Ashamed by parent’s accents. I’m American!
Caroline Correia, Edina, MN Growing up 60 miles away from New York City in the 70s and 80s may as well have been 600 miles....
Diversity is enriching but also frightening.
Elizabeth A. Leeper, Dubuque, IA. I am a 62 year old, single, white female. I was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in Asia, and now...
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...
No offense BUT, what are you?
Francesca Sam-Sin, Katy, TX. “No offense BUT, what are you?” That’s usually how the conversation about my race begins. When I arrived in the U.S....
The nun made me mark “white.”
Jackie Loya-Torres Kansas City, MO As a small child in the 1970s, I remember having to take some sort of standardized test in school. You...
White but grew up as minority
Vicki Hohner, Olympia, WA While I am a white midwesterner by origin, I spent most of my formative years as a minority. First as part...
I’m Neither Asian or White Enough
Susie, Fairbanks, AK. I am tired of being told I am not white enough or Asian enough. As mixed race, racial identity is already hard...
Growing up in America as “other.”
Marie K. Shanahan, Submitted via Twitter: @mariekshan. When you’re not quite minority enough. In 1997 at age 25, I came to terms with my place...
White immigrant = not an immigrant.
Linda M Larsen, Hudson, WI. Hungarian+British +Canadian = American. I’m an immigrant, a ‘legal alien’ from Canada, with Hungarian and British parents, living in the...
Celtic mutt…happens to be white.
Jenn Jackson, Canada. I grew up in surroundings that were predominantly white, wanting to learn more about other cultures. I moved to an urban center...
Trust the brother, distrust the other.
Bert Olson, San Jose, CA. This is an observation on human nature, not confined to race. Humans tend to bond with people of similar appearance...
My Mind Isn’t Inferior To Yours
Jonah Payne, St. Louis, MI. Many people feel that a Black person isn’t capable of what others are, and I find that to be false....
I stare longingly at others like me
Mary Ann Paris Philadelphia, PA Except for my brother, there were never any children who looked like me. I am black and white, more specifically...
More than “just a Black girl”
Jolie Anne Chevalier, San Jose, CA. This is me at eight years old back in 1979, the daughter of an African-American/Seminole Indian mother, and a...
