Real. Male. Opinionated. Intelligent. Black. Invisible.
Richard A. Cummings,
Chicago, IL.
I feel invisible, while standing out.
Aman Agah,
Brooklyn, NY.
I am Iranian, Irish, Azari, and German. Being Iranian means being called Arab. I am not Arab. Being Iranian means being part of a group of people that so many don’t know – even if I say “Persian” – and yet I am part of a group labeled terrorist. I am the enemy that no one knows anything about. And my Irish identity has so often been denied to even exist – because how could I be any part “white!” – that I hold strongly to that part of me too. I am proud of my heritages and anyone who is not mixed will never understand the isolation that comes with it. We mixed folks are our own little community of outcasts. Something else to find pride in!
I’m Appalachian–it’s an invisible ethnicity
Catherine Vance Agrella,
Asheville, NC.
I’m white, and by definition am associated with some of the worst perpetrators of racism. But I also come from deep Appalachian Scots-Irish roots and have a clear ethnic identity. I do know what it feels like to be mocked for my speech, or thought of as a dumb hillbilly, even though I have two MA degrees…
So privileged but yet so overlooked
CP,
Freeport, IL
As an white male I feel apart of a group of people that aren’t discriminated against but overlooked. I’ve never felt any disapproval or prejudice for being white, yet sometimes I feel like my opinion can be seen as overlooked or invalid because I haven’t faced many of the same struggles or had to overcome the same level of adversity as a person of color would have to. I also feel like some achievements made by white people may be overlooked because of a societal advantage given to them. With this being said I’ve always wondered what it’s been like to be a person of color and looked at differently or even mistrusted for that simple fact. I also feel a great level of empathy for others while noticing my privileged for the color of my skin.
I’m brown, therefore I am invisible
Raúl Sánchez,
Seattle, WA.
Racial profiles are not AMERICAN, I am!
I’m Asian, not invisible, not disgusting.
Chuck,
Portland, OR.
It’s that look. The look I’ve seen all my life. Like you just found a gross bug in your house that you don’t want to deal with. I don’t think that the look is intentional but it’s the first thing I see when you see me, and I immediately know that you’ve decided you don’t like me before I’ve even opened my mouth. Then seconds later a white person who is just as new to you as I, walks in, and the look changes into one of sunshine and rainbows, and you greet the person as if they were your long lost best friend even though you just met them. “Finally, I can talk to a REAL person,” I imagine you thinking.
I don’t smell, I’m clean, and a few would call me attractive, so I know it’s none of that, besides you (usually) shouldn’t be the one to talk if that were the case. I’m not shy and quiet, and I speak with confidence regardless of how I’ve been treated by you folk.
What’s just as annoying is when you ignore my presence entirely. Like when I’m with my white boyfriend (also gay btw) and the only person you address from the start and throughout the conversation is him, even if I’m standing in front of him and I initiate the conversation. I am left unacknowledged. I notice it, he notices it. Why don’t you notice it? Is your disgust or utter disregard for Asian men just so deeply ingrained that you aren’t even aware of it?
I commonly hear things around my campus like “Asians are so annoying”, and “Asians are taking over the college”, or “Asians are only good at grades and nothing else”, “Asian men are too effeminate”, “Asians only hang out with other Asians and speak Asian” etc. Nobody calls anyone out on this because it’s acceptable to be prejudiced against Asians because everyone agrees with you. You’ve met a few Asians who fit into these stereotypes that you’re not really open to meeting those who might be different. The second you see (yet another… *sigh*) one of us, you’ve already put me into a box, that apparently becomes my responsibility to crawl out of. I’ve done a lot of crawling out of these boxes and you know what I’ve learned?: “You’re not worth my time.”
The next time I see another look of disgust on your face, I’ll know more about you than you know about yourself. That you’re a prejudiced dipwad that can’t see outside of stereotypes and judges people on the basis of their skin and appearance, and that all things being equal. I don’t want to be anywhere near you. I might have to deal with you for my job or my classes, but outside that, I’m not going to bother with you anymore because you’re not worth it, and I am.
Her black smile I fondly remember
Harry Dapron
I was a white, nerdy, shy, socially invisible teenager in senior high school. She was a beautiful, black classmate with a lovely, engaging smile that I would see when she turned around in her seat in Latin class to talk to me! I liked her and she seemed to care about and maybe even like me. However, in the 1960’s I knew that was as far as it could possibly go.
Henry is seen, Enrique is invisible
Enrique Marquez,
Philadelpia, PA.
I changed my name on my resume to Henry after rarely getting responses when I would write my actualy name, Enrique. Henry is the English version of Enrique. Henry received many more callbacks in one week than Enrique did in months. Nothing else was different.
The invisible Arab until 9/12.
Jennie Clement
Riverview, FL
Thank you for doing this project. I noticed how my university applications changed in the wake of 9/11; how there was all of a sudden a magical radio button for being Arab. I had previously been invisible; moderately enjoying white privilege until 9/11. I was no longer “white”; which was a slight sigh of relief because I was so proud of my heritage. Now I feel it is important to relish in no longer being invisible, so that I can counteract the waves of hatred aimed at Arabs in the wake of 9/11. No longer invisible and trying, sometimes stumbling, to stand proud. No longer being invisible does come with additional scrutiny, occasional bias, and interpersonal/professional challenges.
Ugly, Invisible, Accused of Insanity
Molly Katerson,
Atlanta, GA.
I’m a black woman and I feel ugly and invisible most of the time. When I talk about it – the white washing of Hollywood or how that Adria girl’s twitter blew up with racist sexist shi*, I am told I’m crazy. It hurts. Everything hurts.
Invisible Black woman, microscope on me
Devin Horton,
Los Angeles, CA.
My race card refers to conundrum of my experience and my physical self being essentially invisible but also having the world simultaneously watch and critique my every move with microscopic precision. It can cause serious anxiety.
More Than Just a White Male
Rylan A Brooks,
Mount Joy, PA
I have never been discriminated against in my life, based on my skin color and my gender. I have seen discrimination first hand on many occasions, once towards one of my best friends. The level of anger I felt was indescribable. I was raised in a household where everyone is equal, where no one person is better than another, and I greatly appreciate that. No one person should be faced with discrimination based on their skin color, based on what gender they assume, or their financial status. The fact that this is still rife in today’s society is completely unfathomable.
Hmong American muaj lub siab tawv
Janes Lee,
Minneapolis, MN.
I am a Hmong American male, residing in the most Hmong populated state though we are still very unseen. The service our people provided during the Vietnam War, known to the Hmong people as the Secret War, has been invisible to the public eye. How fitting of it for the invisible people to serve in a secretive war.
But our invisibility ends now. We will make ourselves be known to the world and showcase what we’re capable of. Not in a way like that of the movie Gran Torino where for the first time the Hmong people made it into mainstream media only to be portrayed as gangsters and thugs or shy and timid.
We are more than that. We are educated, athletes, teachers, doctors. We are people who have survived genocide and will overcome oppression. We are a strong people. We are resilient. We muaj lub siab tawv (have a willful heart).
Class can make white privilege invisible.
Kayla Bernier-Sontag,
Brattleboro, VT.
Smith College
I’m a student at Smith College and my six word story is about my observations in social justice education–the intersectionalities of class and race make it hard to explain the importance of white privilege.
Native Americans Americas Invisible Invisible Invisible.
Gene Tagaban,
Ruston, WA.
My abuse was invisible because I’m white
Jack,
Saint Paul, MN.
My mom is an expert in manipulation and fake kindness, always sounding kind to hurt and control and shame.
Because of rampant child discrimination across cultures, it was not hard for my mother to convince others that she was right, or to uphold the illusion of a happy “white suburban family”. For holidays, she would buy toys and tell my relatives to buy gifts she knew I hated. She built up lies about my identity, and when I got angry and rejected them all she said I was spoiled and arrogant.
Now I’ve moved out on my own, and am in a transitional living program. Although many people now understand my case better, I have experienced quite a few times the notion that my child abuse wasn’t as bad as black kids (it was mostly black people telling me this when they brought up race), that ‘white kids’ have it easy or treat their parents like shit or it’s the kid’s fault, that they have no problems and their families are too nice. People said I came from white privilege because my middle class over-abundant materialism was a suffocating cage used to control and destroy me. How is this privilege?
