Why don’t Afro Americans row?

Felix Muhlebach, Chapel Hill, NC. I was at the Head of the Hooch, 2nd biggest rowing event in the US. More than 1600 crews. More than 5000 athletes. I saw only one Afro American crew. No mixed race boats. Check on attached event picture file. Statistically, one out of 5 athletes should be Afro American. […]

“You really aren’t a real Mexican.”

Ai Lee Blankenship, Lexington, NC I come from a home that consists of a Deaf mother and father. My father is Italian/white while my mother is Mexican. Instead of learning both English and Spanish, I have learned English and American Sign Language in order to effectively communicate with my parents. I have always heard the […]

Red and Yellow Black and White

Honey-Marie Braswell, Durham, NC I come from generations of mixed race and multi-ethnic people on both sides of my family. We come in all hues. Nobody has been authentically black, white or Native American since the late 19th Century on either side of my family. I’ve had people ask which of my parents is white. […]

I’m Appalachian–it’s an invisible ethnicity

Catherine Vance Agrella, Asheville, NC. I’m white, and by definition am associated with some of the worst perpetrators of racism. But I also come from deep Appalachian Scots-Irish roots and have a clear ethnic identity. I do know what it feels like to be mocked for my speech, or thought of as a dumb hillbilly, […]

The Art and Racket of Passing

Raven Cincinnati, OH In parts of Eastern North Carolina the lines between black, bi-racial and Native American is blurry and sometimes nonexistent. I went to school with the great(x3) grandchildren of my family’s slaveholders. Our families share the same last name. Upon leaving I learned that my green eyes, light skin and curly hair were […]

Cute when thin, angry when fat

Nicole McFarlane, Fayetteville, NC. I’m a 43 year old black woman who has spent most of her adult life living and working in the South. I notice that when my weight fluctuates I’m perceived differently — as different stereotypes associated with my race, gender and sexuality. At times when I’m heavier, many assume me to […]

He stood. She sat. For equality.

Linda Leigh Hargrove, Concord, NC. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the Lincoln Memorial and made a game-changing speech. More than 250,000 people stood in the audience that August day, including Rosa Parks who sat her way into civil rights history. It is because of their work that I have the freedom, as a […]

Stop Living In A Distorted Past

Moonlight Lady, Piedmont Triad, NC I am white, and I am sick and tired of African Americans who continually live in the past, and shove their distorted and many times incorrect atrosities onto white generations of today. Blacks in America are doing nothing but continuing to divide the races by trying to inflict unfair blame […]

What’s the point when color fades

Spencer, Wilmington, NC. Everyone dies. And when we do die, there will be no color, just bones and dirt. It’s funny that race is so important when it doesn’t last forever. We only have a short time on the earth and yet we spend so much time dividing ourselves based on something superficial, that no […]

I’m a bridge between two worlds.

Jazmin Whitmore, Asheville, NC. I am the result of two worlds but I was only raised in one. My father was Jamaican and my mother was European/Native American mix. My mother raised me. Although it was not her intention she raised me to be “white”. I did not realize how devoid I was of my […]

You’re just a whitewashed privileged Mexican

Mikaela Vera, Greensboro, NC I have always struggled with the color of my skin and the fact that I am a mixed child with an immigrant father who I am proud of however I have to limit my voice sometimes due to also being white and not wanting to offend anyone for being the voice […]

It is called hijab not towel.

Tasmia, High Point, NC As a new immigrant I love to wear my ethnic outfit that includes a headpiece called a hijab. I was called out multiple times that “what’s up with the towel on your head?” A piece of clothing should never define a person, in a free society everyone has a right to […]

Forcing diversity is what causes neo-segregation.

Ted Willis, Jr. Cary, NC As a teacher, I have seen how, with each passing generation, race is becoming less of an issue with my students. Most of the racial tension is bred from their parents and the time frame most of then grew up in (however, the parents are become the generation in which […]

But my 23andMe said I’m different?

Trisha, Whispering Pines, NC I found this website to be very inclusive to everyone who has issues with race or even to those who are blind to some of the issues. Part of the problem is wanting to identify with a group and finding solace with that identification. How do we end racism when we […]

Just like a ‘lectric clock ticking

Jimmy Hair, Charlotte, NC. A hard working black man I worked construction with 44 years ago used to say this. He meant it about his steady and prodigious work output, but I think of it now in terms of the slow but steady progress of improved race relations.

God created race people created racism

Eric Evans, Tarboro, NC. Our God-given differences are meant to be appreciated not to keep us separated. As a Native American man I live in a world that doesn’t know what to think of me outside of a reservation or the pages of a history book.

White Parents Raise Beautifully Diverse Children

Louise Bannon, Holly Springs, NC. Raising, playing, growing and living as a diverse family is an extraordinary experience. It brings both good days and tough days – obstacles and disappointments, laughter and lightheartedness. The journey is full of stares – stares full of curiosity, stares full of love and stares of hatefulness from the people […]

Yellow: Neither White Nor Black Enough

Yuri Yamamoto, Raleigh, NC. I am a Japanese immigrant. I sometimes feel lost in this society where race is all about black and white. I often feel that I am neither white nor black enough to contribute significantly to a diversity conversation, most of which seems to be about reconciliation and healing from the slavery. […]

Black Vietnamese. Speak spanish. Eat rice.

Hao Nguyen, Durham, NC. I wanted to say… Black Vietnamese. Speak english, spanish, vietnamese. Eat suong kho, pho, and corn dogs. Words that describe my mixed race/heritage children. Having to choose only 6 words, I had to put them in order of words that most describe them. Having to choose what comes first — black […]

Yes, you are all my family!

Hillora Lang, Burgaw, NC. As a person with Asperger Syndrome I have always felt estranged from the human race. In high school I began working on my family tree, and it really helped to ground me and allow me to feel a connection to past generations. When doing genealogy research last year I discovered a […]

Your family’s not inbred…are you?

Katie R. Phillips, Green Mountain, NC. I might be white, but growing up in the Southern Applachians is definitely its own ethnic identity. I didn’t truly understand this until I went to college, and brought friends home with me for the first time. One of my friends actually asked me if my family was inbred […]

The plantation haunts my gay marriage.

Erik Shawn Frampton, Charlotte, NC. I am the descendant of a line of plantation owners in South Carolina. As a gay man, my upcoming marriage will finally occur on our 20th anniversary together. My larger southern family struggles to see my identity as sacred, just as they struggle still to see minority life as sacred. […]

Not White Enough, Not Hispanic Enough

Eliana Rodriguez, Winston Salem, NC. I hate the feeling of rejection from the Caucasians I grew up with and the Hispanics that come from my culture. Ive always felt alienated from the white students in my schools but it hurt even more to find out that people from my own culture didn’t accept me cause […]

Don’t think I’m like you, I’m not

JP, Harrisburg, NC As a 50-year-old man from the South living in the south I frequently find myself in situations where only men from the South are around (barbershop, hardware store, etc.) It is apparent that this mono-population loosens the tongues of those who think they are now free to say what they want in […]

I’m brown but, I’m not hispanic.

Vaniza Bailey, Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, NC Don’t Assume, Get acquainted! Not all brown people with dark hair are Hispanics, they could be Filipino, that girl beside me is Hispanic and she’s my best friend. Yes, we seem to look alike its because Filipinos were colonized by Spain for a long time, long enough to […]

One man. Indivisible. Black. Gay. American.

Alva Jones Jr. Greensboro, NC I’m a bit of a focal point of discrimination in this country. As a Black man I’m viewed as a threat. As a gay man I’m viewed as an abomination. These views have by no means been universal in my travels, but the reality of their existence is no less […]

Never complete, white skin, African soul

H. Allan White, Huntersville, NC My earliest and formative years were spent in an era of segregation and the early trials of desegregation. Despite an upbringing in the U.S. southend, I developed a keen interest in different cultures, different people…anything different. It was that interest that help instill in me wanderlust…a desire to go see […]

Southern farm raised, doesn’t mean hate

Leah Ray, Roaring River, NC With current events, people assume white people are racist, especially southern white people. Don’t get me wrong, some people are full of hate and racism but that is only a small majority. I do not want people to look at me and see a young southern white woman and assume […]

Not from here, not from there.

Adriana Caicedo Hart , Indian Trail, NC. I was born in Colombia, I came to USA in 2003. My physical features, my accent and my skin color say I am not born in American, they say I belong to a different culture; but when I go back to my home country for a visit, I […]

Judge people with closed eyes.

J. William (Bill) Batey, Burlington, NC This is a picture of my wife, white Granddaughter, black Grandson and my two bi-racial great grandchildren. I am so lucky to have them and I love and adore all of them.

Undocumented immigrants need representation in court

Marty Rosenbluth Hillsborough, NC It is a little known fact, but people in deportation proceedings are not entitled to an attorney if they can’t afford one. Spend a day in any immigration court in the country and you can see the effects. Even though the consequences are very serious, in that people can be deported, […]

Difference between staying alive or dying

Isaiah Borders, Kannapolis, NC p>Race in America can be a life or death situation during some occasions. Racial injustice is 100% real and there’s a chance you could get racially profiled from the color of your skin. I chose to say “Difference between staying alive or dying” because, depending on what race you are is […]

White and Quite Oblivious Growing Up

Anna Fox, Goldsboro, NC I am a white women, and growing up, I did not really realize how much privilege I had. I went to a small private Christian school starting in seventh grade and eventually graduating as a senior in high school there. The whole time I attended this school, I think there were […]

Cannot White Males Change Discrimination?

Richard Holmes, Durham, NC As racism and hate-crimes have proliferated and reversed so much progress in the last few years, I despise that the haters are overwhelmingly the same race and gender as me — white males. This is especially pronounced here in the south. Those who are harmed are rightfully fighting their treatment and […]

Would All My Ancestors Love Me?

Melissa U., Charlotte, NC. My Taino people would love me, from my plump lips to my curly hair. My African people would love me from the rhythm in my hips to the powerful thoughts in my mind. My Spanish people, they might deny me, but I can’t deny them. They are in my language, they […]

I choose to love and persevere

Johna Speller, Laurinburg, NC p>I chose the words “I choose to love and persevere” because I believe that it best represents my standpoint on racism and racial inequalities that I face and see others face within our society. I stated that I “choose” because I feel that at the end of the day we all […]

School integration enriched my white life.

Cynthia Waszak Geary, Baltimore, MD. I grew up in Durham, NC and attended Hillside High School as part of the first court ordered desegregation plan to achieve racial balance. I am heart broken that since that time there has been a steady and deliberate re-segregation of schools in the US. I am hoping for leadership […]

With great privilege comes great responsibility.

Faith Hendricks, Lexington, NC I have been born into a lot of privilege. I am healthy, relatively good looking white female. While my family has gone through periods of struggle, we have always been secure financially. We have lived in safe neighborhoods, had good houses, and I’ve been able to attend private schools. I have […]

I am not your model minority.

Jennifer Ho, Carrboro, NC. I’m an Asian American woman and often times in my daily life I’m the only Asian American person in the room, sometimes the only person of color. And it’s exhausting to deal with the stereotypes people have, especially because they think Asian Americans are a successful “Model Minority.” And so I […]

Studying slavery makes me feel ashamed.

Sam Henry, Ashville, NC. As a white male Social Studies teacher I always have a difficult time teaching slavery. From what I know about my family tree I don’t have any family members that owned slaves but that is hardly the point. It is a shameful period in our history but one worth studying. I […]

Being mixed is sometimes worse here.

April Sapp, Durham, NC “What a mutt”, “How disgraceful”, “You should kill yourself for existing”. I’ve heard it all. Don’t even get me started on the adoption/kidnapping jokes. Or the colorism I experience within my family. I’m not white enough. I’m not black enough. I’m not Mexican enough. The only thing I’m enough of is […]

I am not what you assume

Andrew Boggs, North Wilkesboro, NC People assume I am just another Caucasian, another white person with privileges without knowing who I am. My skin, like yours, doesn’t reveal everything about me. I am also part Cherokee. I am also part German. I am also part Irish.

Don’t fake equality for your convenience.

Meah, Raleigh, NC I see too many times, people faking their support for minority groups when they want to come across inclusive. Once they are surrounded by people, they are “comfortable” around; they reveal their true identity as racist and noninclusive. It is convenient for them to be able to hide in a place they […]

Be A Voice For Other People

Sydney Turnmire, Fleetwood, NC Wilkes Community College. Be a voice for other people. Stand up for others. Be kind to others. Help others out. Be a voice for them and stand up for them when they can not for themselves.

You need to get a tan

Malena, Sparta, NC Growing up, I was always the child that would stay outside from morning to night. Even though I was always outside I never tanned, I only burned. Till this day now all I do is burn and then peel.

You’re Mexican, but not really

Cecilia Torres, Sparta, NC I am a full Mexican, but I was not born in Mexico. I grew up in a Mexican household following my Mexican culture. People believe that just because I was not born in Mexico I do not experience racism and I don’t get stared at in certain places because of the […]

Not all cops are bad cops

Abby, Sparta, NC Everybody thinks that just because there are a couple of crooked cops out there, that all cops are bad. My dad happens to be a cop and everybody loves him. He does his job very clean and keeps everybody safe. He’s not biased and treats everybody fair. Along with the rest of […]

I’m part white, Can’t prove it

Justice Littlejohn Cherokee, NC Being Cherokee and living on a reservation you don’t grow up white, even if you are only half cherokee and half white. Tourists that come to the reservation always claim they are part cherokee. They are so proud of it. I don’t understand why they kinda get offended when I say […]

How is your last name Sanchez?

Chelsea, Burlington, NC I am constantly referred to as white, and I do not speak Spanish. I am mostly Puerto Rican and Italian and have the least amount caucasian in me in comparison to my other heritages.

Taught all wrong, now teaching others

Steve Jones, Durham, NC. I grew up in a segregated community and the concept that African-Americans (of course, not the word that was used) were inferior. It took a long time to get out of that mindset and even longer to acknowledge the privilege that comes with my white skin. It’s a privilege to be […]

Jim Crow Paper Genocide Native AmerIndians

Paper Genocide, Pinnacle, NC. Pictured: Monacan Indian Children at Recess How Jim Crow Practiced Paper Genocide Against Native American Indians. Jim Crow laws were a set of oppressive laws that reclassified Native American Indians into the category of Colored. Jim Crow reached their greatest influence during the decades of 1910, 1920, and 1930. Among them […]

My Swahili children: chai ya maziwa

Paula Gormley Greensboro, NC I am white. My children are from two separate worlds: United States and Tanzania. We are living in the US, but I am grooming them for lives in which they, children of privilege, will have an obligation to help their African brothers and sisters. I always tell people that they have […]

I don’t know where I belong.

Daisy Carranza, Sparta, NC The question of belonging is something I have always struggled with. I am a hispanic who was born in the U.S. However, people like me are stuck between being American or Mexican (or wherever their parent’s origin is). I am too Mexican to fit into the American category and I am […]

Black girl attitude, but sounds white.

Khuwailah Beyah, Durham, NC. For as long as I can remember people have said to me, and sometimes to my mother, the I “talk white” or that I’m trying to be white because of the way I speak and some of the things that interest me. I have never quite gotten this. I don’t have […]

I’m not the angry black women.

Taylor Berry, Charlotte, NC There’s not much to say. I’m not about to write a novel on a topic that isn’t rocket science. All I have to say is normalize women being able to communicate their feelings without writing them off as “emotional” or “whiney.” Specifically, normalize black women communicating their feelings without being perceived […]

White Girl Trying To Be Ally

Lynsey Owen, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC I recognize my privilege. I choose to educate myself on how to help in addition to correcting any inherently racist tendencies I witness. I just want to be the best ally that I can be.

So, what are you mixed with?

Ashley Butler, Wilkesboro, NC This is such an odd question to ask someone. However, as someone who is bi-racial, this is a question I get a lot. It’s actually one of the first things that people ask when getting to know me, especially growing up in the South. I will never understand why it matters, […]

A Struggle I Will Never Understand

Sara Pardo, Millers Creek, NC I am a white woman. I occasionally hear a comment that is stereotypical or discriminatory against white people. However, I have never been pulled over because of my race. I have never been denied a job because of my race. I have never experienced institutionalized racism. I will never understand […]

You are pretty, are you Indian?

Freda NC I am African American. Growing up I was often asked this question in some form or another “are you mixed, what are you, what are you mixed with, what’s your nationality, are you Indian, where are you from?” As I got older, the question began to offend me more, especially when the person […]

But, why must you judge me?

Sara Marie Crowell, Saxapahaw, NC I feel that I am assumed to have privilege being that I am white when I have struggled along side the rest of them. We shouldn’t judge anyone based on skin color. We are all humans.

Adopted but am I still Mexican

Kasey Nichols, Clemmons, NC. I’ve known I’ve been adopted since I can remember and never questioned my ethnicity until I reached middle school age because we had to fill out cards with “check yes if Latino, African American, white or other.” Biologically I’m Mexican and Italian, but I was raised white with my dad being […]

Covid-19 is not killing just blacks

Tiffany Holland, Concord, NC African Americans are complaining that Covid19 is being used to kill their race. It’s not! I’m seeing people die every week from this. First, it was we were slaves so it’s all your fault then it was now copping are only killing blacks to black lives matter and now it’s you’re […]

Variety is the Spice of Life

Kevin Crowe, Thomasville, NC In this world, there are those that will try to lessen others because these “others” don’t fit a mold. Whether it’s due to your skin being too dark or too light, because of who you date or love, or even something as trivial as the clothes you wear. There are some […]

I am a United States Citizen

Kinyata, Greensboro, NC I’m a student at Davidson County Community College and this post was an assignment. I chose I am a United States Citizen because so often people hear my name and ask what country am I from. Sometimes it’s frustrating when people assume my origin-based off of my name.

Everyone is unique, embrace your difference

Aaron Williams, Davie County High School NC/Davidson County Community College, Mocksville, NC Everyone is different, instead of fighting our differences we should all work together to embrace them. Each difference sets us apart and makes us unique. When we accept these differences and encourage others, we will all be more successful.

Everyone is more beautiful on the inside

Christina H Beltrami, Community College, Wilkesboro Stony Point, NC This race card project could open many doors to those who are trying to have an open mind. I hope the words I chose reflect how I act toward others. It’s true that everyone should be beautiful on the inside more than the outside. There are […]

We Aren’t Here to Take Your Jobs

Erica Jaimes, Wilkes Community College, North Wilkesboro, NC I chose these words because it is known that immigrants, Hispanics in particular, take away jobs from American workers. However, we create new jobs by forming new businesses, spending our incomes on American goods and services, paying taxes and raising the productivity of U.S. businesses. Immigrants are […]

We could do so much more.

Kaitlyn Eller, Wilkes Community College, NC We are at a standstill right now when we should be taking action to spread love, kindness, and encourage unity. We have the whole world at our fingertips through our phones and yet we continue to sit back while discrimination impacts so many. Change begins with just one person. […]

Life’s boring if everybody’s the same

Joanna Benitez, Wilkes Community College, Yadkinville, NC I chose those six words because I have realized that many people are judged based on their religion or race, etc. I believe that its good that everyone is unique. It would be better if we all just got along and instead of judging or discriminating other, we […]

I descend from first American colonizers.

Kim Looby, Charlotte, NC I thought I was Irish and came here during the 1850s. But I’m actually 16th generation American. My family is responsible for settling America and colonizing it. I’m equally disconnected from any ancestral culture and distinctly American? I have a few German relatives left in Germany but they’re over a hundred […]

Ashamed to Acknowledge the Black Side

Heartbroken Grandmother, Durham, NC My granddaughter was never allowed to have contact with her father or us when she was a young child. He fought to see her but the court system in Indiana never held up the court orders for his ex-girlfriend to allow him visitation. This lasted well into her teen years. Though […]

You know why they chose you?

Alan Smith, Angier, NC. This was said to me by an instructor, as an 18-year old US Navy sailor, having just completed submarine training in Groton, CT in 1978. I graduated 14th of 98 in my class, and was presented with an award for excellence by the Eastern Connecticut Council Navy League of the US. […]

So was she born in Africa?

Anneliese, Mooresville, NC I am a sister to three black siblings that my family adopted a few years ago. One time while walking through the mall with one of my sisters, she was only about 2 years old, we were stopped and asked if she was from Africa? It is so surprising how some people […]

Code-switching: an asset, not a crime.

Molly Wanless Chapel Hill, NC To develop and maintain respect in my middle school English classroom, I teach that there are many “right ways” to talk and write. With technology and society being what they are today, no one owns or “rules” the conventions of our language. My students understand that their language and mine […]

Grateful for Painful Cultureshock Down South

Audrey A Fischer, Wilson, NC. When I lived in Virginia Beach, I didn’t notice race. Up north, it was so institutionalized that I barely knew any People of Colour. When I came down south in the eighth grade, I suddenly was the largest group, but our school was 60 or so percent minority. I was […]

Not Blind, Just Free of Hate.

Sarah M. Rebillard, Wilmington, NC I will never say that I am blind to the skin color of others, nor that I don’t see them as different from myself. A person’s perceived race is a fact of their existence and their reality and is a trait to be loved not ignored. People of color deserve […]

Some Dogs Just Don’t Have Names

Glenn Richardson Wilmington, NC Every spring we would travel from Washington DC to Oktoc Mississippi to help my Dad work the cows. He had about 200 head to push through the mucky shoot to the cattle squeeze where they were tested for brucelllosis, wormed, weighed, pregnancy checked by an arm length plastic disposable glove to […]

All races should be treated equally.

Marci Russell, Durham, NC. I don’t think people understand how serious the racist comments they say are. Even if they’re just joking, It’s hurtful. I wish people would just think before they act. If people just thought about what they are going to say before they say it, I believe the world would change one […]

Ashamed and embarrassed to be black.

Nobody, Durham, NC. I would change my race to anything non-black if I could. I don’t think white people understand how limiting it is to only be seen as a color and not as a person. When you’re black you can be the Scary Black Person, the Angry Black Man/Woman, the Thug, the Smart/Articulate Black […]

I thought I knew, but didn’t.

Erica Tjelta, Spartanburg, SC. After growing up and living in rural and small-town Wisconsin for my first thirty-six years of my life–it was a shocking eye-opener to move to the racially diverse and racism-afflicted major city of Charlotte, North Carolina. My seven years spent there were the catalyst of a change-of-mind that radically altered the […]

I am scared to drive alone

Ariel Foreman, Raleigh, NC. I just moved to North Carolina from Virginia. I’m scared to travel on highway 14 between Home and Raleigh especially at night…because it’s heavily monitored by police. I should not be scared of a group that’s suppose to protect me.

Privileged whites must start the conversation

Marcia Ladd, Chapel Hill, NC. A group from my Presbyterian Church has been studying and talking about the black experience, white privilege and what we can do to make changes. We have learned the hard way we cannot go into a group of black folks, church or otherwise and tell them what to do. We […]

Beautiful kids, did you adopt them

Amy Hueitt, Gastonia, NC. I am a single mother of two children, one who is 8 with Autism, ADHD, and developmental delays. My daughter is almost 6 and typical. My son is black, white, and Mexican. He appears to be just Mexican. My daughter is black and white, she looks white. I am black and […]

For tradition’s sake, we mock others.

Kyle McDonald NC A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I got in an argument about race and sensitivity that started from watching football, of all things. I mentioned something about the fact that, if you think about it, the team the Washington Redskins is pretty offensive. His thought was “who cares?”. “People these […]

White Males discriminated against at work.

Mary Fruin, Charlotte, NC. I think that Rev . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream is nowhere near being fulfilled when our big corporations are illegally paying big bonuses to managers to hire & promote minorities and women (read: not white men) and giving soft metric well paying jobs to minorities while chasing white males […]

Glad of being an Army brat.

Rhonda Nottingham Durham, NC My father was in the US Army when I was born. We lived in many places among many types of people. We moved to nowhere WV when my father left the Army in order to care for my ailing grandfather. I went to an all white high school, as there were […]

It’s okay to be black, Promise

Maureen Shaw, Durham, NC. Thank you for doing this. This is a photo of my mother’s family, this is the reason why I wrote it’s okay to be black. I look at it and feel so proud of this photo. We let ourselves believe we are people with shattered history. I’ve discovered this not always […]

Continually frustrated by America’s racial hangups

Whitney, Durham, NC. More 6-word offerings… – Life was less racial in Europe – Look black, more than half white – Ticked one box, denied one parent – Forced to deny half my heritage – Why should I pick just one? It’s not that race isn’t an issue in Europe, more that after nearly 8 […]

Skin not prison, come touch heart?

Linden Gibson Raleigh, NC I will never get used to being looked at by total strangers as a threat to their safety just by walking down the street. I see the fear in the averted looks, how they step aside or suddenly have something important to say to a companion, or seem to need to […]

55 mph means you black man.

Gregory McGriff, Rutherfordton, NC. I am an Ivy-league graduate and a board-certified medical doctor.  The subject of race comes up all the time but the conversation that should follow is usually very short.  When I see the speed sign on the road announcing 55 mph (or whatever the legal limit is).  I know that posting […]

No, I don’t tan or perm.

Daniela Charlotte, NC Some people look puzzled when I say I am half Japanese. They tend to ask me if I perm my hair or go tanning because typically Japanese females have pin straight hair and fair skin. However they don/t seem to pay attention when I say HALF Japanese (I am also half Peruvian).

We are not all from Mexico

Katia Pérez Amaya, Charlotte, NC. Everyone that is not open minded see ALL Hispanic/Latinos that they are from Mexico and well of course that is not true because I am a Latina but from El Salvador.

What do you think my ancestry is?

Daniel, Charlotte, NC. I do not want to say what country I am from, because I want you all to guesstimate my ancestry? Where would you say I am from? What part of the world do my features reflect? Please explain your responses! Please share your thoughts with me. I am NOT from the U.S.A. […]

No Heroes for Poor, White Males

Francis Lafayette, NC. Much like modern Germans, lower class white males in America have been granted a shame about their past. We’ve been told the History we learn in school is Eurocentric, but as a former social studies teacher, I can tell you that most Americans cannot tell you who Louis IV was. Or John […]

My Ancestors Bones Not For Museum

Sonya Williams, Baltimore, MD. I grew up in a unique area of North Carolina in what is referred to as a ti-racial community. My Indian family are the Cheroenhaka Nottoway and Meherrin Indians of Southeast, VA & North Eastern, NC. When I went to college, during a lecture in my anthropology class, the professor was […]

Sometimes, I can’t feel guilty anymore.

Allison Hren, Elon, NC. Elon University Recognizing the problems that exist in our divided world are very important, but there’s a part of me that gets fed up with the idea that expressing pride in my ancestry, mostly European, is racist. And although it’s true that issues, like slavery, were not actually that long ago, […]

Yes, I’m white. Inside and Out.

Hayley Burgette, Durham, NC. Some people say I don’t act like I’m white but I’m just an ordinary country girl. Sometimes I can be as southern as it gets and you can tell in my voice but other times I’m out of control.

Would All My Ancestors Love Me?

Melissa U., Charlotte, NC. My Taino people would love me, from my plump lips to my curly hair. My African people would love me from the rhythm in my hips to the powerful thoughts in my mind. My Spanish people, they might deny me, but I can’t deny them. They are in my language, they […]

Will you still talk to me?

Susan Duncan, Bristol, NH. When I was in the fourth grade, my family moved from Concord, North Carolina, to Leaksville (now Eden), North Carolina. Our street, Patrick Street, was parallel to Henry Street and the dividing line between the “white” neighborhood and the black/African-American neighborhood. Our next door neighbor, Miss Mary, had a large yard […]

I’m afraid I’ll hurt your feelings

Eileen Morgan, Durham, NC. #afterferguson I’m part of the “dominant” race with privileges that I did not earn. I’ve been listening and learning about racism a long time, but many times I still “goof up” and say stupid things that hurt the feelings of people of color. I’m really tired of this separation and am […]

WHITE feminism. I live with contradiction.

Danielle Nelson Winston Salem, NC I’m proud to be a feminist, but I’m not proud of the unspoken privilege that comes with being a white feminist. Fighting privilege with privilege? It’s so contradictory, yet I cannot ignore both these parts of my identity. WHITENESS consumes me every day, every minute, but because it’s so ingrained […]

Lose business because of Pakistani Muslim.

Amjad Saleem Wilson, NC I am gas station owner in Wilson, NC. My business was good last 3 years, My business became down day by day after my interview posted on -air at WRAL in Tar Heel Traveler, on Jan.29th 2013, about my art work, which is my part time hobby. http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/12050477/#/vid12050477 After that instead […]

You’re not asian,You’re White.

Kristine Ratanaphruks Durham, NC I look ethnically ambiguous and, at times, I pass for white. I grew up watching white men call my father “boy” — I’ve heard countless racist remarks made by people who don’t realize my heritage — I’ve heard the question ” What are you? ” too many times to count and […]

Black good samaritans, or would-be robbers?

Samuel C. Johnson, Keezletown, VA. I am a white man now 67 years of age. In May, 1968 (a month after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) I had just completed basic training in the Army in North Carolina, and was on my way to my home area near Philadelphia. I got off […]

You’re not from these parts, huh?

Steven N. Pembroke Pines, FL I am Hispanic, born and raised in New York. I served in the Marine Corps from 1988 to 1992 and was stationed in Jacksonville, NC. I was on my way to Fayetteville to visit some friends and got lost on the way. I stopped at some convenience store to ask […]

When’s the next bus for Lobeco?

Joe Fournelle, Stuarts Draft, VA. Spring 1969. I was a 20-year-old Marine at the Greyhound bus station in Beaufort, SC waiting for transportation to Cherry Point, NC via commercial bus. An “old” (older than me anyway) black man approached me and asked me to find out when the next bus bus for Lobeco was. I […]

Sexism: worse than racism. It’s complicated.

Woman, Raleigh, NC. Yes, racism exists and at times, thrives, but if you’re a woman of color, you’re more likely to be affected than your male counterparts. Sexism, an outworking of centuries of patriarchal systems – systems that allowed for racism in the first place – makes every “ism” it’s present in worse. So, when […]

Failed to befriend first black student.

Lynn Scott Cochrane, Washington DC. I grew up in a deeply segregated Charlotte, NC in the 1950s and 60s. When my high school, North Mecklenburg, was finally integrated in about 1963, there was one black girl who always sat alone in the cafeteria. She may have been the only black girl in the school that […]

I don’t hear any banjo music here.

Kim Conner, Rutherfordton, NC. I always have to defend myself when people learn I am from the South. I’m a 42 year old white woman, married with kids, and I was born and raised in Upstate South Carolina. I am a first generation college graduate, as in my husband. I have an accent. I’m proud […]