Shavonne Hogan, Bowling Green, OH
You look too foreign 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 […]
Start and End with…the Heart
Susan Hunter Akron, OH
Small Ohio Town: Color Didn’t Matter
Debbie Spragg Brisentine Plain City, OH I was born in 1954, lived in Mt. Pleasant Ohio, pop. approx. 500. Attended school from 1959-1972. Had both white and black friends but, to me, they were all just friends – no difference! I never knew anything about racial issues until maybe 1969, 1970. It was an idyllic […]
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 […]
The Only One In The Room
John Lane Cincinnati, OH In college and through my entire professional life, I have always been the only African-American in the “room” I am “safe” and “non-threatening”……… And full of rage.
Deluded white woman now an ally
Wendy Lichtenwalter, Canton, OH As a biologist, I know that there is no such thing as “race.” All our chromosomes are indistinguishable. My current efforts to learn about systemic racism prove how intentionally incomplete my schooling was. Every source I read shocks me into recognizing how much more I have to learn. I ask questions […]
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 […]
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.
I wish I could do more.
Kit Tompkins, Boardman, OH I was born with albinism. I know a little bit of what it’s like to be left out, teased for the way I look, for strangers to comment on my hair. But I also grew up in the south. There were maybe three black kids in my whole high school of […]
Scottish West India. Kilts and coconuts.
Francine Piggott Butler Delaware, OH Piggot Road is in the Scottish District in Barbados. The oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere is also found in Barbados. My mother recently told me, “Oh, my grandfather wore a yamulke (kippah).” There’s a lot about my family history I don’t know. I’ve always identified as an African-American, but […]
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.
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.
Yes I take up space, and?
Pam Nicodemus, Yellow Springs, OH. Me being fat does not make your life more difficult.
I’m the mother of these children!
Carolyn L. Mazloomi, West Chester, OH I am African American woman married 45 years to an Iranian man. We have two sons. When they were young, many thought I was the babysitter when I took them out.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
When it hurts to be different
Aretha, Toledo, OH Not all differences are embraced and celebrated. There has been times I have felt uncomfortable in situations and circumstances for being different, especially being around others who were different than me. I’m certain that there were also times I made others feel uncomfortable for being who I am around them. How often […]
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 […]
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 […]
African American stolen from my homeland
Nathaniel E. Steele, Toledo, OH
I don’t know what privilege is
Charles Sackman, Mansfield, OH I’m told my skin tone has granted me great privilege. It’s easy to make assumptions based on appearances….folks tend to forget that the heart of all racism is in making these assumptions.
“White” papers over identity and background.
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 before I realized that my mother sometimes spoke to me in Spanish not because she’d picked some up in college before travelling in South America in her twenties, but because […]
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 […]
Race has hurt my love life
Courtney Pearce Bowling Green, 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.
Mimi, you could have owned me.
Mary Crabtree, Wooster, OH This is what my 6 year old bi-racial granddaughter said to me this summer. We had read a picture book about one of my personal heroes, Harriet Tubman, and I was explaining slavery to her. She rubbed her arm, which is a lovely tone of brown, and then my slightly tanned […]
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 […]
Divided but trying to work together
Sarah G, Alliance, OH Right now especially, the country is so divided because of background or skin color but I’d like to think we can all remember what it is to be American. We all came from different places, no matter where or when. We should stand together and work for acceptance.
I am a conservative, not racist!
Dustin Weiss West Chester, OH
Division doesn’t make America great again
Lucas Fabry, Dillonvale, OH
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 […]
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
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?
Still racist. Sorry. Working on it.
Madeline F., Canal Winchester, OH I grew up in a highly racist environment that I’m trying to work out of myself every day. It’s hard sometimes to listen to people of color talk about race without making their struggle about my whiteness. I fear that my desire to make black people feel listened to and […]
I am tired of identity politics
Adam, Cleveland, OH It’s divisive and it makes me literally hate minority groups. I don’t hate the individuals in those groups, but as a group, I hate them. Instead of being a black man, or a trans woman, or a gay teenager, why not just be a human being first, an American second, and identify […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Men I love aren’t safe here
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 […]
Thank you Richard and Mildred Loving
Sharon Holley Columbus, OH Without the sacrifices of the Lovings, I may not have been able to marry the person I love.
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
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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.
I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes
Lola Copper Cincinnati, OH
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Always the perfect little girl scout
Megan Woods, Wooster, OH.
Heritage not hate? Heritage of hate.
Ava Chamberlain, Dayton, OH. I don’t understand the phrase “heritage not hate.” It suggests the two are mutually exclusive categories. In reality, the heritage of the Confederate battle flag cannot be separated from a deeply entrenched hatred of people of color.
The “haves” have not a clue.
Daniel A Palmer, Kettering, OH.
Are we not all human beings?
Tyler, Buckeye Lake, OH.
“No offense, but you’re so pretty!”
K.E. Broadnax, Cleveland, OH. This was said to me while attending college. I am black, and went to a predominantly white, upper-class university (as many are, to be fair). His statement was prefaced by the question, “What nationality are you?” If I was me now, back then, I would’ve replied “American.” But I knew what […]
Are there any other seats?
Samantha, Cincinnati, OH. I work in Planet Snoopy at Kings Island, and it horrifies me how many times parents will ask this or have their children wait, just so that they will not sit by someone of another race. I hate seeing how the children are being conditioned to hate others because of their skin.
I still cry 51 years later.
Dana, Cincinnati, OH. I still cry 51 years later after segregation. I still cry for the 300 years of slavery.
Racism is not about color.
Darrell James, Canal Winchester, OH. Racism is about hatred and ignorance!!!
MY GOLDEN BABIES ARE AMERICA’S FUTURE
Karen Dahn, Athens, OH. I went to Liberia as a Peace Corps Volunteer right out of college in the late 60’s, after having grown up in Montana and gone to school in Colorado with very little exposure to non white people. Being in Africa was a life changing experience. I did not intend to do […]
I am black; I am white
Nauticah, Barberton, OH.
I’m only human, as are you.
Allie Herb, Akron, OH. Living in the area that I do, I have experienced a lot of racism. Whether it be in Akron, or have heard about it in the Cleveland area. It’s a never ending battle.
Racism definitely exists for a reason
Johnson, USA. I am sick to death of people trying to pretend like there aren’t legitimate reasons for racism. Not always, but they are there. I was raised not to be racist and people say racism is a learned behavior…yeah…I learned it myself from being around blacks. Black people can’t see it like everyone else […]
I am who I am
Ashlie Cox, Bowling Green, OH.
Flying car? Where is racial harmony?
Bruce Landwaster Cleveland, OH In the 70s sci-fi promised us many things, one of those things was racial harmony.
That glance they give me; Why?
Jelani Dayton, OH
Please stop staring at us. Please.
Jacqueline Trudeau Brecksville, OH My boyfriend and I discuss our different backgrounds a lot. He’s Hindu, I’m Catholic. His parents came to America after he was born; you can trace part of my family back to the Mayflower. His parents still speak Tamil; mine occasionally break out their rusty college-level German.But despite all this discussion […]
Black woman misunderstood in White America
Ms. Toni, Cleveland, OH.
Be you and don’t judge
Sonja Beckner, Akron, OH.
White: Walk Free, Black: We’ll See
Braylen Thomas, Newark, OH.
I am who I’ll always be
Cassandra, Cleveland, OH. The process I went through to identify those six words is by realizing the six words that mean the most to me. What I mean by this is that those words explain who I am in short for everyone. I thought about what I felt was most important to me and, what […]
Who turns knobs on closed doors?
Rachel P., Akron, OH. If you never open your mind, how will you change? As a white person growing up in the Bible Belt, I was taught that any color other than white was inferior. I moved to a school in Dallas, where there were only 10 white students in a school of 800. I […]
Privileged enough to be in-between.
Eli Shively, OH.
Is this all on one check?
Mary Henry Oxford, OH I am white, my husband is black, our daughter is biracial. If I’m out with just my husband or just my teenaged daughter, wait staff usually ask if our order is on one check, suggesting they don’t realize that we’re related (my daughter is not very dark-skinned, but looks more like […]
I am more than skin color
Mitch Dobbs, Columbus, OH. There was a time in our society when individuals were treated differently based on the color of their skin. It was and is apalling and just plain wrong. Nothing will change that or make it right. “I am more than skin color” means that we must look past the burden of […]
Mixed race relationships, and rude People!
Melissa Devore, Canton, OH.
We don’t serve Your Kind Here!
Pilar Leano, San Francisco, CA. This was said to me in a small town of Fremont, Ohio. In fact, they got my nationality wrong also (they thought I was from Mexico). I still get comments like, you speak great English (even though I just told them I was born and raised in San Francisco). And […]
Acknowledging my privilege to raise others
Monica, OH.
Who are you without racial identity
Greg Johnson, Maineville, OH. After all is said and done, we are each individuals who live and breathe. We happen to occupy this or that body, but that body is not us. It’s not who we are. It can have a tremendous effect on who we are, but it does not have to define us […]
Why am I always the racist?
Amber Francisco, Rittman, OH.
Don’t paint blue eyes. It hurts.
Marcia Hartsock, Cincinnati, OH. I’m an illustrator, and Caucasian. In the 1980s, I was painting a wall mural in my integrated church that included a large eye that I had painted blue. A group of African American women friends from the church approached me and shared their thoughts and feelings about blue eyes. I have […]
Race does not exist, racism does.
Sarah Brush, Delaware, OH. I have friends that are of other races and I don’t care about their skin tone or how they look. I look deeper than that. The term race is constantly brought up when talking about racism. I don’t think race truly exists. Yes people have different skin tones. But we are […]
Police wrong. Black violence wrong. Stop.
Carn Paggot, Cincinnatti, OH.
When we run out of “firsts”
Greg Hudgison Columbus, GA I am hopeful that one day race will the last part of the conversation, and not the first. My six words refer to when another race is the first to accomplish something. I believe we will make progress when we are out of the first race to accomplish a task or […]
No one’s born hating another person
Alaya Hayes, Toledo, OH.
Prejudice is rampant in rural America.
Robert Pond Hebron, OH I witness it firsthand every day.
Always under the skin of America
Andrew Lundberg Cleveland, OH
It’s just skin, not your personality.
Patana Bountharack, Akron, OH.
As you wish to be treated.
Patrick Kenyon, Hamilton, OH. There is a black family living next to me. They would play the stereo loud at night and wake my kids up. They would bang on the walls, leave knives in the front yard, trash etc. After a short while I knocked on their door and asked them to stop banging […]
Everyday we rise a little more
Anthony Bean Jr. Dayton, OH
Terrified to Discuss Race Because I’m White
Hanne, Columbus Grove, OH. I grew up in a primarily white upper class community. Anyone in my town that are of a different ethnicity or race were adopted and brought into the community. I grew up being told to stay away from the topic of race because it will offend others. When I started college […]
Black, yes my red hair is natural
Taylor, OH. I come from two very light parents & my dad is the one who has red hair, its natural but I constantly find myself having to explain and even defend who I am to elder white women & even black people.
I look white; perception is reality.
Mary Halling, Milwaukee, WI. Moving from New York to Ohio to Milwaukee in my 25 years on this Earth, I’ve encountered race in so many different ways. From celebrating and learning about all the different ethnicities in my classroom in elementary school, being bullied for being white in my urban middle school, to being incorrectly […]
White nurse. Inner city hospital. Disaster
Liz Kelly, Cleveland, OH. The big insight happened when I couldn’t understand the language no matter how hard I tried, although it was English. Knowing it was deliberate. Realizing “This is what marginalized people feel all the time– knowing they are hated without anyone knowing their thoughts or feelings or who they are.” Later I […]
“Black” is not always “African-American”.
Kate Reid, Worthington, OH. My daughters and I in the attached picture. Three races. Three skin-tones. None of which identify with “African-American” yet that is often the assumption and the only “box” to check.
No I Dont Date White Girls
Lj Johnson, Middletown, OH.
When good men do nothing…
Courtney Elizabeth Columbus, OH I get really bothered when white people say “but I didn’t own slaves!” or “my ancestors weren’t here during America’s beginnings.” Be that as it may, I like to remind them that they were there during Jim Crow segregation, the violence that raged then, when Emmitt Till was murdered, when four […]
I just want to live freely
Theresa Stevens, Cincinnati, OH.
We all walked out of Africa…
Patricia, Akron, OH. White person: “we all walked out of Africa” Black person: “Some of us got (a) free ride”
Fearfully and wonderfully made, beyond flesh.
Kelly Nicole Kerstetter, Bowling Green, OH.
No One Is Better Than You…
Kim Skillern Samuels, Cleveland Heights, OH. I lived in a neighborhood of black people, and went to an inner city public school. When friends found that I’d be moving to the suburbs they teased me, and said “Those honkeys are gonna chase you home from school.” At the age of six I thought a “honkey” […]
Being white makes me feel guilty
Micaela Laurelville, OH My privilege is always at the forefront of my mind. I cry in history class and while reading certain historical books. How does one make up for the past crimes of people that I can’t help but perceive as my ancestors?
Get back with the other monkeys!
Randall E. Dalton, MD Somerset, KY Above is the comment of a white Cincinnati, Ohio police officer when I left the ranks of a “sit-in” in a public high school, in the aftermath ot the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, to go to the restroom — I was subsequently arrested.
I bet you don’t charge whites.
Steven Columbus, OH Working a parking booth. Black woman pulled up. Sign clearly posted with the rates for parking. Open the gate. That’s 2 bucks to park here. I bet you don’t charge white people. The sign is for everyone Mam. I’m interested in green not the color of your skin.
A race not won though hopeful
Michael. C. Fleishman Yellow Springs, OH This was an absolutely splendid show that impacted me spiritually, emotionally, artistically. Thank you for the opportunity to witness.
Not a ‘slave’, HELD in slavery.
Janet D George Columbus, OH
Should I feel guilty I’m white?
Molly Kohler Canfield, OH
Separate and unequal still exists!
Lori K. Elliott Wyoming, OH I am African American. More than 40 years ago, my parents took me out of the public school and enrolled me inan almost all white parochial school because the public school in my racially segregated neighborhood was so awfu. Six years ago, I moved from an integrated neighborhood to an […]
FAMILY DIVIDED BY PERCEPTION OF BEHAVIOR
Erica Williams Cincinnati, OH
Struggle, hardworking people together on mission
Verdis Parks Columbus, OH When I see my people marching together I remember how I felt growing up at that time. I see my children growing up clueless about there older peoples struggle.
Prejudice, lying in wait, hidden underneath.
Rhonda Malvern, OH You see it rear it’s ugly head every so often. Like during the first Obama campaign. He was only in office a month or two and there was such hatred of his “politics”. Not disagreeing but very aggressive in their opposition. He hadn’t even done anything yet. People disguised their prejudice saying […]
Every minority is a majority somewhere.
Laura Hurst Cleveland, OH I’ve been living in Santiago, Chile for the past 4 months. The ethnic homogeneity has made me proud and appreciative of the U.S.’s diversity.
Dirty dago: my mother at 6.
Keira Dodd Lakewood, OH My Italian grandmother came here in 1956 on the Andrea Doria, and my mother only knew one sentence of English (“I have to pee”) when she first went to school. She got called names and ostracized for her “otherness.” I remember that when I think of how different immigrant cultures are […]
I have two races. It’s nice.
Ricardo Garcia Athens, OH
Everyone has a title but me.
Beth Lichter Cincinnati, OH Every form I ever fill out, I check ‘White’, because my ancestors moved her 3 generations ago from Holland and Germany. There is a category for everything under the sun – but me. I’m just white. And I’m OK with that. Maybe we focus so much on classification that we forget […]
All the same on the inside.
Jill Leary Chagrin Falls, OH
Only ONE race matters — SPACE RACE
Jason Hoobler Cincinnati, OH Mme Curie should be given enough respect to start classifying our atoms in megabirths 🙂
Life more fun with more colors.
Katie Bruno Wadsworth, OH
That’s your boyfriend? But he’s Black.
Cassie Babcock Bowling Green, OH
My sons aren’t black, I’m white.
Bonnie F. Xenia, OH Labeling my sons black, when I am clearly white, disregards and disrespects who they are and who I am.
Black and Proud. Human and Prouder
Nichole, Cleveland, OH.
Wasn’t taught “discriminate…so I don’t.
Christina Hermann Mentor, OH My dad was in the military so we knew and were friends with people of other races from other countries. Like any other community you’re friends with whomever you get to know and have a connection with. However like everyone else I was exposed to media and fed a culture of […]
I dont see color, only you.
Rose Cleveland, OH
“White girls should marry white boys!”
Janet Little Dayton, OH From a rural, small town- I hadn’t seen any couples that were of different races. During the 1994 OJ Simpson trials, at age 6, I ignorantly asked my mother, “Was that black boy married to that white girl that died?” Her only response was: “Yes, but white girls should only marry […]
Christopher Columbus is not my hero.
Joseph W. Leonard Oxford, OH Submitted on Monday, October 14, 2013…a national holiday in the USA. I’m an enrolled citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
Why do they hate us so?
Debra Brown Sprindale, OH My question is based on my belief that though things are better in the US between the races (by ‘races’ I mean Blacks and whites, specifically); there is an underlying animosity from white people, as a group, against Black people, as a group, that persists. I am not referring to individual […]
Is it because we’re different colors?
Jerry Cordaro Cleveland, OH I’m Caucasian, my wife is African-American, and we’re the parents of two kids. Because of our work schedules, I’m usually the one doing pickup and drop-off, and a few summers ago I was picking them up from camp. My son is light-skinned, and there was a little boy about six or […]
Mom didn’t want friend at house
Anne Reid Ravenna, OH In elementary school I brought 3 friends home after school one day, one a black girl. I was surprised when she told me not to do it again. It was my introduction to racism.
My family never owned any slaves.
Jim Canton, OH Just because I’m white doesn’t imply my ancestors were slave owners. If I don’t like you it’s not due to race.
Straight, white, American, male…no excuses.
Chris Mason, OH If you are one of these as I am….recognize that you rule the world. We are afforded unmatched access and privilege. And with that comes a responsibility to work to open doors for EVERYONE else.
No one is born being racist.
Ashton Aikens Columbus, OH Have you ever noticed the racism is a learned behavior. Think about it if your raised and see everyone being treated the same and never look at a person’s skin this is how you view the world, were as if your shown that a person with a.different skin tone is inferior […]
The color with advantage is green.
Saranne Hartley Columbus, OH
I remember two sets of waterfountains
Bill Charles Wells Beavercreek, OH
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