Really Archives - The Race Card Project

Really? Are both your parents Indian?

March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 Ann Arbor, ethnic groups, India, Indian, Indian Zoroastrians, Iran, MI, parents, Really, Shevon Desai, Texas

Shevon Desai
Ann Arbor, MI

My parents emigrated from India to the US over 50 years ago. In terms of ethnicity, I think of myself as South Asian – but in terms of race, we are officially Caucasian (my family are Parsis – Indian Zoroastrians whose ancestors originally came from Iran).

Race and ethnicity for me are often a moving target. I have fair skin and dark hair, so I can “pass” for all sorts of ethnic groups. The comment above happens occasionally, since I don’t fit the expectation of what someone from India should look like. I’m not offended; I appreciate others’ curiosity and their desire to learn more about “where” I’m from.

And incidentally, when I’m asked where I’m from, my first answer is usually “Texas” (I was born and mostly raised in TX.)

You are perfect. But not really.

March 9, 2018 Mike Li, MN, Morris, not really, perfect, Really

Mike Li,
Morris, MN.

Do You Think I’m White, Really

January 14, 2014 average, Bethalto, Chris Hamby, exterior, I'm white, IL, nationalities, Really, think

Chris Hamby
Bethalto, IL

On my exterior, I look like a average Caucasian man, yet there is a little more to me than what people may think. First off, let me paint this picture for you. I am a large,(athletic built now)bald man, for all purposes white. I went into a Wal-Mart in Vandalia, IL and a young black man said, “That shit won’t fly in the hood”, looking directly at me. Little did that young man know, I am a mutt. I have multiple nationalities in me, none more prevalent than Cherokee Indian. He was looking at the color of my skin and does not know a thing about me, this should be a lesson for us all, don’t judge a book by its cover. We are all more complicated than just a skin color.

Yes, she’s really my daughter!

November 14, 2013 adopted, Asian, Barbara Schmidt, daughter, Metuchen, NJ, Really, you don't look

Barbara Schmidt
Metuchen, NJ

We are a caucasian couple that adopted our daughter from Southeast Asia. Random people in the supermarket make dumb comments and children have asked where is her real mom. We must carry her adoption paperwork when we travel internationally, since passport control sometimes questions whether she is really our daughter. School and camp security can be the most annoying. They have told my daughter she is not allowed to leave with anyone but her mom (her REAL mom), even when we are identifying each other as mother/daughter. They have released her to an Asian friend with no questions asked. There are so many mixed race and otherwise blended families in the US. It is surprising how people still fall back on old ideas that like belongs with like.

Where are you from? No. Really?

November 3, 2013 Alisa Caban, Eugene, OR, Really, where are you from

Alisa Caban
Eugene, OR

But where are you really from?

March 25, 2013 J Thai, KY, Louisville, Really, where are you from

J Thai
Louisville, KY

Ambiguity. “No Really, What are you?”

April 18, 2012May 18, 2012 Ahnna Smith, ambiguity, Really, what are you

Ahnna Smith

Race, always an issue. Really? Really.

March 27, 2012March 28, 2012 Black, changes, Clyde Taylor, country, High School, issue, Milwaukee, Obama, Race, Really, WI

Clyde Taylor
Milwaukee, WI

I’m 56. When I was a teen, I thought that by now (the 21st century) race would be far less an issue in American life than it was when rioting broke out just a mile from my home in the summer of 1967. Too bad, I was wrong. From “rag head” epitaphs, to rants against immigrants, to racial comments made by adults in the grandstand at High School athletic events, to pre-kindergarten kids referring to my school aid wife as “white lady,” and black teens exchanging greetings with “my nigga” on the public bus … my long deceased grandmother born in 1893 and raised in Winder, Georgia would be shocked by the changes (esp. Barack Obama), but she’d see too much of “back home” for me. There remains a long way to go before we can purge race from our social consideration … so sad. Sometimes, I have to cry for my country.

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