The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Payton Meier,
Bellevue, IA
You might think the white privilege makes life so much easier for whites. It does not, it does’t solve everyday problems for anybody. No matter what is happening it does not solve everyday problem’s for that person. Bellevue Community High School
Justina Adarkwah
Christchurch, VA
I’ve always had a problem with identity, but ironically I realized it was me that thought I had a problem, it was society, my community, everyone else who had an opinion about ‘what’ I was and who I should be. I’m not sorry to let everyone one know that its not their decision to make, the colour of my skin has almost nothing to do with who I am, I didn’t ask to be born to my parents, born in my country, speak the way I do, look the way I do so why is it an issue? I can look ‘black’, talk ‘white’, act ‘latino’, study like an ‘asian’. It’s no one’s business but mine. These are all stereotypes and they are named as such for a reason. We are who say we are, I choose to be just human, what about you?
Courters,
Bay Area, CA.
I grew up in a latin home, of a first generation born parent. By DNA–I am native-american sicilian. I was raised with latin catholic, tibetan, native american, and sicilian culture. As a child, in my desert neighborhood, I stayed dark and it was rarely noticed that I was not “technically” latin (plus I spoke spanish). When I was a teen, we relocated to a colder climate and I bundled up and became so pale so quickly that my worried parents sent me to the doctors! In my new (differently diversified) area, the assumption was that I was white, and therefor innately understood that cultural perspective. It is a mild understatement to say that I did not, and it was continuously detrimental until my early adulthood. I currently live in a latin neighborhood, and when I am out and about, people approach me in spanish–but only during the summer months. Can’t we just engage authentically and drop the preconceived notions?
Kellianne Murtha,
Chesapeake, VA.
Times have changed, people have changed so why is “race” still thought to be an ongoing problem? We are no longer who our ancestors were and we no longer believe all of which they did. Race should not be a problem and should not be a deciding factor for things, such as jobs or scholarships. We are all equal and we should ALL be treated that way.
Anonymous
Brooklyn, NY
I’m not taking on the burden of race anymore. I am who I am, I love myself and that’s it.
Carol Wenger,
New Holland, PA.
As a white woman, I’ve been learning, relating, and waking up to an understanding that I’ve been complacent in my ignorance of white privilege. I seek transformation in repentance,forgiveness, and relationship building. My current questions are: what else don’t I know? What else should I do? Is forgiveness possible? Is healing and wholeness possible? How can I be part of the healing rather than part of the problem?
Amber Roberson-Rowell,
Essex, MD.
That was my second incident of prejudice and what instilled in me that race–the color of my skin–was a problem. The first was during my first day of pre-school and being pushed off a tricycle by a little white boy and being told “You don’t belong here!” I was the ONLY black child in my class. Back then I was definitely too young to even comprehend what his words meant, but now that I look back I find it rather sad he knew what they meant. The incident above happened around the 3rd or 4th grade. A fellow classmate was handing out birthday invitations which held the equivalent of finding the Golden Ticket. I was so excited like many of the other kids in my class and was anxiously waiting for my invitation. One by one, I watched as my classmate handed them out and was just ready to get mine before we dismissed. As she got to me, she politely smiled and whispered in my ear, “I would invite you to my party, but sorry; my mom doesn’t like blacks.” I was so in awe, like a genuine confusion came upon me. I didn’t understand why me being black made her Mom dislike me. I had never had anyone dislike me at that point and definitely not because of what color I was. I was friends with almost everyone in my class, I wasn’t bias or prejudice. I am a people person and have always been. My brain couldn’t comprehend what was so wrong with my color of skin and why didn’t my mother didn’t like me because of it…and to this day I still don’t understand the under meanings of prejudice. That day I realized even at a young age, what the little boy did to me in pre-school and why I wasn’t invited to my classmate’s party was correlated. And from that, I just realized people white people don’t like blacks. And THAT was what introduced me to racism.
Markus & Moya claim that “Contrary to what most people believe, race and ethnicity are not things that people have or are. Rather, they are actions people do” (p.4). Based on my earliest exposures pertaining to race up until now, I completely agree with that statement. My stance concerning race is that is a factious ideal; it’s no realer than Santa Claus or unicorns. It is something society and the media has built and upheld on this pedestal and is only validated its longevity which makes people believe that is something real. Since race isn’t made up and it has nothing to do with our biological, it can only be implemented through society’s actions and thoughts, therefore making race an action. By discriminating, stereotyping, and prejudice race is an action. I’ve never seen any difference or felt a difference between any other people except when it came to color, but I let it interfere with our interactions. It is not our color that separates us, but our personalities. I’ve not gotten along with whites, blacks, Asians but not because of their skin color, but because of the actual individual. People will sometimes take one individual’s demeanor and actions and cast it upon anyone who looks like them. That is what doing race is.
Tian McPherson,
Baltimore, MD.
…and these recent events are the visible rash. If a country practiced slavery, the racism problem is already inside it. It’s been there, largely unseen or easy to neglect… but it’s starting to burn and crackle now.
Rusty Shackleford,
Sacramento, CA.
I’ve always been surrounded by diversity and never had any issues with it, or even noticed it. Growing up in a diverse area my best friends were Sikhs, Mexicans, Chinese, etc. As I became older and more aware of the world at large, I knew what diversity was, but it felt fine because it felt like it was just this organic thing.
Now I guess I feel.. Threatened? I feel ways that I would judge someone else for expressing when I was younger. Whites in America are honor bound to be colorless and to act as if race only exists for everyone else, and that by default everyone else needs our help, “The White Mans Burden” or something. This demonization by some of the more radical voices on the left of white people has, if anything, made me move further to the right. A sort of visceral survival reflex I guess.
Now I’m starting to actually recognize that yeah, I’m a white guy. I’m also starting to feel proud of some of the accomplishments of my ancestors in ways I never cared about before. As a reflex to the demonization of the straight white male, I start wishing we could turn back the clock, or at least hit the brakes on progressivism.
I start to think of how Europeans showed up in Central and South America, and were armed with ships and armor and guns, while the natives only had spears and clubs. When the europeans showed up in Africa, they had ships and armor and guns, and the Africans only had spears and clubs.
It horrifies me to feel these feelings, I feel guilty about them, but maybe on some level our society we create *is* objectively better? First western europe conquered most of the known world, and then europeans conquered the entire north american continent and split the atom, and with that established our own silent hegemony over the world which we are losing our grip on.
I’m terrified that I think that’s cool. I know I shouldn’t feel proud of that, or is that ok? American values seem to be in decline proportional to this increase in diversity and progressive values. I think white people being less racist in America is an objectively good thing, but I think as the gatekeepers and protectors of American society, our demographic decline is an objectively *bad* thing.
My wife is Mexican, and I have a son. I love both of them, but a part of me is feeling guilty for a new reason now, that maybe I’m part of that problem? I yearn for an America I never knew, one which looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. It’s silly and perhaps even shameful, but I think that’s how I feel.
Kaylee Cole,
Boulder Creek, CA.
Everyone always says your white you get everything but really you white people don’t get everything they want. In reality white people are trying to make up there mistakes well most. If we keep trying soon this wont even be a problem.
Cameron Warren,
Downingtown, PA.
I’m a very Irish child, and being proud of that has always been hard due to the fact I have red hair and freckles. While most say, “oh but you’re white, whats the problem” the problem is just that. I have been bullied and teased almost my whole life and not being able to fight it because your own race degrades you, but if I were to say not to be mean to “gingers” they say you’re not a race, sometimes they say not people at all, and to just deal with it. I’m stuck at a cross roads where many sub-groups have found themselves, where they cannot find comfort in their own but can’t seek understanding of those who have it “worse”.
Anna,
Columbia, SC.
I know I have “white” skin, but I really hate that word. I don’t think about myself as “white”. I am Italian and Czech. My dad was the first generation of my family to live in America. Our family wasn’t here for the Civil War, we didn’t enslave anybody. In fact, my dad came here because the Nazis, and then the Soviets, were murdering my people and enslaving them in his country. My grandfather was in a concentration camp. My dad has PTSD from fighting Soviet soldiers. So when somebody calls me white and tells me all about how my people enslaved theirs, I get a little offended. My skin color doesn’t erase the struggle of my people, and it does not define my mindset. I am not racist, and I am not ignorant of the struggle of oppressed people in this country. I do not carry “white guilt”. All I’m guilty of is wanting to live my life. When you call me white, you pretend my heritage does not exist, and you generalize who I am based on my skin color. Please stop assuming things about me just because I have paler skin than you. And please stop acting like your struggle is the only struggle that matters. We are all going to have to work together if we want to solve the problem of oppression.
Katherine Davies,
Houston, TX.
I understand that racial inequality is a huge problem, has been for centuries and hopefully, will not exist centuries from now, but judging someone because of their race, their culture, whether they are black, white, hispanic, asian or anything in between. I get told all the time that white people don’t have culture, that I should just shut up and mind my own business, how dare I try to be accepting of any and every culture, including my own. I’m white, I’m American, I’m a girl. Even if I wasn’t a second-generation immigrant, no one has the right to say that someone can’t be proud of their own culture or that they don’t have one. Give me a break people, please.
Bryan Fishkin,
South Orange, NJ.
As a white male who reaps the unfair benefits of institutionalized racism, I must make it an absolute priority to find actionable ways in which I can help alter the system to better promote actual equality. Acknowledging that the system is broken but doing nothing about it is just simply not enough.
John Coffman,
Rocklin, CA.
I used to believe that we all were heading somewhere. As a kid I loved Star Trek: The Next Generation, a TV show about a future where humanity had progressed to a point where all cultural/religious/racial/political/financial/identity barriers had been dissolved and everyone (except for those less “evolved” alien races) was able to pursue excellence in whatever form they preferred. In the twenty years I’ve lived since the airing of that show I’ve come to believe that such a future is impossible, and undesirable. As a 30 year old Hispanic male of a multi ethnic heritage who grew up near Los Angeles I’ve frequently struggled with issues of race identity and felt the sting of institutional and individual racism. And I can’t believe for a moment that I myself don’t harbor some dark prejudices that color my opinions about people. In my relatively short time alive I’ve seen tribalism of every sort define and determine the course of a person’s, or people’s, actions and worldviews. I could spend pages citing all the historical accounts of racism and tribalism throughout history, and the uncomfortable truth we’d arrive at is that such divides are an irremovable component of the human psyche: It’s always going to be us vs. them. However, while I’m stating this is a problem we can never solve I’m not endorsing we do nothing about it. We should embrace our identities and be open to accepting others. The richest experiences I’ve had have been among people I don’t directly identify with. I’ve spend time in Japan, on the Maasai Mara, and in local communities whose experiences and world views are entirely foreign to my own. The cost of such rich diversity and breadth of human experience is factionalism. A future devoid of differences, a future without people having vastly different cultural/religious/racial/political/financial/identities isn’t a future I want to be a part of. Diversity in America means we’re going to have a diversity of opinions. Some are going to be deeply flawed and outright toxic. But for every tragedy/ really &$#@’ed up situation like the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case there are untold stories of people in this country crossing over to meet each other in understanding. I’m the child of two such people and as demographics shift multiethnic persons such as me are becoming more commonplace. Racism isn’t a problem “we” can solve, it’s an irremovable stain on our psyche, but it is a problem that we should never stop addressing.
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