Livingston Archives - The Race Card Project

“I didn’t expect to see you”

March 25, 2024March 21, 2024 African American, expect, Livingston, Mandarin, Mensah Cone, NJ, principal

Mensah Cone
Livingston, NJ

I’m the owner of a start-up Mandarin school. After completing a presentation of my school’s offerings to a principal in an urban school, the principal said, “Mensah, that was a fantastic presentation”. She expressed sincere interest in the program for her students. While packing my materials, she said, “I didn’t expect to see you”. We both are African Americans. Her comments underscore the conditioning that we’ve underwent into believing that certain professions or businesses are limited to certain demographics. I myself , am a student of Mandarin for 4.5 years, and successfully passed a Mandarin proficiency test issued by Han Ban.org The principal was a wonderful host. My six word comment faces challenges within a race, in this case, blacks.

So white, you would never guess.

December 22, 2020December 22, 2020 Civil War, Francis, Grandma, grandmother, guess, Livingston, MT, slaves, sold, white

Francis,
Livingston, MT

If the civil war had gone differently I could have been born a slave. The children of slaves are almost always slaves. My great great grandmother was native and many thousands of natives were captured and sold into slavery.

Couldn’t understand kid who mowed lawn.

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 1964, 1965, American, languages, lawn, Livingston, mow, MT, Nancy L Moore, understand

Nancy L Moore
Livingston, MT

We lived in DC 1964-65 and one day a kid from the inner city offered to mow our lawn. He so wanted to do a good job he was starting to cut it too short. So my dad sent me out to offer him some lemonade to get him to quit, but nicely. We sat on the stoop & I tried to converse but was shocked that I couldn’t understand a word he said. To me, that starkly showed how integration couldn’t fully happen when we virtually spoke different languages. It really saddened me. This was my first introduction to an American black person. Before that, growing up in a small college town (Pullman, WA) all I had met were Africans who spoke the Queens English. 2 years later, back home, a black girl was in our high school and my sister and I were sickened by how the same kids who were brutal to anyone new went out of their way to welcome her. She saw through them & we became her only “real” friends.

Being white is not a crime.

March 18, 2014March 19, 2014 divide, Jason Ledbetter, Livingston, skin, TN, white privilege

Jason Ledbetter
Livingston, TN

I am tired of race baiters using terms like “white privilege” to divide us. We should be working to come together, not separate ourselves by the color of our skin.

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