I feel embarrassed to be white.
Jobi Schwartz, Morristown, NJ I’m embarrassed to be white in a country that refuses to acknowledge it’s horrible past of slavery, colonialism, forced segregation, refusal...
You are your own person inside
David Helfrich, Barnegat, NJ Your physical looks don’t define the person you are inside, but society doesn’t see it that way. Society sees your outside...
“I didn’t expect to see you”
Mensah Cone Livingston, NJ I’m the owner of a start-up Mandarin school. After completing a presentation of my school’s offerings to a principal in an...
Friend’s birthday, my dress is ruined.
Celeste Bourdeau de Fontenay Newark, NJ I attended a dinner for a friend’s birthday at a nouveau riche- bling, expense account, restaurant in New York...
A black girl’s dilemma in America
Selena JP, Empowering Youth Towards Excellence (EYTE) Program, Elizabeth, NJ There is a great irony regarding my 6 words story- from both society and ourselves....
Stop asking me WHAT I am.
Tory Marcus, NJ. Although I hold my uniqueness close to my heart, WHAT I am should have nothing to do with WHO I am or...
You might hurt the man’s feelings
Paul J. Mercer, Lakewood, NJ These words were from my father in the very early 50s. My Dad and I were watching the world go...
Adopted daughter learns what “Yellow” means
Bonnie Jerome-D’Emilia, Haddonfield, NJ. These are my three children. We had never discussed the derogatory use of the word yellow to connote Asian, until we...
Not wanting to deny my roots
Laura, Red bank, NJ. Let me just start by saying that racial forms are the death of me. I keep clicking back and forth between...
I hate being called “white girl”
Stephanie Wichowski, Mount Olive, NJ,. I’m proud to be Polish and part Irish but because I’m white and a girl I automatically get grouped into...
Life Divided By A Common Language
David H Lippman, Newark, NJ My situation is different…my mother is English, my father a third-generation New Yorker, so I either sound like I come...
Music teacher listening to student cries
Jamie Coppa, Asbury Park, NJ. As a music teacher with an almost entirely black and hispanic student body, I was met with stories of oppression,...
The Day After The World Changes
Duryan Bhagat-Clark, Aberdeen, NJ. My father is an immigrant from Bombay, India. He moved here to go to college and graduate school. He is Muslim....
