impact Archives - The Race Card Project

We are people, not your mascots.

September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 #ChangeTheName, governemnt, impact, Indian, Jacob K Tingle, mascots, Native American, Oklahoma Choctaw, People, San Antonio, save the man, sports, stereotype, TX

Jacob K Tingle,
San Antonio, TX.

As the grandson of an Oklahoma Choctaw, I am deeply sensitive to the negative impact of stereotypes. Though no one looks at me and says, “He’s Native,” I try to use my multiple privileges to push back against the use of racists sport mascots and logos. We must understand that the systematic steps employed by the U.S. government to “Kill the Indian and save the man” continues to have broad reaching impacts. It is beyond time to #ChangeTheName.

Sometimes we should just listen quietly.

August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 Christiansburg, cishet, conversation, Educause, impact, listen, Lucas Sullivan, privilege, quietly, realty, truth, VA, voice

Lucas Sullivan,
Christiansburg, VA

Michele’s presentation on the Race Card Project had me in a tizzy for days thinking of what I could say. What could my impact be? As a white cishet male in America I have loads of built in privileges. If the only voice that gets heard is mine I will be doing a disservice to the cause of fighting against racism. Even people who don’t consider themselves racists or who consider themselves allies can have a hard time with knowing when to listen and that is a vitally important part of the conversation. So we (white people) have to be careful to not talk over people of color. In this conversation minority voices must be heard and that means sometimes what we don’t say is as important as what we do. Listening to people of color or giving people of color a voice is part of the way that we participate in the conversation. Sometimes it’s best to listen to what people of color are telling you about their truth and their reality.

#Educause

I worry about doing, speaking wrong

May 1, 2023 Amanda, I don't know, impact, MA, middle class, white, white woman

Amanda,
MA

As a white, middle class person I worry I’m not aware of how my privilege impacts me and others; I want to be anti-racist but don’t always know how I can best do so.

Understand that you will never understand

October 13, 2022 experience, impact, Manchester Community College, never understand, NH, Olivia Kisiel, Salem

Olivia Kisiel,
Salem, NH

Manchester Community College. All people who don’t experience racism need to understand that they will never get how it impacts people and how awful it is.

Interculturalist. Asian-American. Woman. Mother. Writer.

May 23, 2022May 23, 2022 challenge, cultural identity, enage, ethnicity, filter, impact, Interculturalist. Asian-American, Jennifer Ghymn, PA, Race, society, understand, Woman.Mother, writer, Wyomissing

Jennifer Ghymn,
Wyomissing, PA.

The individual filters of race, ethnicity, society and family impact the way we interact and engage with the world to shape a personal cultural identity. I believe people should follow their curiosity, be open to new concepts and challenge themselves by looking at things from a different perspective. Race is a contentious topic that’s not going away but it should be embraced as a relevant and necessary topic. Understanding who you are as an individual and owning your identity is starting to recognize the importance of who you are and the importance of how different everyone else is.

I’m white. How can I help?

September 15, 2021September 15, 2021 anonymous, help, impact, positive, UK, USA, white

Anonymous,
UK

I feel that as a white American I have the ability to help and I want to help. I also feel that there are many bad ways to help that don’t improve anything. I want to make a positive change, I don’t want to put my mind into something and have it be negative. This is why I ask, How can I help? I want to help make a positive impact, I need to know how to do it.

Mexican American Reaching for the Stars

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 American, CA, define, Fontana, goal, impact, Jessica Soriano, Mexican, reach for the stars

Jessica Soriano,
Fontana, CA.

My race does not define me, and it will not have any impact on the goals that I have set for myself. I am reaching for the stars and will settle for nothing but the best.

I’ve freed myself from being “N*****”

August 5, 2019August 5, 2019 describe, free, freed, impact, Knoxville, Lamar Johnson, N word, TN

Lamar Johnson,
Knoxville, TN.

I used to get so upset when someone used N***** to describe me. I then realized that I got upset because I thought of myself as a N*****. When I chose not to believe I was a nigger, I became free of the word and it no longer has an impact on me.

Many mistakes from people my race

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 Advantage, auperior, Cole, hate, impact, mistakes, MN, People, Race, St. Paul, struggle

Cole,
St Paul, MN.

My people have believed they are superior for as long as I’ve known. Not only is it frustrating that my race fails to see others as equal but the fact that even after all my people have done they still can’t see how they’ve impacted the lives of other races. Seeing the struggles of other races just makes me wonder how most white people can’t see their advantages in life. I feel like my people need to wake up and see the real world. I hate how when I’m looked at by a person of color I’m perceived as racist.

I talk the walk too much!

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 College, elementary school, Eric Wall, fortunate, impact, intergrated, journey, Kent, Multicultural Education, The Talk, the walk, WA

Eric Wall,
Kent, WA.

I was fortunate to be part of an integrated busing program all through elementary school. I went to college and got a master’s degree in Multicultural Education. I still spend too much time talking the talk and not walking the walk. Fully understanding the impact of Race is truly a life long journey.

Racism created unjust determinants of health

September 7, 2018October 21, 2020 determinants, endure, health, impact, landscape, North Ridgeville, OH, Richard Stacklin, structural racism, Wake up

Richard Stacklin,
North Ridgeville, OH.

Most white Americans do not realize the impact that structural racism has had on America’s landscape as to where, how and why people live in the conditions, situations, and locations some people are forced to endure. It’s time to wake up!

I’m more than what you see.

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018 Amarillo, Christina Cobos, defeated, failure, heart, impact, more than, soul, TX

Christina Cobos,
Amarillo, TX.

It is your soul, your heart, your empathy, and the way you choose to handle every moment of life that makes you who you are. You choose your impact. The odds were against me from the start. I had every excuse to surrender to failure. I broke the cycle, I rose up against my challenges, I refused to be defeated, and I became me.

I’m white but I’m also European

January 2, 2018 1980's, america, Born, CBU HIS311, clothes, communism, Europe, Europeans, fled, Gianna Radoi, grades, impact, skin color, USA, white, work ethic

Gianna Radoi,
USA.

People think that being white means you are American. I am second generation, born and raised in America, but my parents are from Europe. Sure, they fled communism in the 80’s, but for a better life. Things did not always come easy for them when they started new lives here, with only the money they had in their pockets, and the clothes on their back. Their skin color did not change the way they worked or the way they were treated, nor does it benefit them now. Being white does not have an impact on my work ethic nor does it affect my grades in class. We still struggle because we are human. If anything, I would like to apologize that I am white. I cannot do anything about my skin color, but we can all change the way we look at others based off of their skin tone. CBU HIS311

Don’t judge me by my color

September 18, 2017September 18, 2017 area, black black, Color, different, impact, judge, life, Melanie Best, not black enough, Princeton, skin color, WV

Melanie Best,
Princeton, WV.

Everyday the color of my skin seems to negatively impact my life. I live in a very racist area, and while I’m not “black black” I’m still different and that’s bad enough.

“My race is human, what’s yours?”

February 6, 2017February 6, 2017 American Anthropological Association, ethnicity, human, impact, Los Angeles Times, majority, Native American, police officers, portest, Race, racialized society, skin

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 people’s lives. I wasn’t aware of how people would try to make others feel less superior when really, we were all born to be equal. At a point in my life I have said something that generalized a certain “race”. I have definitely boxed people in categories based on the majority of what I see. I might not recall a specific time, but it’s happened and I now know that it’s not a harmless joke, it’s something people should realize is never ok. After digging into this topic and discovering the truth, I now know that race was never biologically real, it could never be proven scientifically. Race, is something that has existed socially for the longest time. It’s something that should never be accepted in our society yet, terrible things are still happening based on the color of someone’s skin. Racism has existed because of people, and hopefully it could be extinguished because of people as well.

Race Never Existed, but Racism Did and Still Does.

Race is not biologically real, but a social reality. We are all human and one equal race, and now it’s time to start acting like it. According to Alan Goodman, an anthropologist, and the president of the American Anthropological Association,“We all live in a racialized society. And individuals of color are exposed to it more obviously, with more virulence, more force, than others. Racism rests in part on the idea that race is biology. Then biology becomes an excuse for social differences.” All of our lives people have been treated like they are lesser than others just because of a simple thing: whether you were born with more color in your skin or not. This ludicrous thinking that our society has tried to jam into people’s minds will only get worse if we believe that thought. Recently the Los Angeles Times posted about the clashing of police officers and Native Americans protesting for months against a pipeline that is meant to cross their sacred burial lands. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Protesters said that those arrested in the confrontation had numbers written on their arms and were housed in what appeared to be dog kennels, without bedding or furniture. Others said advancing officers sprayed mace and pelted them with rubber bullets.” This shows that even today, people have been boxing others in categories that they are not and it’s time to realize that this still exists and it’s not ok. Despite the fact that race has never existed biologically, but socially, doesn’t mean that racism never existed. It has existed, and it still does.