My race is not my nationality.
Linda Morris, Shawnee, KS. Growing up, I got teased a lot for being a fair-skinned black girl by kids who would assume and make sure...
White Venezuelan Greek Woman Mother Advocate
M.A. DiMarco, West Long Branch, NJ. Monmouth University
I’m A Black Mother Not Monster
Anonymous, Eden Praire, MN. Prejudice robbed me of my child. 15 years ago my only living child was stolen from me by her white daddy...
“And who’s this?” She’s my daughter
Sandra Oldfield, Canada. I’ve gotten used to answering this question about my daughter who is adopted from the US
Why don’t you date your race?
Maranda, Colorado Springs, CO. My mother says she isn’t prejudice, yet she has negative comments towards me dating a white male. I am Native and...
“WHERE did you get that baby?”
Margot Rideaux-Crenshaw, Minneapolis, MN. The most frequent question addressed to me as a young mother in 1977 with my infant son.
“White” papers over background identity.
Catherine Kehl, Cleveland Heights. OH. When we divide ourselves into “us” and “other” we don’t only lose the other, we lose ourselves. I was twenty-seven...
My kids are mixed. And me?
Amy Spencer, Kalona, IA. On Location: Drake University Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I think, ‘Dang, you’re pale.’ But inside, I’m mixed, because...
Will I ever meet my Mom?
Colin McKearnan, Missoula, MT. A question that my 8-year old son (Ephrem) asked me on the way to school. We are white and my wife...
What would the neighbor’s think?
Dolly Szymanski Fort Wayne, IN Both of these quotes are things my mother heard or said. The second quote – My mother said to me...
Northern Mother Southern Father meet middle
Sandra Hart, Brookeland, TX. This is an amazing thing to do. Growing up in the South in a white household with a black cleaning lady...
I am Both, Not Just One.
Laura N. Weston, Baltimore, MD. About 80% of the time people assume (mostly men) I am Puerto Rican even though I am half Caucasian and...
I’m American – where’s my checkbox?
Blair White Haddad, Los Angeles, CA. Being the child of an adopted mother, for a long time I only knew half of my genetic make...
Too yellow or not yellow enough
Jean Tokuda Irwin Salt Lake City Public Library “I’m Japanese-American with a Japanese mom and a father who was a GI.” The Japanese called children...
I am not just African American.
Erica Watts, Arlington, TX. Growing up, I believed that I was all African American. My mother was African American and so was my brother and...
