MO Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Race Card Project

Jacob Augare, Kansas City, MO. Words from my Blackfeet, Native American father from the Piikani Nation.

Jewish. I think I can relate.

Rabbi Justin Kerber, Saint Louis, MO. I may be “white.” But my grandparents and great-grandparents weren’t “white,” they were Jews! The distinction had implications and consequences — lethal for some of them. In my work as a rabbi and hospital chaplain I must see all people as created in G1d’s image and likeness, yet must […]

What are you, Irish or something?

Jason Michlig, Kansas City, MO.

Women should be respected in India.

Srushya Krishnan, St. Louis, MO.

I wish I didn’t see it.

Zach, St. Louis, MO.

I’m a human before I’m black.

Zarriya Johnson, Kansas City, MO. We are humans first. Our race is just something we as humans created to determine how a person should be and act in society. It’s a trend that needs to stop.

Liberals focus too much on race!

Levi St. Louis, MO

Is that because you are Mexican?

Gina Vidal, Liberty, MO.

I am Arab not a bomb.

Yazan Hamed, St. Louis, MO.

I am trying to do better.

Elle Dowd, St. Robert, MO.

I don’t want to be racist.

Johnny Boyd Blue Springs, MO. Sometimes I catch myself thinking things about people, or making judgements, based on their race or appearance. I know it’s wrong, but I learned to see differences at an early age.

White: How do I help? No Answers.

Amanda Honigfort, St. Louis, MO. I am white. I am told again, and again, especially as a St. Louisan in light of Ferguson, that it takes all of us to fix our race problems, and that white people need to get involved too, but every time they stop there. I rarely get answers, but I’m […]

No hope or faith left now.

Tracey Hughes, Kansas City, MO. The unofficial trial of Michael Brown (also known as the statement from Prosecutor McCullough) makes it official in my mind. America is nowhere near ready to make significant, lasting change when it comes to confronting racism, privilege, and the lack of equality in justice for ALL if its citizens. I […]

I do not exist in America

3 Comments

Mo, MA. I am neither white or black so I am not invited to the debates on race.

I will not steal your purse

4 Comments

Henderson Smith III, St Louis, MO. I told this lady in Cinn, Ohio after she grab her purse when she looked and saw me walking down the supermarket aisle. I explain to her that I was an Logistics Engineer at GE Aircraft Engines and a Captain in the Air National Guard.

Unfortunately we must live with it

Marlott Rhodes, St. Louis, MO. Watch out America, this upcoming Wilson trial will be a tinderbox.

You’re married to a Black guy?

Jennifer Herndon, Kansas City, MO.

You have how many black cousins

Lauren Hazelrigg, Kansas City, MO.

ALL are same distance from GOD.

Mickey Lee Morris, Joplin, MO. When one realizes that the Love of GOD is to be equally shared by every Human Being, Then we will all be raised to a higher level and none are left behind. -Mic

Local News feed fear of Blacks

Mike, St. Louis, MO.

The Race Card Project Partners with PBS for “America After Ferguson”

We are excited to share our partnership with PBS to capture the reactions from “AMERICA AFTER FERGUSON” — a PBS television special moderated by Gwen Ifill. This PBS town hall meeting, moderated by PBS NEWSHOUR co-anchor and managing editor Gwen Ifill, explores the many issues brought into public discourse in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, […]

Unacknowledged racism is the ultimate dissimulation.

Gregory S. Carr, St. Louis, MO. Thank you for this forum. It provides a valuable platform for ongoing dialogue.

All are racists regardless of race

Kirk Fortune, St. Louis, MO. Recognizing the humanity of each other below our differences is our greatest and most important challenge for each of us.

There is beauty in our diversity

Maisha, St. Louis, MO.

A constructed tool of the oppressors

Phillip Johnson, Saint Louis, MO. History shows the historically oppressed are not the ones who use race to their advantage. In order to galvanize support for trans atlantic slavery – one race had to be made to feel superior to another.

Our slave’s daughter sent me an email.

William Kincaid, St. Louis, MO. I use some literary license in choosing the word “daughter”. She is actually the great-great-granddaughter of one of my family’s former slaves, if you want to get technical about it. But a six word statement is no place to get technical. Regardless there are not enough words to express how […]

All power I see is white

Erin, St. Louis, MO. In my world today I associate power with people who are white. All my teachers and school leaders, white. My parents, white. The police in my area, white. All forms of power and authority in my life are white and this is how its been since I was little. Fear those […]

We’re all equal, learn to love

Ryan Palmer St. Louis, MO Nope

You’re cute for a black girl

Leah Thomas Florissant, MO I grew up in Saint Louis, MO and I moved to a mainly white private school in the 5th grade. I was a “gifted student” according to my public school district and my parents struggled to give me a better education. As I got older, of dating age, I started to […]

Yes, she IS my real daughter.

Suzanne Strathman Alma, MO How many times have I been asked if Marquita is my “real daughter”. My thought is “She looks pretty real to me.”. Marquita is African American and we are white. We adopted her when she was 4 years old.

Mexican men tend to frighten me.

J St. Louis, MO I work at a country club’s kitchen, there we have a great many Mexican men. They always seem far too friendly. They are more touchy-feely than I am used to. Since then, I have been uncomfortable in the presence of any mexican males.

Dedication to education, easier access white woman

Kelsey Coleman St. Louis, MO I feel that I have worked incredibly hard to get where I am. I know that I have worked hard and have been dedicated to my own education. I know now, that I have had much easier access to this education and to the place where I am because of […]

Proud of my race. I’m White.

Mike Cattywampus St. Louis, MO

More to me than just Asian

Kim L. St. Louis, MO

I”m not from a different planet

Kesild St. Louis, MO Only Albanian

I’m white, not allowed to complain.

Emily Zyk St. Louis, MO Believe it or not, I’ve seen many kinds of racial bias, including that directed towards white people. I’ve heard people tell me that I wouldn’t know of their struggles, so I wouldn’t be allowed to be any kind of a supporter. I’ve heard these same people tell me that there […]

Live in America, but Not American.

Sahin Dzananovic St. Louis, MO

White as snow but Lebanese inside

Matt St. Louis, MO I take after my mother.

This “Gook” serves the U.S Army

Tai Bui St. Louis, MO Don’t judge me by how I look, I might not look like you, but I am willing to do what you won’t.

I am Arab, not a terrorist.

Ashley Solomon St. Louis, MO

There are many types of white

Jonas Dailide St. Louis, MO

All my dreams are in color

Jacquelyn D. Elliott St. Louis, MO

Evident when driving on the highway

Casey St. Peters, MO Driving brings out the worst in all of us, no? I think I have done a good job in life of respecting people for who they are in spite of having been exposed to many stereotypes and prejudices, some involving race, in my short 30 years…but then I catch myself being […]

Unforgettable eye opening sometimes painful experience.

Danielle Carr St Louis, MO University of Michigan Law

Can I please touch your hair?

Jai St. Louis, MO

There’s nothing positive about affirmative action.

Ashley Kalamon Agency, MO

I am white and not proud

Eddie J. Kilgore Gower, MO

Why do you think I’m different?

Natasha Sykes Saint Louis, MO Biracial. New Kid. Moving all the time. Never fitting in.

See me, not just my skin

Jeffery J Jaekley Bolivar, MO Race matters. It shapes our identity, yet it is not the whole of our identity. There are elements that are common to the experience of any racial group, yet these are not universal to all members of that group. I’m bi-racial–white and Native American. Among whites, I’m often the darkest […]

WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK NOW

4 Comments

Tom Harding Kansas City, MO

Not every Hispanic person is Mexican.

Alex Pozo St. Louis, MO Just because people are of Latino descent, does not mean that people can assume they are Mexican.

together we all can do anything

Jack Matthews St. Louis, MO

Minorities are the ones, excluding whites

Bay Roehr Wentzville, MO In this day and age, I feel that many minorities tend to group up together. The whites that do try and reach out to other races, and minorities are often rejected for not having the same background/culture as them.

I am blamed for being white.

Alex Folk St. Louis, MO I am tired of being persecuted for being white. If I disagree with any ethnicity, I am accused of being racist and it disgusts me. It drives me insane and it makes them no better than a racist themselves.

Irish Son of Servants Moving Up

Charles Beach St. Louis, MO

Too old to play w/colored girlfriend.

Jewel Nies St. Charles, MO I grew up in SE MO, the Bootheel. 20 miles from Arkansas border. Very southern town. My neighborhood bordered a black neighborhood. I had a black friend that I had played with for years. When I was around 9 or 10 my Mother came to me and said the neighborhoods […]

I see friends, not a color

11 Comments

Eric Carrera St. Louis, MO

Racism brings this country to ruins.

6 Comments

John Meiners St. Louis, MO

Lena was our maid, MISS her!

Lisa Freund Taylor Laclede, MO In reality, she was our caregiver. Raising a white womans children in southeast Texas in the 60’s. Divorce broke up our family and she just disappeared.

Black friends’s father forbid our friendship.

Patricia Armstrong St. Louis, MO I was no more than 7 years old and made friends with a black girl in the neighborhood. We really had a lot of fun together and my family did not object. After a few weeks, I was invited to her house. After her father saw my white skin, he […]

Passing under streetlights… shouldn’t we nod?

Tom Capuano Kirksville, MO In the Midwest, in small and mid-sized towns at least, people who are strangers to each other sometimes acknowledge each other with a nod, at the very least, when passing by each other, at least during the day. Sometimes even a hello. Maybe not all the time, maybe not even most […]

You’re not a BLACK, black person.

Jessica Conley Poplar Bluff, MO

I fear those who hate whites.

Deb Lawson, MO

My family thought freedom not slavery

Ken Segehrs Wentzville, MO Some whites fought for equal rights, even in the face of a gun.

Crossed the street to avoid them.

Chris Sherman St. Louis, MO I’m a Caucasian male, who was brought up in a fairly tolerant household, and learned to be accepting of diversity & difference, yet still have subtle race prejudices that are hard to shed. I know in my heart, it’s more a matter of pigment and culture, than anything, but still, […]

Indian parents disapprove of white girl.

Hilary Kansas City, MO I’m not a suitable match for their son since I’m not Indian. They barely spoke to me and have no interest in getting to know me.

Am I racist? I hope not.

James T. Barker Kansas City, MO I occasionally have racist thoughts (I would prefer to say prejudicial thoughts), especially when I get angry. Although I do not act on them, it bothers me greatly that I have these thoughts.

Everyone smiled beneath the hanged man.

Allan R. Shickman St. Louis, MO Racism can be a perverted form of social bonding.

White is clear, I lack identity

Matthew Cline Saint Charles, MO

Cracker don’t belong in dis hood

Eric Chaney Fort Leonardwood, MO Serving in the Army I was stationed in Washington DC. When I arrived I worked in an office of 7 African Americans one Hispanic and me the only white guy. The guys in the office where great we were like family but they briefed me that there are parts of […]

Gold chains are the new noose.

Anonymous St. Louis, MO Materialism does not discriminate.

Not Racist, just like the jokes.

Jesse Duncan MO My name is Jesse; I am (mostly) caucasian, and I like jokes. Even racial ones. Let me start by saying that I have always thought that treating someone differently because of the color of their skin, or their accent, is stupid. Not ignorant, which can be fixed through education – stupid. I […]

Race, I don’t like to run

Becky Fulton Joplin, MO I’m was born in 1968 shortly after the death of MLK Jr. of mixed race and grew up raised by grandparents that were white. It was difficult during that time. I am glad that my closest of friends do not see the color of my skin that they can not answer […]

“You’re well spoken,” isn’t a compliment!

6 Comments

KiKi Riddle Lee’s Summit, MO I’m black and have lived in the mid-west all of my life. My parents were college educated with my father having earned his degree with a 4.0 in math and science. That same passion for education, as well as the importance of proper enunciation of the English language, was instilled […]

Half Lebanese, Arab. Am I “other”?

Deborrah Daher St. Louis, MO

I am bi-racial but who isn’t

Alicia St Louis, MO

Redheads are not always hot heads.

Anonymous Kansas City, MO

Simpson Acquited by Majority Black Jury

Anonymous St. Louis, MO Setting race relations back 25 years.

Turn things around, speak proper english

22 Comments

Don St. Louis, MO

Drop “African Americans” We are AMERICANS

Jon Carlson St Louis, MO

Drop African-Americans. We are AMERICANS

Jon Carlson St Louis, MO

Half Lebanese, Arab. Am I “other” ?

Deborah Daher St Louis, MO

I am biracial. But who isn’t?

Alicia St Louis, MO

I try but it’s not easy

Sandy Jaffe St Louis, MO

Only bigots believe prejudice is universal

J Wildman Saint Louis, MO I grew up in a household where we were basically allowed to develop our own opinions about prejudice. I’ve never been a racist. My prejudice of choice was against gay men. Something that I’m still ashamed of having felt, even though I’ve since let that go. When I became an […]

White Grandma worries about black grandson.

Mardel Lott St. Louis, MO Submitted via, NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Will this happen to my son?

Rebecca Henson Fredericktown, MO Submitted via: NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Skittles don’t kill people, guns do.

Lynn Hinkle Kansas City, MO Submitted via: NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Different flowers make a beautiful garden.

Andrea Mills St. Louis, MO

Inherited White Privilege Makes Us Naive

Dana Reynolds Lees Summit, MO I think growing up white in mostly white towns and schools fosters misunderstanding and naïveté regarding what it’s like to walk around in darker skin.

Race Can Cause Bonding or Disengagement.

Kathy Simmons St Louis, MO

God forgive us for our divisions

Robert Franklin, St Louis , MO

Still the third rail in politics

Anonymous Kansas City, MO

Family’s racism replacing, old pictures erasing.

Stacey McMackin Richmond Heights, MO

Is it getting better or worse?