Yo dude do you have Coronavirus?
B,
Orange, CA
This is something that I heard Chinese students being asked while at school when the outbreak happened. No, they did not have the Coronavirus.
Too brown for the fancy restaurant.
Jane Medina
Orange, CA
My daughter Annie had just turned 21. So she, my husband, my son, and I put on our cocktail party clothes and went to the fanciest restaurant in Orange, California to buy Annie her first drink. As our car climbed the steep hill where the restaurant sat like a crown above the city, we worried that we wouldn’t be able to get a table next to one of the outdoor fire pits. We were right. All the fire pits were taken by white and Asian couples, so we sat at a little table next to the kitchen, determined to enjoy ourselves. Our determination slowly waned as we waited to be served. All of the parties near us were being served their fancy drinks, talking and laughing with the cocktail waitresses, paying their tabs, and leaving. We asked a passing busboy to speak to a waitress. His eyes darted towards the woman who evidently was supposed to serve us, he mumbled an excuse and hurried away. After an hour, we left, too angry to speak to the manager. We went to a Mexican restaurant at the bottom of the hill and had a wonderful time.
As a white woman married to a Mexican American man, I was used to the uncomfortable glances from people who disapproved of racially mixed couples. But I had seen those glimpses of prejudice decline during our 30 years of marriage. So I was genuinely shocked when we experienced such passive-aggressive bigotry in 2004. I think our society has matured nine years since then, but it is naive to say that prejudice has been eliminated. Perhaps someday all people will consider these subtle acts of prejudice as antiquated and as horrific as slavery. I hope so.
“Why isn’t ‘American’ ever a race option?”
Norma Pahl,
Orange, CA
I am American, I was born here and was raised here my entire life, I have never even been out of the country, not even to Mexico. I don’t understand why my daughters and I have to check the race/ethnicity box of a country none of us have ever been to. We love hamburgers and fries, pizza and sometimes a good ol’ hot dog. My girls play softball and love to go watch the Angels we love roller coasters, Broadway shows and rock and roll. To me we are your average and classic Americans, so why must we always check Hispanic? Because of our skin, eye and hair color? I think its time we change our mind sets and stop segregating ourselves into ethnic categories, we don’t all identify with. Why is ‘American’ never an option on the race or ethnicity questionnaires? Most of us only see ourselves as Americans because this has been our only race since birth and our culture, history and language all stem from here. I respect people who don’t identify themselves with America because of their strong racial and ethnic roots, but what about the ones that don’t. How many generations will it take before the were allowed to identify ourselves from here?
White, privellged, and aware of it.
Grant Peters,
Orange, CA
I come from a wealthy suburb of the Bay Area in CA. I grew up in a bubble of sorts that lacked much-needed diversity to open myself up to other viewpoints. It wasn’t until my parents got divorced, and my mother had to move to a much lower socio-economic area that this bubble popped for me. I became very aware VERY quickly of my privilege as a white male. Of course, I’m also aware that this privilege is something that never leaves me, and just because I’m aware of it does not justify the problem at hand. I strive to fight with others who have not been given the same opportunities that I have. I musty use my privilege to support others in different backgrounds than my own. Most importantly I must listen, and allow others to have a platform to speak which I already have.
I don’t think I’m Mexican enough
Sam,
Orange, CA
Growing up as mixed race being both Mexican and white, I’ve struggled with my identity as a Mexican person feeling that I wasn’t “Mexican enough”. Even though it is the ethnicity I most identify with, I often feel that I do not do enough culturally for it to “count”.
Engish only, you’re not really Mexican.
Matthew Montoya,
Orange, CA
I understand Spanish but I can speak fluently. I get embarrassed because fluent Spanish speakers are no help to teach, they laugh if I mispronounce a word. My experience trying to learn was not good and made me shut down from ever trying to. This made those who are fluent speakers divide themselves and made themselves believe they are the representation of a true Hispanic/Mexican.
Light skinned Irish-Mexican, Ain’t Confused.
Steven Jacob Alvarez,
Orange, CA.
I’m about 85% Mexican, and 15% Irish. Throughout my early life, I always considered myself purely Mexican. It wasn’t until after finding out my Great Grandma was from Ireland that i began to think differently. Now I understood why I was lighter skinned, and why I had to rebuff claims of people who doubted my Mexicaness with ” Nah Ey, Soy Mexicano,” and “Im a Chicano”(On the real though). As I grew older i came to realize that i am exactly what God had in mind when i was yet formless, therefore i can confidently stand as a man with diverse cultures, thankful to belong to awesome roots. CBU HIS311
If you’re white, don’t ask questions
Brenna McCurry,
Orange, CA.
I feel like because I am white people get mad at me for asking questions or saying anything about race/ethnicity. I feel like I can’t be curious and try to understand them because of the color of my skin.
You’re Brown. You’re Orange. First contact.
Steve Keating
Canton, MI
When I was three I saw my across-the-stree neighbor for the first time. He was black and I greew up in a very predominantly white area. I called across the street to him: “you’re brown!” Kids are, after all, very literal and I was stating what I thought to be obvious and interesting. Kenny didn’t think so and left crying. The next day, when we saw each other across the street he called back: “you’re orange!” No doubt referring to my red hair. I didn’t like that and left crying.
Kenny and I soon became friends and remained so until he moved to Saginaw when we were in middle school.
I had very little exposure to non-caucasians until I went to college. I am thrilled that the community in which I an raising my children is very multi-cultural and things which were so shocking to my three year old self don’t even register with my kids; they have never know anything different.
Silently ashamed by my Anglo-Saxon heritage.
Kelly Cirigliano
Orange, CA
I am ostensibly white. In the secrecy of my heart, I am embarrassed of my race. Often I feel the urge to shout, “I am not like them! I am not defined by my ancestry!” But still, I am ashamed. I am ashamed that the color of my skin is associated with violence, hatred, and oppression. I am ashamed that American Anglo-Saxon history makes it impossible for whites to have white-pride. I want to be proud of my skin color, but I feel as though the privileges I enjoy daily are stolen privileges. They are privileges marred by memories of the Jim Crow South, the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr, or the scars on Frederick Douglass’s back.
I’m not African American but still black.
Khemani G
Orange, NJ
It bothers me sometimes when I am filling something out and the race box says only African American when I am actually Afro-Caribbean. Although there is a difference between the two culturally I feel they are both united by the concept of blackness. Something that was once frowned upon but now can be used to unify people across the world in the African Diaspora.
