Grandma called me “pretty colored girl”
R. Denise Everson,
Washington, DC.
My grandmother reared me. Her positive expressions of beauty being black shaped my perception and made me proud to be black.
Race Is Perception, Adjust Yours!
Luis Raul Montalvo
Bronx, NY
Il Let you Know!
Your location influences your perceptions
Dylan,
GA
I grew up on the west coast, and my community was culturally diverse (whites, Asians, Hispanics). However, my community had a low population of blacks.
I moved to the Deep South. This is the least culturally diverse place I have lived. It is quite literally black and white.
The city I live in is majority black. Poverty is rampant. Crime is rampant. In black neighborhoods, people do not care for the upkeep of homes. The tenants could give a damn. Property values are low. The public school are atrocious. Neighbors hate each other.
I have seen numerous examples of black people who carry themselves with dignity and treat others with respect. Sadly, the majority of blacks here are not that way.
I was sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement and notions of securing racial equality for blacks by changing the system. Now I see it’s the black community that is primarily to blame for their predicament.
Does racism exist? Yes. Does generational poverty influence black communities? Absolutely. Does welfare help raise blacks from poverty? No. Do blacks lack opportunity in the community because of their skin color? Nope.
Black community leaders need to step up and show them there are other ways of living. Trashy is trashy. Whites have an aspect of their culture which is shameful (rednecks, trailer trash, etc). The core identity of the black community is trashy. Listen to the music young black people listen to. Look at how they dress. Listen to how they speak. Anyone who sees this difference and believes it is perfectly acceptable and not capable of being elevated to a more elegant, culturally rich version is blind.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
My body, But not, Your property
Tahj,
Morristown, NJ
Despite your perception, it’s not wanted!!!!!!!!!
I always think “don’t be threatening”.
Kevin Moses,
Logan, UT.
As a 6’3″, young, Black man, at all times I am painfully aware of my presence in a room and the constant strain of worrying about being perceived as threatening is exhausting. I’m incredibly friendly, and the dissonance that comes from people assuming otherwise hurts.
Perception equals reality – OPEN YOUR EYES!
Kathy Devine-Henry,
Smyrna, DE.
Prior to my twenty-seventh birthday, my eyes were not completely open. Up until this point I believed that Martin Luther King Jr. had solved all the race issues in our country and equality for all was the law of the land.
Then I began teaching at a Juvenile Detention Center in Wilmington, Delaware. It was very obvious that the majority of the students housed there were students of color. For many years I struggled with this state of affairs.
Now it is clear to me that poverty and misperceptions continue to foster the unequal treatment of our most vulnerable group, our children. My hope is that we all work to shed light on why certain children’s lives are not valued as much as others and build new perceptions, thus new realities, through this enlightenment.
Your perception is your faulty knowledge
Jiale Chen,
China
For centuries humans have constructed systematically around the false perception of purity that is connected to color. The whiter the people are the more superior they are. The added characteristics of features if appearance add to the racial identity but also to racial discrimination. The idea of the current generation being most non-racial is built of falsehood that the earlier perception and idea of discriminating and building an identity on appearance has dissolved. What we fail to address is the fact that the current generation tries to ignore or fails to address the problems of racial discrimination that is more evident especially in the recent times. The shootings in America and other places across the world are proof of how this ideology is still dominant but is not addressed enough. George Floyd’s death was a trigger for the much abandoned social problem that is most prevalent in the Western world quietly cushioned under the falsehood of progressiveness. Being of a racial identity different from the whites myself, there are many situations I have been made to feel inferior or looked upon as a person of lower esteem. What the world needs to realise is that racial identity is linked to the geography and the biological needs of humans to survive in that environment. This is achieved through acclimation, genetic adaptability and biological plasticity.
From love – fear, (a) foreigner’s view (on) racism.
David Chen,
New York, NY.
I grew up in China listening to artists like 50 cent, Tupac, Snoop dogg (lion), and Jay-Z. I have every one of Jay-Z’s songs memorized and for a Chinese kid, that wasn’t easy. For as long as I can remember, I was fascinated by African American (is this the politically correct term?) culture. As I started high school, I transitioned into R&B with Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and Jason Derulo. Back then, I dreamed of being black. In my head, blacks were talented at music, sports, and being “cool”.
Fast forward a few years, my parents decided to send me to college in the U.S. I found myself in Michigan, and my first roommate was an African American. He was one of the kindest and most loving people I’d ever met. He treated me like a brother, and I thought of him as my brother. He’d always ask me why I’m try to sound like him. It wasn’t intentional, I had learned most my English from rap songs.
After spending two years with my roommate, I became more and more involved with the African American community. I loved it, everyone I met was as kind as him.
Later I moved New York, and during my two years here, my perception was somewhat crushed. In my two years here, I had been robbed twice, and chased with a knife. The perpetrators were all African American. I started to develop a fear of the blacks in New York, I would walk away, from blacks at night, and would almost always speed up my pace. Subconsciously I felt horrible, I felt guilt, I felt shame, because I was slowly becoming the person I did not want to be. I felt like I was racist.
Recently my old roommate got married, and I was reminded of the wonderful times we spent together. I wish I could be that guy again, but I still cannot control the fear that I feel.
In my subconscious, he is white
Katherine Hannan Wears,
Ogdensburg, NY.
When I was a practicing attorney, I scheduled an appointment with an attorney who was a specialist in the field of construction litigation. The contact was made through an attorney I knew well. As I waited at the appointment, I didn’t consciously think, “What will he look like?” When he arrived, I realized that I had not contemplated that he would be black. I was shocked by the realization that my subconscious had controlled by thinking. I know that he saw the look on my face. I didn’t know whether or not to apologize or not.. I have been haunted by this brief moment for years. It still bothers me as I try to re-train my subconscious. Now, I am an Associate Dean and have taught classes such as “Law of the Workplace”. I tell the students this story of the control of my perception by my subconscious. I want them to look into themselves. It is so difficult to begin a discussion about race and get deeper than the obvious. Few students act with prejudice with intentionality. So few try to truly understand and empathize.
I am WHITE. I’m NOT RACIST.
Heather Simms,
Suffolk, VA.
Something that has bothered me throughout the years is the immediate perception because I am a middle class white individual that I automatically have some sort of racism integrated into my DNA. I respect and love everyone regardless of color, ethnicity or appearance. Racism is a concern in our society but so is assumption and prejudice.
Dating Bi-Racially Has Changed My Life
Erika,
USA.
I am a white woman that is dating a black man. I tried to think racism didn’t exist anymore until I started dating my boyfriend. The stares we’ve gotten from white people while in public, the comments we’ve gotten from older white folks, and even the responses of friends have made me realize that racism still exists. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know this fact until I was on the other side of racism. When I was the one getting stared at and receiving the heat from dating somebody of a different race. Friends have told me as if they were making me feel better, “Well that’s okay that the two of you are dating because at least he doesn’t act black!” I don’t know why people think it’s okay to say that. I take these comments and responses personally.
Black? Educated? What is that?
Renee Reives
Lorton, VA
Sometimes I feel stuck. I’m black and educated. I feel like a unicorn based on what so many people perceive and say about black people. I am expected by black people to endure a “struggle” I was not born into. Even misinformed white people that think they are helping feel the same way. Why do I need to help that struggling “brother” or “sister”? I’ve made my life through hard work with support from my family. I don’t know you. You are not my brother or sister. I have one sister and my daddy has always been faithful. I never hear white people saying, “Help a brother out.” Why must I be subjected to this? Why must I be called an Uncle Tom? What? Because I made it? Because I know you can make it through the “struggle”? This invisible barrier you have erected for yourself that was put here by the “white man”.
I was given an opportunity and I took it. Free public education. Became good at a sport and accepted a scholarship. I will graduate less than $20,000 in debt. I coach kids during the summer, I’ve been working since I was 14, I offer my services and even worked with “troubled youth” this summer to show that minorities do have a chance in this country. And these kids came from pretty good families. I truly don’t understand and probably never will.
Race colors perception, diversity changes it
Brian Konz
Ann Arbor, MI
Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
