You’re Indian. Do you speak Indian?
Snigdha Gurram, Sunnyvale, CA There are many different languages in India and many other places in the world. The place is not the same thing...
Indian-American but live like white
Anonymous, USA. I speak no Hindi. Live in a big suburban house. Dress and eat like a yuppie white person. What makes me Indian?
It’s less than meets the eye
Felipe Ricketts, San Diego, CA Each one of us is unique and a unique expression of humanity. Humanity is the language we all share. Humanity...
Latine is Geography, Hispanic is Language
Itzel Moncayo, CA I am Mexican-American which means my ethnic identity lies in being both Latine and Hispanic. My physical appearance resembles the stereotypical appearance...
Spanish is not my first language!
Valeria, Cincinnati, OH. Whenever I say I am from Brazil (most of the time) people instantly start to speak in Spanish as it is my...
Andes shadows follow me, no Quechua.
Carmen Mendoza Tintaya, Arlington, VA. My parents are from a remote village in Arequipa Peru, where only until 2006 accessible roads were built. Now with...
Cultural Competence: code word for racism
Darcel Reyes Yonkers, NY I am a nurse and the concept of cultural competence is taught in nursing school and addressed in mandatory inservices in...
You look Scandinavian but wrong color
Stacy Reuille-Dupont, Durango, CO. This was a statement made to me by a woman at work. She was a client, me an employee. She had...
I don’t know how to act
Eryne Tinajero, Honolulu, HI. I am biracial. I wasn’t raised with much knowledge of either culture. It’s always tough to visit the two different sides...
____ Students’ Association! Fill the blank.
KM, Austin, TX. I am current in college at one of the largest public universities. Not a week goes by where I don’t see a...
You sound like you are white!
Lyron Andrews, Long Island City, NY. I used to be a minister back in the late eighties and I was visiting and speaking to a...
Got an accent. In five languages
Ioana Hojda, Aberdeen, SD Immigrant, white wife of an African immigrant and mother to mixed boys. We have moved to the US from Italy, our...
Nobody seems to speak Swedish anymore
Lars Engström, Sverige. In the US people share the same language, religion, and culture. So why this race-awareness, to use a less incendiary label? In...
Otosan, please teach us your language.
Jaimie Scanlon, Brattleboro, VT. My husband is bilingual Japanese-American. His mother, raising three boys in Iowa in the 1960s, made sure her sons grew up...
It’s sneaky, we’re all subtly racist
Michael Atkinson, Herriman, UT The more I’ve learned about racism, the more I’ve realized that even if we consider ourselves kind-hearted, stalwart non-racist, there’s subtleties...
Politically correct talk gets us nowhere.
Anonymous USA Real, round table discussions on race need to occur. But when people are concerned about being PC, they’re not honest. Honesty and understanding...
Coconut. Brown outside and White inside.
Yvonne Rosenberg, Sioux Falls, SD. Born and raised in Fort Worth, Tx. Raised by Mexican American Grandparents who grew up in a generation where Spanish...
¿Eres mexicana? Entonces, ¿por qué el disfraz?
Maria Seattle, WA You’re Mexican? Then why the disguise? I was asked this by a viejito selling his wares in Tijuana, México, probably about 20...
