The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Vasvi Babu,
Scottsdale, AZ.
Romindian: 50% East Indian, 50% Romanian. Married 21 years at a time when few Indian women married outside their own. Boys know who they are because my husband and I know who we are and what we stand for.
Maria
Seattle, WA
You’re Mexican? Then why the disguise? I was asked this by a viejito selling his wares in Tijuana, México, probably about 20 years ago. He had been shocked to hear me speak Spanish. I would of been in my early 20s, all rebellious with punked out bleached blond hair, red converse & ripped jeans. His comment pissed me off, but his question buried itself somewhere deep, and I still think about what he was asking me.
I grew up in San Diego, 20 minutes from the border. I am Mexican Romanian American. My parents are both immigrants. I grew up in a bilingual household, crossing the border as if it were just a line in the sand. In kindergarten, I remember being asked, do you want to be called Mary, Marie or Maria. I have always felt there was a choice to make. A side to take. A this or that. On either side of the border, when I speak Spanish, people always look at me a little confused and ask where I am from. I can blend in on both sides of the border but at the same time stand out as an ambiguous “other.”
So what is the race card? A friend of mine use to tell me I had every “card” in the book that I could pull out and use as needed. The “Mexican” card, the “Jewish” card, the “First-generation American” card, the “First-generation college student” card. But she never understood, that I also carried with me a card heavier than all others, the “other” card.
JD,
Canada.
Being located in Eastern Europe, there is a common misconception that Romania comes from slavic lineage, when historically, and factually we are Latin people. Most Romanians have many Middle Eastern features as well and many people associate Romanians with being gypsies. Western European countries are quite negative and borderline racist when it comes to romanians specifically.
Gabrielle Hainley,
Caledonia, MI.
I understand that there is discrimination and racism in the United States. But, I also see many people of all races, ages and upbringing that use their race as an excuse to get away with things or as a way to make other people sound like people, when in fact, they are in the wrong. For example, I am a waitress at a small restaurant in my town and one night we were very busy after the town’s high school graduation. There was a long line of people waiting for a table in the waiting area, including a Romanian family that spoke very little english. When first entering the restaurant, if there is a waiting period, you are asked to sign in and wait for your name to be called after a table has been prepared for your party. This Romanian family was one of the last family’s to sign in. Around fifteen minutes later, they were seated at a big table for 25 people. I was the waitress for their table, and the first thing that was said to me was, “You made us wait longer than all of the white people. It’s because we aren’t from America. I’m going to put in a complaint for this discrimination, if we dont get a discount for our food.” Which, was actually not the case at all, which I have proven by my description above. So, in my experience, people who play the race card are simply looking for free things, a way out, or someone to blame.
Rachel Bruce
Denver, CO
In the ’70s in Denver, Colorado I was bussed across town as part of court-ordered school integration. There wasn’t a lot of integrating going on. The school counselors tried to push a Brotherhood Week and asked the student council members to create posters. In my own little world all I cared about was Nadia Comaneci and her perfect 10s. I made a poster with six photos of her cut out of magazines: Brotherhood IS “Flexibility!” Brotherhood IS “Strength”! Brotherhood IS “Perfection”! Very abstract concepts, but in my mind it worked. The counselor brought me out in the hall and asked me to think about the difference between my poster and everyone else’s posters. It took a long time and quite a bit of prodding before I realized that six pictures of a female Romanian probably didn’t convey very much about racial integration. Thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure my inability to grasp the concept was more of an eye-opener for the staff.
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