Leah Granen,
Santa Clarita, CA

I grew up thinking I was second generation 100% Italian/Sicilian. I realized that my grandfather and great uncles had Americanized their names because they wanted to assimilate. As a fair skinned, freckled red head I was considered to be most likely Irish.

I married a second generation Irish/Ukranian. We adopted a son from South Korea who is 1/2 Korean and 1/2 Hispanic. Then to our surprise we had a biological daughter. That’s when I started hearing “why is your son so brown?” and “people love their biological children better than the adopted ones”. How wrong these people are! And how none of their business it was!

Unfortunately I think all of us who are considered “White” these days still have (hopefully just) remnants of conscious and sub-conscious thoughts that are racist and try to deal with them by learning as much as possible about racism. Your book is a wonderful tool.

And I was delightfully surprised when I took the DNA test from 23 and me and realized I am 80% Italian and 20% West Asian and North African! And, as most of us know now, my ancestors deepest roots are from central Africa!

My daughter is married to a man who has Hispanic and Jewish ancestry. I have a wonderful daughter-in-law who is Pakistani and now a 16 month old grandson who is Korean, Hispanic and West Asian.

My family is an amazing mix of cultures and nationalities. I feel that race is a social construct that really makes no sense but deserves the pursuit of our knowledge in order to shine a light on the dangerous impact and effects of what race has meant to the history and progress of this country.