My Tenth Birthday Was Super Awkward
Wilson Sunny, Sunnyvale, TX I was born September 11th, 1991. Ten years later, a great national tragedy happened within the United States that shook the...
The TSA checks are not random.
Aren Kazanciyan, CA As far as the popular conceptions of race go, I am usually considered Middle Eastern. My family members and I are always...
I hate being called a “white boy”
Anonymous, USA. “White boy”, , , . What I don’t understand is why there has always had to be a race at the bottom. No...
I hate being called a “white boy”
Anonymous, USA. “White boy”, , , . What I don’t understand is why there has always had to be a race at the bottom. No...
I look white…privileged and disrespected
Natalie Eashoo, Grand Blanc, MI At first glance, I look white. I am Middle Eastern and European. Looking white and having a “white name” has...
I never thought you’d like this.
Asia Smith, Kansas City, MO This has been said to me many times throughout my life. I am a black girl who goes to a...
You don’t wear the headscarf though
Misk Al Zahidy I am Middle Eastern and when I share that with people they automatically get confused as they associate being Middle Eastern with...
“You don’t look Iranian!” “I am.”
Rom Barkhordar, Chicago, IL This was a brief exchange with someone I just met who, to his defense, had a few beers and was feeling...
White husband became Iranian September eleventh.
Maren Robinson Chicago, IL I watched how my American-born half-Iranian husband went from being perceived as white (Iranians are Caucasian) to being perceived as vaguely...
“You don’t look Jamaican or Cuban”
Michael A. Caldas, Miami, FL I’m a Cuban and Jamaican descent mix. Most people when they look at me think that I am either Cape...
I look white & I’m not racist.
Lynn, Great Falls, SC. I tend to look white; especially when not in the sun. I’m actually a mix of: European (German, Irish, & British),...
I’m Middle Eastern but I’m white?
Ilana New York, NY I grew up in Israel to a father born in Germany and a mother born in the United States. Yet every...
Is your uncle Osama bin Laden?
Tiffany Compton, Colorado Springs, CO. I always thought I was like everyone else until a kid in my 6th grade class asked me this question....
We know where we came from
Isaac Weiss, Wayne State Yes, we’re a Middle Eastern tribe. Yes, white people can usually tell we’re not the same as them by looking. Yes,...
Invisible to the census but here
Grsteena Khoshaba, Warren, MI. I am a Middle Eastern girl and I just have one question. Where am I? Why is it whenever I have...
Arab, not Muslim. Know the difference.
Alice Saidawi, San Francisco, CA. Often times when I tell people I am Arab or Palestinian, they often immediately assume that I am Muslim as...
