talk, High Tech Middle Media Arts, 7th Grade Trailblazer Personally, people haven’t been racist to me, but I have heard racist things being said to other people. One example was at gymnastics, when someone said to someone else that they weren’t good at gymnastics because the were black; I didn’t think that what she […]
R.E.A.L. Talk, High Tech Middle Media Arts, 7th Grade Trailblazer Why people often think that they can only be one thing for their entire life is one of my greatest curiosities. One of our greatest powers is the ability to change, to be something different. Choosing to have just one label for the rest of […]
Vanessa Garcia, Chicago, IL. We are all humans. Spread love.
Elon Race Card Project, Isabella Cannon Room, Center for the Arts
Lynn, Great Falls, SC. I tend to look white; especially when not in the sun. I’m actually a mix of: European (German, Irish, & British), Native American (Seminole, Cherokee, & Muskogee Creek), Black (African -sub-sahara regions- and Melanesian), and Middle Eastern (Syrian, Turkish, Indian (India) & Iranian)…….Somehow I ended up looking more European instead……I hate […]
Matthew Workman, Oviedo, FL. We are all human beings. I’m not saying to throw away what race you are but to open your mind to a greater picture. We come into this world the same way and will leave the same way.
Nicole Reynolds, Virginia Beach, VA. Race often goes hand and hand with self worth. Who am I in the world? What does that answer mean? How does it affect my life? Is there anything I can do to change that? I have Ugandan Blood, Taino Blood, Spanish Blood, Past African American Slave blood. What race […]
Elizabeth Johnson, Arlington, VA. There are so many things I wish I could say but am worried they will come out the wrong way. I want to say I see you’re struggling. I want to say I see racism among my friends and within my own family. I want to say it’s wrong. I want […]
Sabrina Perrin, Delaware, OH. As I started growing up, I started getting more and more questions about what ethnicity I was. Although these questions weren’t typically offensive, I find it a little bothersome that people look to depict others for their ethnicity or race. I don’t want to label people based on these things, as […]
Elisha Lowery, Delaware, OH. At times I feel guilty for being white. I feel people look at me and say “she has it easy she is white”. I feel guilty of how certain people still today treat colored people and they should’t treat them badly because we are all human.
Cynthia Groya, Princeton, NJ. Princeton
Allison Hren, Elon, NC. Elon University Recognizing the problems that exist in our divided world are very important, but there’s a part of me that gets fed up with the idea that expressing pride in my ancestry, mostly European, is racist. And although it’s true that issues, like slavery, were not actually that long ago, […]
Briana B., Sacramento, CA. I am a Mexican American woman and I so happen to be bilingual. A lot of times at work people will ask me if I speak spanish or will make hand signals to me and mouth really slow that they need a to-go box. It gets under my skin because in […]
Britt Stone, Philadelphia, PA. No one ever asked “what” I am. They just assume. They approach me with all sorts of ideas about what food I like, what music I listen to, the books I read, and my favorite movies and tv. They have an opinion of what I should sound like when I speak, […]
Karen Roland, Palm Springs, CA. A Filipina-American girl with three half White, half Filipino children. Building a life in America and building it with diversity. Living in a world where both cultures matter, I teach my children both.
Rochelle Fritsch WI The country’s history and current tension around race and ethnicity create a pull in which some of us need to talk about it, while others of us are so afraid, ashamed and uncomfortable that we only HEAR the concerns of others rather than listening, reflecting and perhaps even learning from them. Some […]
Vonna, Annapolis, MD.
Mary Crescenzo, USA. I most always add a “human” box to check, or fill in the blank with “human” on such requests on forms.
Nichole Pettit, Lake Como, NJ. Monmouth University I’m biracial. I’m not just African American, I’m also American, German, English and Irish! Many say “You’re black,” sure but I’m not just that. Do not reduce my race and ethnic background to a single word. I do not belong to a single group, I belong to many. […]
Betty Lindsey, South Holland, IL. All of us humans know it…that there is little that’s different about us… but we let skin color, demographic, etc., get in the way of us really getting to know and love each other.
Marco Perez, Oakland, CA. I choose these six words because this is how I feel about the relationship between me and my race. I believe that race shouldn’t even be a thing because we are all humans no matter what. The tone of our skin should not define who we are or who we will […]
Joseph Anthony Firetto, Bayville, NJ. Monmouth University
Desiree’ Parker, Sacramento, CA. In a room full of black people I am comfortable, in a room full of white people I am comfortable, in a room full of mixed races I am comfortable. I act “black”, but I have no reason to hate them just as they have no reason to hate me. We […]
Tyler Brown, Washington, DC. As an African American and Irish American man ppl have referred to me as biracial or mixed for most of my life…both terms uncover misunderstandings about race and what makes a person. One being can’t be two races at the same time, neither can they be mixed like cake batter in […]
Tiffany Wysocki, Middletown, NJ. Monmouth University As I travel the world, I have found one truth: we are all innately equal in our drives and desires. We are driven by love and survival. We want the best for our families. We want to feel loved and have the opportunity to love. That’s it. That is […]
Eddie Releford, Towson, MD. Towson University Your race doesn’t define who you are. You define who you are. Where all human, just different shades of beautiful. One day… people will realize were all the same. Until then fight hate with love.
Matthew, TX. Black, White, Asian, or Pink with Purple polka dots – your skin color is not who you are. Do not obsess over the shade God painted you when you were born. Do not let history define you. Do not allow others to control your actions. Love, respect, kindness. Not hate and vengeance for […]
Ornella El Tamer, USA.
Xinyu Huang, People’s Republic of China.
Dennie T, Atlanta, GA. “Race” is a human-concocted, cultural construct that has nothing to do with biology and everything to do with (negative) cultural conditioning in racist societies. Human DNA produces a single species of humans – not multiple races of humans. If we are to have an honest discussion of “race,” we need to […]
James E Washington, Rochester, NY. The ego thrives on identification and separation. We seems to be a nation that thrives on dualism, having an “other” a “they or them” as a means to distinguish ourselves from. White, Black; Rich, Poor: Republican, Democrat; Christian, Jewish; Fat, Skinny; on and on. The problem appears to be “ego […]
Nicholas Pasquarella, Webster, NY.
Sagal Rawe, Minneapolis, MN.
