Race Card Project creates new type of conversation
JESSE WASHINGTON— Dec. 1, 2012 She asked for just six words. Michele Norris, the National Public Radio host, was starting a book tour for her...
Having a foot in two canoes.
Emily Wood Anchorage, AK Growing up in small town Minnesota where the local summer celebration was “Swedish Heritage Days” could be awkward for a girl...
Ashamed that I was completely oblivious
Diana Valentine Minneapolis, MN I am haunted to this day (and I am now 65) that I was so completely clueless about race, civil rights,...
Seventeen white and member of NAACP
Gordon McAlister Waconia, MN It’s the 60’s I’m white seventeen and a member of the NAACP It means I’m cool, enlightened, support the cause, and...
Why not start at the beginning?
Susan Roedl Minneapolis, MN Like much of the country I’m sad and confused at the Trayvon Martin verdict. How can George Zimmerman claim self defense...
1966, embarrassed myself saying the “N” word.
Pamela Renkel St. Paul, MN I was 19, in a small, local technical school, with two newly transplanted students from Detroit, who were African American....
Being white doesn’t automatically mean racist.
Carstens Smith Minneapolis, MN I quickly learned in the 80s, when my employer mandated attendance on race and diversity, to stay very, very quiet. My...
Are you sure you’re not hispanic?
Claudia Noronha Madrigal Mankato, MN These words are one of my earliest memories of living in the U.S. I can’t remember for sure where I...
My white spouse thinks he/she understands.
Truman Burbank Saint Paul, MN You can never understand. Unless you have lived it for yourself, and lived through the pain- you will never understand....
