Until they saw I was black.
Joyce Moody,
Windsor Mill, MD.
Make the world a better place
Kenya,
Baltimore, MD
We’re all human, and we all deserve to be treated with respect, love, and kindness. No one should be treated unjustly because of their race, sexuality, gender, or ability/disability. We have to work together to fight against the unjust system that has been built to tear us down and break us apart.
Not Latino enough, Not American enough
Maria Lopez,
Baltimore, MD.
I remember one time I was really sick and was rushed to the ER, while registering the nurse told me “you have very good English,” which I responded as “probably because I was born here.” I may have been 13 or 14. In high school, one of the lunch ladies who in the afternoon worked in the office one day asked me “Maria, why are you taller than most Latinos?” I often asked people if I had an accent growing up. I wanted to know if I had that thick accent that most Latinos have. In school, I did not identify with the other Latino students, most of them were still in ESOL classes while I was not, they spoke in Spanish to each other while I wasn’t comfortable speaking in Spanish and they were mostly Mexican I didn’t want to be confused as being Mexican. Because I have the most Latino name people probably think that I grew up eating Pupusas and Pollo con Tajadas (Honduran plate – Fried Chicken with fried banana chips) because I’m Honduran & Salvadoran, but I also grew up eating pizza, Chinese food, Popeye’s. I was raised on Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, CCR, John Denver as well as Julio Iglesias, Marco Antonio Solis, Marisela, Selena.
My privilege matters, not being Latino.
Emilio Cosgrove,
Ellicott City, MD
I am a mixed-race individual who is Colombian and Irish. While being Latino is more significant to me than the privilege I have because of my light skin, my white privilege is what matters in determining the opportunities that are available to me, the day to day interactions I have with other people, and my quality of life. The fact that I do not think about the very movements I make in public is evidence of the freedom I have because of white privilege. America’s cultural idea of race is also very limited and confines people to a handful of categories based almost entirely on skin color. As a mixed-race person, I have lived the pain of this truth because my white identity is assumed by people who look at me, but my Latino identity is not. Due to America’s narrow perceptions of race, a core part of myself is almost never recognized.
Afraid he’ll deny his Black side.
Tiffany Smith,
Joppa, MD
My husband and I fought for years to conceive and are proud parents of a 17 month old, mixed race boy (I am Black and my husband is White). I remember when I found out I was nervous and cried for fear of raising a Black son in today’s America. Fast forward, my son is white presenting; fair skin with blond hair and curls. We live in a super red part of MD where racism is prominent. I have a big fear that eventually he’ll deny his blackness aka me in favor of white privilege.
I passed Citizenship test, can you?
Avanti Iyer,
Chevy Chase, MD.
I’m tired of not been seen as having the same rights as white people (especially after 9/11). I had to pay hundreds of dollars in fees and take a test to become a citizen of the US. I am curious how many native-born white people have the equivalent civics, history and geographic knowledge of this country that they seem to take for granted.
Grandma’s racial rejection disappeared with Olivia
Elizabeth Clair Winslow,
Denver, CO.
No one from my immediate family showed up when George and I were married. But when Olivia was born, all that changed. George was from Jamaica… a brown man. I was from Maryland; Mom said black Irish. Olivia teaches us about Intersectionality and Bias, twenty years later.
A transnational adoptee, consumed by “in-betweenity.”
Rebecca York,
Takoma Park, MD
Fighting for visibility and validity, in white and of-color spaces is perpetually exhausting. Transnational adoptees are at the heart of America’s racial, cultural, and nationalistic legislation and cultural beliefs. Stop gate-keeping, and let us join the conversation.
Black nurse fired for resisting injustice.
Elona,
Baltimore, MD
Black registered nurses face bullying and discrimination daily, primarily from non-Black colleagues. We are constantly made to feel inferior, despite our skills and dedication. The pressure to work harder and prove ourselves more capable than our counterparts is relentless. This inequity not only undermines our confidence but also creates a toxic work environment, where our professionalism and competence are continually questioned. It’s time for this mistreatment to be addressed, so we can be recognized and respected for the valuable contributions we bring to healthcare.
I am still an American citizen.
Yousuf Khan,
Potomac, MD.
I was born and raised in Springfield, VA before moving to Maryland. When you ask me where I’m from, expect me to proudly say Virginia.
For rent..but not to me.
Charles Hicks,
Silver Spring, MD.
“Don’t act your color”? We’re radiant!
Avis Danette Matthews,
Glenarden, MD
“Don’t act your color.” I recall hearing that phrase a lot while growing up in the ’60s in Prince George’s County, Md., a Washington, D.C., suburb. On a 5th-grade field trip, as the school desegregation debate boiled on medium, one of my beloved black teachers gave us that instruction as we prepared to get off the bus to tour one of D.C.’s many monuments and museums. For the first time, the thought occurred to me, militantly: “How come? Why not act our color?!” In a flash, I envisioned our school, my classmates, our parents and siblings in our warm and loving homes within our nurturing community; our trusted teachers and perfect principal; our weekend Camp Fire and scout activities; our backyard kickball and football games; our annual go-kart race; our parents moving their cars so we could have the whole street for sledding in the best of snowstorms; our summer dashes to the ice cream truck — and I felt adamant that WE SHOULD ACT OUR COLOR. I didn’t say all this to my teachers on the bus, of course. Years later, seeing those same teachers at funerals and celebrations and such, standing adult to adult with them, I realized that they had known it, too — we WERE radiant.
White hair; My Nana did care!
Tania Chandler,
Upper Marlboro, MD
I remember when I was about 8 years old, I told my grandmother that I wished I had hair like white people. I thought they were the only people that could have long flowing hair instead of the tight coils that I had as a black girl. She was furious!! She told me don’t EVER say that again. Those word still sting today like it just happened. I’m 56. She said our hair was beautiful and so were we.
American School Counselor Association Conference
A Cajun Girl in her Kilt
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo,
Rockville, MD.
A Cajun girl in her kilt, that’s me. My dad was born and raised in southeast Louisiana, as was I, but my mother was born to Scottish immigrants who came to the US for economic and religious freedom. Upon marrying my father, however, she abandoned her Scottish heritage and adopted my father’s culture, cuisine and customs. For example, although she grew up with oatmeal every morning, she never had it again after she married my father, switching to grits, the hot cereal of Louisiana. It wasn’t until one of my mother’s first cousins starting visiting us from Glasgow, Scotland, (after her retirement and the passing of her own mother) did I come to understand my Scottish heritage. My image of myself shifted. Was I just my father’s daughter? Was my mother’s past inside of me as well?
When I first visited Scotland in 2000, I felt like I had “come home”. The highlands and the lowlands; the heather, the thistles, and bluebells; the shortbread and the never-ending cuppa tea; the heavy accents; they all tugged and tugged at my heart. Now, I consider myself a series of contradictions: Community Coffee in the morning and black tea in the evening, gumbo for lunch and scones in the afternoon, Zydeco to energize me and Mozart to relax me. With my very French maiden name and my fair, freckled skin, I remain a Cajun girl in her kilt.
Why so petty? Pale Blue Dot.
Raj Malhotra,
College Park, MD.
“Are you the IT guy?” or “Does your family own a 7-eleven?” If I bother to take offense on all these questions and stereotypes of my race I will have countless enemies and no friends. I prefer to take these questions as a conversation starter and get to know the person better. However, I do understand institutional racism where a black person is more likely to be put in jail for possession of marijuana than a white person. Institutional racism is important and needs to be dealt with in different ways, however, this must not be confused with common misunderstandings and lack of knowledge about another culture. I believe plenty of people get asked ignorant questions and get connected with silly stereotypes, but as humans I believe we also have the power of empathy to look beyond the ignorance and try to learn something from each other. The pale blue dot is a wonderful Carl Sagan essay that provides some perspective on our place within the universe and how relatively silly racism is.
Acknowledging and understanding my white privilege
Lauren Michaels,
Poolesville, MD
As a white individual, I have learned to identify my privilege in order to recognize what I have, and use that privilege for good. If our society only allows certain voices to be heard, I will make my voice heard and speak up for those who can’t.
Mom placed newborn in front row
John Butterworth
Boston, MA
My mother has just graduated from nursing school in Boston and moved to Maryland in the mid ’50’s with my dad, who was in the Army at the time. Mom found a job at a nearby city hospital in the maternity ward. Mom placed a beautiful newborn in the front row of the viewing window. The newborn viewing area was actually designated as whites -only and the baby front and center was an African American among the white newborns. Mom was completely caught off guard and never fully accepted either the reaction or the explanation provided as part of the subsequent request to move the baby, and told us the story more than once as a cautionary life lesson about right, wrong, equality, and the reality of the day. Imagine that this was the way lives began….
How can she be your mom
Laura
Clarksville, MD
Being Black we come in all shades. My mom is extremely fair-skin; my dad was very dark. I look like my dad. Blacks and whites do a double take when my mom and I are together and I call her mom.
