Arlinda Vaughn, Dayton, OH. My partner is a tall, dark muscular black man (with a PHD). When he lived in Texas, the police arrived at a gas station that he was in and tased him 8 times without warning or discussion. My brother (with a degree) has been regularly pulled over. Once, a police officer […]
With kids, people don’t separate us.
Steve Cox, Jackson, OH. Prior to having kids, people usually thought my wife (Chinese ethnic, Thai national) and I (white) were separate. If we went through a line at the store and we were both caring something, they would assume we were separate. Same thing would happen at airports and people would send us to […]
Why I Choose To Use Other
Malcolm X. Mosely, Lorain, OH. I started using “Other long ago when they first started putting it on an option and I could start filling out forms when I started entering college in the early 90’s and there after. The reason I have done this is because I am not only Black and White, I […]
I am a human being uniquely made
Catherine Liguore, Columbus, OH I am a white, conservative woman in my middle years. I grew up poor but with a lot of sacrifice, perseverance and overcoming many obstacles, I would be considered upper middle class now. I am fit, young looking for my age and dress in classic style. I am also immediately judged […]
Hard to Summarize in Six Words
Nicholas Herndon, Antwerp, OH.
Humans are just like cannabis strains
Parker K, Cleveland, OH
The one with the brown skin.
Jeremy Martin, Cincinnati, OH. My 7-year-old daughter about the only African American girl on her cheer team. How do we move past skin color as an identity, even for children?
I’m surprised you speak so well.
E.C. Boyd, Canton, OH. I was not born, but I was raised in a predominantly white neighborhood because the school system was better in Perry Township than the low-income, mostly black Canton City Schools. As the only black person on my school’s debate team, I dealt with a lot of people surprised that I could […]
What can I do?
Katherine Wilson, Findlay, OH This is a question that I have found myself asking myself often over the past few years. After the previous election I felt hopeless. Although I wasn’t at risk of harm because of my white cisgender status, I knew people who had reasons to fear. The hateful rhetoric made me fear […]
A Jew lost in this world
Maya Granot, OH Jews only make up 2% of the world’s population. As a minority…as a Jew, I constantly have to think about what I say and who I say it around. I have to think before I speak rather than speaking freely because I never know who around me Anti-Semitic. Being a Jew gives […]
I’m the typical, big, white girl.
Laura Coil, Lima, OH I chose this because once I got older, I got a bit bigger than what the normal size for a girl in society is. I was and still am at times made fun of just because I am different. A lot of girls are called “typical white girls” if they like […]
I will burn the house down.
Eric Chesapeake Beach, MD 1974, I was 14 years old; my dad was in the Army, we were moving to Ohio from Weaver, Alabama. The house we lived in we rented. The owner was selling the house and the realtor was in the driveway talking to my dad one day. The neighbor came over to […]
Only White Countries Must Embrace Diversity
Ken Cincinnati, OH “anti-racists” are not pushing diversity on to Black countries “anti-racists” are not pushing diversity on to Asian countries “anti-racists” are not pushing diversity on to Arab countries
Race has hurt my love life
Courtney Pearce Bowling Green, OH
We are all of the human race.
Tommy Edward Sarmiento, Columbus, OH. Don’t wash anything, with color, with darkness nor with white light. All human beings have a right to express and interpret and grow within themselves ideas; ideas of love, of what we fear, what makes us think “isn’t that strange?” Freedom and equity should belong to each human. We should […]
Being gay has taught me compassion.
Thomas Swinscoe Akron, OH I grew up in a time when being gay was even more of a challenge than it is today. As a white, male of English/German descent who was raised Christian, I have come to see my sexual identity as a gift. I believe much the insight and empathy I enjoy is […]
I’m sorry I’m staring at you.
Jessica Flake, Amelia, OH I work as a demo’s assistant at an international grocery store which will not be named for advertising purposes. Being in Demo’s means I make samples for people to try of various products that we want to sell. I have been called various ‘slurs’ by some people of color in the […]
Joy is the armor of truth
Judith Angelo Cleveland Heights, OH I began with six words from Alice Walker’s novel about FGM, Possessing the Secret of Joy : “The secret of joy is resistance.” I’m a white radical lesbian feminist, and I associate them with my primary teachers about race in America: Audre Lorde (Sister Outsider) and Derrick Bell (Faces at […]
Leave my siblings alone you bigots
Katie Hutchison, Akron, OH My siblings and I are all adopted, but they were adopted from South Korea and I am white. Growing up I often heard people, not realizing I was their sister, calling them derogatory names or even just marveling about them but in a sort of racist way like “Oh, look, a […]
Subconsciously, Blackness Blinds To Positive Possibilities
Terri Cartwright, Akron, OH.
Red head mother angry unbroken strong
Erica Stone, Perrysburg, OH. The process I went through to get these words where things that I’m going through right now in my life or what people notice about me first. Some of the words I thought of came naturally while others I had to put more thought into them. The reason I decided to […]
Not magical or mythical, just human
Marsha Lynn Bragg Myhand, South Euclid, OH. I’m curious to know if the state of race relations in America has gotten worse or if the same percentage of people still harbor racist views. Very hard to gauge as the reporting isn’t balanced. This project sheds light and as many people have said, still more work […]
I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes
Lola Copper Cincinnati, OH
Discovering others judgments after finding love.
Lauren Bing, North Canton, OH. A little over two years ago, my eyes were opened to the unspoken opinions of the people closest to me. I met a guy who had such a great personality, we got along so well and he treated me like I deserved nothing less than being treated right. I couldn’t […]
Dirty roads ahead. We will overcome.
Connor F., Upper Arlington, OH I am eleven years old, in fifth grade, and we are reading the novel Chains in my language arts class in Tremont Elementary. It is about a young slave girl trying to protect her sister and find her way to freedom. It is a really good book, and it inspired […]
Strange fruit in a Plum Tree
Ronnie Dunn, Cleveland, OH My family was the third African American family to move on my street, Gay Avenue, on Cleveland’s Eastside in 1964. I was three years old and the youngest of three children. My siblings, a sister and brother, respectively and four years older than I, had already started school. The grandchildren, a […]
Sure, call me a feisty whitey
Jack Neilson Lehman, Columbus, OH
Race by birth. American by choice.
Richard Loper Dayton, OH
Why does my color bother you?
Claudia Davis, Akron, OH. I have traveled several places in my lifetime. However, this pass weekend after the Presidential election I experience a shift in the atmosphere. People think and feel they have a license to say and do what they want toward people of color. The disrespect is hitting a different level prior to […]
My gut is racist; I’m not.
Stephanie Turner Cincinnati, OH I mean that I have knee-jerk reactions, for example, when I see black men out late on the street, but I was raised not to be a racist and don’t want to be.
No black kids in my school
Howard T. Uhal, Mentor, OH. I attended twelve years of public school in the town of Mentor, Ohio, birthplace of President James A. Garfield. To the best of my knowledge, there was not a single black kid in the school system, and perhaps none in the entire town. This was in the 1954-1966 time frame. […]
Division doesn’t make America great again
Lucas Fabry, Dillonvale, OH
I’m not a basic white woman
Sydney, OH Assuming who I am based on what I look like will keep you from moving forward. Don’t judge me and I won’t judge you. We are all smarter than that.
White Jewish girl in a bubble
Emily Einhorn, Beachwood, OH. Whenever there is talk about racism, a part of me feels guilty. I have lived in a small suburb my entire life. In this town, people joke you’re either black, Jewish, or Asian. I have never witnessed a racist act and I feel as if I’ve missed out on being a […]
Disabled Combat veterans also face discrimination
Stan Lightner, Elyria, OH. As a disabled combat vet I have been a target of discrimination on numerous occasions by “Christian” conservatives. Imagine how it feels to be called lazy, welfare queen, worth less than an Iraq POW just for starters. BTW I have an earned doctorate in Occupational & Adult Education from Oklahoma State […]
They kept asking “were they black?”
David B. Berenson, Cleveland, OH. All but one person with whom I shared the story of getting “mugged” asked of their race, and it began to pi** me off. I had to find a way to put the whole experience into perspective.
Being different shouldn’t mean treated differently
Val, Athens, OH
Your soul is deeper than skin color
Melissa Pierce, Bowling Green, OH. As people, we need to start seeing each other for who they are rather than what they are. People have personalities, souls, and feelings that we are not taking account of when we only see skin color.
Giant hole in America’s collective soul.
Henry Phillips, Anytown, OH.
Racism created unjust determinants of health
Richard Stacklin, North Ridgeville, OH. Most white Americans do not realize the impact that structural racism has had on America’s landscape as to where, how and why people live in the conditions, situations, and locations some people are forced to endure. It’s time to wake up!
I don’t like to talk about it.
Paige Nicole Malcuit, Wadsworth, OH.
Yes I take up space, and?
Pam Nicodemus, Yellow Springs, OH. Me being fat does not make your life more difficult.
I’m sorry for past uninformed judgements.
Dale Kolomaznik, Dayton, OH. I’d love to be a part of future discussions on this topic. I became interested I’m racial relations when, as an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Program (AFROTC) student at Louisiana State University, I saw a stark difference between the reaction to the OJ Simpson verdict between my white classmates in […]
Transman Interracial Couple Is Not Easy!
J. McCalla, Canton, OH. People are very judgmental forgetting the things which matter the most.
When We Outnumber You, You’ll See!
Nam Nguyen Olmsted Falls, OH
Successful, Black, Gay, a family’s shame…
Karim Ali, Columbus, OH. I suppose I have been pondering my Race Card (TM) entry for a few months. When I read the comments of Michael Sam’s father (Michael Sam Sr.) about his disappointment in his son for being gay, I was nearly in tears, as it reminded me of my own coming out with […]
Racism thrives because we let it.
Dick Hougardy, Cleveland, OH.
“It’s okay; I’ll go this way”
Erica Campagnaro Cleveland, OH I heard these words as I was briskly walking down a main aisle at a market, looking over my right shoulder as I crossed each side-aisle, trying to find the shampoo. At first, I didn’t process that the words were spoken to me. Then, bit by bit, like when your brain […]
Not fully White, not fully Black
Anonymous, Columbus, OH. I am mixed race and have always felt in the middle in terms of race. “Legally” I am Black and more often than not experience the same benefits and determents as the Black side of my family. I have also had the misfortune of being mistreated by both races for being “light […]
Was all the suffering worth it?
Tamara G. Cincinnati, OH When thinking of which six words I would use for The Race Card Project I had to ponder for a bit. I automatically thought of the fact that I am Jewish. Being so, I often get questioned about what holidays I celebrate or why we do certain things. Going to BGSU […]
I worked hard to get here
Michael Toth Columbus, OH I get that yes in theory as a white male I have a head start in life, but I most certainly did not have it handed to me on a silver platter. I worked hard to get into college and am still working hard to make the massive student loan debt […]
Whites have much to answer for.
Paul Burnam, Westerville, OH. I am a 68-year-old white male. I am so, so tired of hearing about whites who think they are being persecuted such as those who posted to The Race Card Project about the mistreatment of whites. I heard all this again on “All Things Considered” on March 13 when Michele Norris […]
I’m black; I didn’t experience that.
Terri Davis, Cleveland, OH. I don’t discount the experiences of other black people, I just haven’t had the same encounters. Why do people think that I should have? I suppose I avoid confrontations by not doing things to draw attention to myself. I don’t pay attention to others who may be watching me and waiting […]
Yeah, but you don’t look white.
Seth Skaggs, Marion, OH. Four months out of the year, I get to be white. Well, white-ish. My parents always told me that my tanned skin came from being part Native American on both sides, but beyond that I was raised white. I never thought about it growing up because “it was just a tan”, […]
Why can’t we see white privilege?
Miriam Mayteson, Columbus, OH. White privilege is everywhere, but so many of us white people can’t or won’t see it. How can we change that?
Doctor asked, “What is your race?”
Leslie Lannan, Cincinnati, OH. It’s amazing how desperate we are in America to racially categorize our citizens based on how they look. My six words are a reference to a recent doctor’s visit. After discussing my ailments and general health, the doctor had one more question for me. “What is your race?” she asked. I […]
Retired white woman wants to change hearts.
Nancy Foye-Cox, Akron, OH.
Spanish is not my first language!
Valeria, Cincinnati, OH. Whenever I say I am from Brazil (most of the time) people instantly start to speak in Spanish as it is my first language. It does not offend me however I think it is very ignorant to believe everyone from South American speaks Spanish.
You look too foriegn for me.
Danielle Silver Forest Park, OH A white guy I liked told me this. I am white( German, Irish, Penn. Dutch), Hispanic, Native American. I used to get asked where I was from in school. I said, “I’m an American.” My ancestors have been here for generations. My full brother has never been asked where he […]
What race are you? JUST HUMAN!
Mika Derifield, Wadsworth, OH. It’s so sad that we live in a world that requires labels. Applying for a job, home, or even a social media account? In the first few questions you will be asked race, gender, age? WHY? I AM JUST A HUMAN.. aren’t we all?
Privilege cripples; step out, run naked.
Tannya Forcone, Akron, OH. My truck isn’t allowed to go faster on the freeway because it’s yellow. Why should my skin color allow me any other benefit? Privilege is embarrassing. Inequality causes our society to stagger in a circle, never moving forward toward justice.
It’s ok, you don’t act white.
Katy Carpenter, OH. I recognize that we don’t live in a color blind society, but race is never something I felt was central to my identity, and has no biological base. It never came up until I moved to the Bay Area and people started associating this idea of whiteness as a central component of […]
Coaches, cheerleaders white. Players all black?
Elaine Hostetler Columbus, OH
Metis: but you don’t know that.
Victoria McCord, Cincinnati, OH. Describing myself is always a challenge (in a USA context). I can’t check one simple box of who I am. I’m white. I’m also Metis – an indigenous tribe in Canada. Most people can’t recognize this, and I am flattered when some people can. It is uncomfortable when I tell someone […]
We all have the same opportunities!
Amanda Caraballo, Cleveland, OH. I’m so sick of “African American’s” always using the excuse “The white folk are privileged, and we can’t have this or do the because IM BLACK”…. WRONG! Slavery has been over for at least 149 year’s. I do not own a slave nor do I know one who has. A matter […]
Dwayne Fries; the other white Dwayne.
Dwayne Lee Fries, Columbus, OH. My name is Dwayne, and I’m white. Hi Dwayne! I was unwittingly named Dwayne. Two weeks before my taking over an inner city restaurant as a General Manager, my name was on a schedule. I heard all the stories of how everyone was like, “finally, we got a brother in […]
Immigrants, we get the job done.
Cameron Endly, Cambridge, OH.
Race is socially constructed to oppress
Carla Corroto, Columbus, OH. Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that DOMINANT members of a society consider important, because it benefits them in some way to do so
Only you can command today’s change!
Alexxus Sidney, Kent, OH. In order to alter the way in which our society operates, WE have to step up and allow ourselves to be heard. WE can no longer talk about these matters, WE have to act. More importantly, WE have to work together. Change cannot truly take place until WE come together as […]
My past didn’t define my future
Bernard Roberts, Akron, OH. p>I have failed many times but I continue to be better.
Every education leads to another future
Daisha Taylor Cleveland, OH Every time an African American graduates is another way we prove society wrong. But it is another future persued and created.
I don’t know if I understand
Zach Perrin, Cincinnati, OH. I don’t think I’m racist, in my day to day life I interact with black people a lot actually and have never once had a problem. I also know that we have systematic problems, stemming from slavery, Jim Crow, etc. that still need to be dealt with. But are these the […]
You’re just as racist as them
Kelsey Milinkovich, Akron, OH. People always say I am just ass racist as “everyone else”. They think that I won’t have friends of another race as I and that I will not associate myself with them. One of my best friends just happens to be of another race as I. I don’t judge people based […]
What do you mean “White Latino?”
Andrea Fabiola Vazquez, Ridgefield, CT. I grew up in Ohio, but both of my parents are from Mexico. I speak Spanish, most of my extended family lives in Mexico, and I identify very much as a Mexican American. Still, when people ask me where my family is from—and people as me this a lot—they are […]
I don’t know what I am.
Jasmine Perry, Cleveland, OH. When it comes to race I honestly don’t know what I am. My families backdrop is kind of patchy, no one in my family knows, my grandma recently found out she was adopted she found out that she wasn’t related to anybody she grew up with. Which means the only clue […]
Stereotypes are informative but desperately incomplete
Erin Molden, Kettering, OH. Stereotypes are like population genetics. Useful to see large groups but don’t necessarily apply to individuals. I try to help my students understand this so they can meet new people!
Black men obsessed with white girls
Andy Anglin, Cleveland, OH. Not really. Just that black men would sooner spit on a black woman and step on her throat if it meant getting near a white girl. They hate white men but they are obsessed with white girls and place all of them on a pedestal.
A world without color? No thanks!
Melannie, Mentor, OH.
It just isn’t done. Why Not?
Catherine, Beach City, OH. I have always been told by my father that ” I better not catch you with some black kid!” or by my grandmother “that just was never done in our church” or “I don’t know why. we just didn’t have that”. I could never grasp why my family was so discriminating […]
Terrified of driving because I’m black
Andre Conway, Beachwood, OH. I am an 18 year old`African American man. Even though I am happy about being black, at the same time I am terrified of getting pulled over because of who I am. All the killings that are going on in our country just by police officers are crazy. Black people are […]
“What is your ethnicity?” I’m human.
Sabrina Perrin, Delaware, OH. As I started growing up, I started getting more and more questions about what ethnicity I was. Although these questions weren’t typically offensive, I find it a little bothersome that people look to depict others for their ethnicity or race. I don’t want to label people based on these things, as […]
I feel guilty of my skin color
Elisha Lowery, Delaware, OH. At times I feel guilty for being white. I feel people look at me and say “she has it easy she is white”. I feel guilty of how certain people still today treat colored people and they should’t treat them badly because we are all human.
No person is better than you
Tessa Schultz, Wickliffe, OH.
We do this to ourselves – why?
Michal Elias-Bachrach, Columbus, OH.
I’m still learning about white privilege.
Steve Hammond, Oberlin, OH. The first time I heard the phrase white privilege was at our dining room table. The kids were catching us up with their day at school and I was a bit surprised by something one of the kids had done that involved managing to never go to one of her classes […]
I’m tan, but I’m not Mexican
Gabriella, Delaware, OH. Just because my skin is naturally olive, everyone thinks im foreign, I have gotten many different ethnicity such as, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Moroccan, Brazilian, and Latino, and Hispanic. But I’m white.
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 […]
All I’ve got is the food.
Kelsey, Cleveland, OH. I’m Lebanese/Irish but grew up solely around my Lebanese family. However they rarely acknowledged where we came from. The closest I’ve gotten to my heritage is through food: being taught how to make baklava, seeing big bowls of hummus, baba ghanouj, and tabbouleh surrounded by stacks of fresh pita bread at parties, […]
Was known “The Whitest Black Girl”
Andrea Vonstein, Akron, OH. During high school, I was considered the whitest black girl because I got along with them so much.
Trapped Brown Girl with Red Blood
Michele George, Author, Columbus, OH. The struggle of being born in a brown body is heavy. Society treats ‘us’ as though we choose to have brown skin, choose to be persecuted, choose to be who we are created to be. The irony is my red is blood. The blood of those that kill me and […]
Being Called White Is Extremely Offensive
Stephen Yarger, Reynoldsburg, OH.
Trying to understand the derivation racism
Melissa Lush, Dayton, OH. Can we learn to recognize the racism that lives within us even when we swear it does not? How to reach inside our being to find that spot that requires one to be a hate filled racist?
I am more than African American
Lisa Latten, Richmond Heights, OH. I am more than African American. I am tired of being passed over for positions that I more than qualified to hold. I am tired of working twice as hard to prove my worth when my white counterparts who are less qualified laugh.
We are Americans not a race
Richard, Canton, OH.
Not just African-American, Jamaican-American.
Nicole H., Canton, OH.
I’m American, but where is home?
Abby Mercier, Canton, OH. Although I was born in America it can be very hard to feel like I belong here. Our views on race, Sexual orientation, laws that we’ve passed. Even what we have decided to conciser Social norms.
Race is, unfortunately, a deal breaker!
Diana E. Hafely, Warren, OH.
I pray for my son everyday
J Hill, Canton, OH. I am the proud mother of three children, two girls and a boy. They are all adults now. Every mother worries about her children. But I feel especially concerned for my son. He has done everything well so far in his life, entering his senior year in college, no kids, hardworking, […]
You are what you portray outwardly
Rebecca Eakins Jamestown, OH
Act equal and you are equal.
Clay Terry, Cincinnati, OH. I just want to put it out there that I have a multitude of African American friends, not all black people are ignorant. However, most of them are. I did not grow up racist nor are my parents racist. I developed my way of thinking from observing the black community around […]
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