The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Joe Baker,
Fort Wayne, IN.
I wish I could take credit for this, but it was spoken at the National Christian Community Development Association Conference in Raleigh in Sept during a talk entitled Reconciliation and why Race still matters.
Yuri Yamamoto,
Raleigh, NC.
I am a Japanese immigrant. I sometimes feel lost in this society where race is all about black and white. I often feel that I am neither white nor black enough to contribute significantly to a diversity conversation, most of which seems to be about reconciliation and healing from the slavery. While growing up in Japan, I learned that we were yellow. I don’t understand why there is no yellow mentioned in this country even though there are histories of East Asian immigrants in the U.S. Also, it is frustrating that being an Asian does not seem to count as “minority” when it comes to higher education and jobs even though we are racial minority.
On another topic, while I would like my racial identity to be acknowledged and embraced, I would not like to be boxed into stereotypes. “I’m Japanese and I’m not Japanese”
Meah,
Raleigh, NC
I see too many times, people faking their support for minority groups when they want to come across inclusive. Once they are surrounded by people, they are “comfortable” around; they reveal their true identity as racist and noninclusive. It is convenient for them to be able to hide in a place they can say and feel whatever they please. Minority groups are constantly surrounded by racism and bigotry. There is no way for them to escape the racism in the world. It’s in public, on social media, and even on TV. I feel it is apart of my job as a young adult in America today to try and eliminate as much possible racism as I can for the people who are just as special and equal as any other person.
Ariel Foreman,
Raleigh, NC.
I just moved to North Carolina from Virginia. I’m scared to travel on highway 14 between Home and Raleigh especially at night…because it’s heavily monitored by police. I should not be scared of a group that’s suppose to protect me.
Linden Gibson
Raleigh, NC
I will never get used to being looked at by total strangers as a threat to their safety just by walking down the street. I see the fear in the averted looks, how they step aside or suddenly have something important to say to a companion, or seem to need to make an emergency stop at that next store on the block. I see the looks of disgust too, the eyes that tell me I am beneath their contempt, some lesser form of life. I did not choose the form or color I present to this world, they were an accident of birth. I wish people could just meet me with their eyes closed and their hearts open. I know they would be surprised that although I may look like the stereotypical Aryan of skinhead dreams, that is not what is on the inside.
Woman,
Raleigh, NC.
Yes, racism exists and at times, thrives, but if you’re a woman of color, you’re more likely to be affected than your male counterparts. Sexism, an outworking of centuries of patriarchal systems – systems that allowed for racism in the first place – makes every “ism” it’s present in worse. So, when we talk about race, let’s not forget the dirty secret in the closet, and let’s deal with that too, because the two are inextricably intertwined.
Lynn P.,
Raleigh, NC.
My mother is white and my father is black. I am light skinned and proper speaking but not white enough in skin tone. I do not think I should have to choose a side, so why as me to? I wish I was more white skinned, then I would feel accepted. I am accepted by nobody. Too light for some not dark enough for others, not light enough and tot dark for me. I love white men but they do not seem to love me. I hate all racist crimes and actions. Yet I know it is racist to wish to be more white. My life would be different. now 46 I am still lost and not accepted. I have no identity other than as a mom.
Sid Makeba
Raleigh, NC
I was so proud in the fall of 1960 to join and wear the uniform of The United States Air Force. What a rude awaking I got in San Antonio Texas when Puerto Rican buddy and I tried to go to the movies. The cashier lady told us we had to sit in the balcony because if there was a fire “White People” had to get out first. We objected and thus told/reminded “THAT UNIFORM DON’T COVER YOUR ASS”
Tanisha Henderson
Raleigh, NC
There is perception and then there is reality. What do you do when those lines cross and the reality is you have to live like the perception is true? Case in point: Miami-Dade Police handcuffed and choked a 14 year old boy because he gave them “‘dehumanizing stares,’ clenched his fists and appeared threatening.” The perception is that any angry black man or boy is dangerous and will react violently, so the police reacted like this was a fact. Pause. I have seen angry black men, they are intimidating at a glance. Pause again. So now, how do I, a mother to two black boys and an auntie to 2 black boy teens, respond? Dr. Gregory McGriff, a 50+ year old black doctor in NC says that as a grown man, he is still careful to follow advice he received as a young boy — to avoid any kind of behavior that would bring him to the attention of police. So now as he raises his 13 year old son, he gently reminds him that the rules might be different for a young black man, and advises him to never, ever do anything that would attract the attention of police. Good news, times have changed. Back in the day, this 14 year old would’ve been lynched. Today, he will only receive a criminal record. Only?! I cringe when I say it, but the reality is, you can’t disrespect the po-po, especially as a black man. The reality is that black boys and men ARE perceived as dangerous, intimidating, and threatening…sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously. Unfortunately, media and reality( 1 in every 15 African American men are incarcerated, 72% black children born to unwed mothers) have made the perception of suspicious black men a discussion that Calvin and I will soon have with our children. Most likely, we will be teaching them that there is perception and then there is reality. You, my sons, will have to live like the perception is true and react accordingly. But not forever. Hopefully, Nathanael and Josiah will not have to say these same words to their sons. Amen.
E R Leathers
Emerville, CA
Each and every Sunday, after attending church, my four sisters and I would head to downtown Raleigh. Sometimes we stopped to played in Moore Square before walking on to the Capitol Building. We would climb those life size statues of Presidents and forgotten war heroes. Our Sunday dresses suffered, while our imagination drove those bronze horses deep inside enemy lines and back! But even good soldiers grow weary, so we would head to the Legislative Building on Jones Street.
This was my favorite building to visit. On one particular Sunday, as we entered, young woman approached us. She had an easy smiled with lots of questions for me. I guess I gave the best answers any 12 year old girl could give, because she offered us a tour of the actual chambers! Talk about excitement. First she said, I had to sign the guest book. Then she opened the roped-off section of red carpeted-steps, leading all of us upward.
We had already exchanged names and she made sure to include each of us as she explained each room or pointed out names of faces in fancy picture frames. It was only after we were sitting in the gallery – above the assembly area that I noticed her last name. It was surprisingly, my last name! I actually did a double take. I mean this had never happened to me. A White person and I have the same last name? I was indeed puzzled as to how this was even possible. She didn’t after all look like family. Never mind that she was so smiling nice. I was, by this time, inside my head, way pass wondering and yes, I even wished that we be related.
When she finished explaining whatever she was explaining, I mentioned it to her, this of course leads her to ask more and more questions. Whats your Fathers name? Your grandfather? Your Mother? Where do you live. How old are you? These questions are asked as she leads us out of the room, then down the stairs- and out the building. I found it strange that when we traveled back there, Elizabeth was no longer there. Whatever connection I felt dissolved over time and I lost favor for visiting the building.
Erin
Raleigh, NC
I cannot remember where I got this information from it’s either from visiting “RACE: Are We So Different?” that opened at the National Museum of Natural Science in 2011 or/and Wiki on history of race I researched shortly after my visit to the museum. I learned how in Europe, the nobles needed helping hands to work on their lands and to keep their estates by laboring people. By doing so they created social class/structure where they separate and distinguish themselves from the workers. The more land they had, the more workers needed. Therefore, the slave traders were needed and created. They went out of their country captured indigenous people and sold them to nobles while they make great profits. Since the indigenous people looked different from Europeans it was easier to be introduced as subhumans and it gave them an acceptable excuse to enslave and treat them like subhumans. Racism is a learned behavior that people learned to to see others less than ideal, humans.
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