What frightens us about people’s differences??
John Howard Faultersack,
San Antonio, TX.
Everyone is prejudiced, but racists do it on purpose, and I’ve never understood why.
Difference between Phillando and me? Nothing.
Barry,
MN.
As a black man, who – though I hate the phrase, acts very “white”, I feel as though you have act a certain way to fit into society and get less harassed. I don’t act white on purpose, it’s just who I am; how I was raised. Nonetheless, this “act” shouldn’t have to be.
We all know the number 1 rule, don’t scare white people. When this happens, we die.
This bothers me. And, there is a small amount of guilt, because why am I not dead too? What made me so special to escape with a warning and my life.
Is it because I drive a nice car, wear business clothes, don’t have dreads? Because I’m middle class, don’t sound black-american, or some other litte thing. Is it because I have a white sounding name, and both work in a white rural area and live in a predominantly white suburb? Is it because my fiance is white and if people see us together then I must be “safe” one?
What makes my life worth more, than that of my brothers?
It is because I was a good little negro and didn’t scare the white man.
It is because I have to supress my pride and my identity, my fierceness, my swag, when I confront authority eye to eye, man to man.
I have to be a smiling non-threatening “friendly black” and they mostly leave me alone.
Sometimes I sick of it. I am black, and proud. “I am a man.” Stop killing us.
Race makes me think of Dr. King. “Race” scares people.
Elon Race Card Project,
Isabella Cannon Room, Center for the Arts
Fear and reconciliation: oil and water
Dirk Elting,
Honolulu, HI.
People cannot reconcile their differences when they do not feel safe. We scare (and anger) one another not only through our acts, but through our criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt. What psychologist John Gottman has shown to be true for couples, I believe to be true for race relations. I have no answers for how race cards can be replaced with constructive dialogue. But I am sure that “fear and reconciliation” mix as well as “oil and water.”
Young black gang kids scare America.
David Evans,
Seattle, WA.
People equate young black gang members with crime and trouble… I was watching the PBS special and when the young black guys were speaking I felt they were in gangs and up to no good. You need to change the image of the young male black gang image or you will not make any progress…
Topic scares, unnerves, and embarrasses people.
Kathryn
Sacramento, CA
Sad to say the issue of race still negatively challenges and polarizes people in so many parts of the world. This just means there is still opportunity to be empowered by what we can learn from each other if we can stop fearing people who are different.
I tend to scare white people
Enrique Guzmán
Tucson, AZ
I also tend to scare those that are of a higher social class, the elderly and the people that believe the way I speak English is not the correct form of English. Overall, these people tend to be white. It’s a shame really. It’s terrible that the color of my skin is associated to something so terrifying that you have to clench your purse, grab your children and lock your doors when I appear. I am a good person. There are more good colored people around us than those that scare you. Every time you look scared when I approach you sends the message that I am up to no good. That’s why some people find it necessary to have an employee follow me at the store. I am a good person. But the white people, higher class populace, elderly and educated tell me I am not through these pathetic microaggressions. Stop this! Because those good colored people will get tired of this and get angry. Some will fight against it through positive advocacy and activism but others may become bad people.
I am a ‘good’ person.
Educated. Black strangers scare me still.
Samantha Murphey,
Submitted via: Scarlett called Scout.
Read more about this essay:
The Race Card Project
http://www.scarlettcalledscout.com/2013/03/14/the-race-card-project/
Trent and I talk and read about race a lot. Atlanta is a minority majority city with a complicated history of racial tensions and triumphs that bleed into the present. Alone, moving here might have been enough to spark an interest in the topic, but there were other things, too. There was Trent’s involvement with Teach for America, an organization that fights educational inequality, which continues to be drawn along racial lines. There were the lists of “Must-See Sites in the South” we consulted, dotted with civil rights museums, monuments and battle grounds. And there were the overtly racist sentiments we heard expressed by good people in our community here, people who seemed just like us.
In the past couple years, we’ve discovered a lot about the complexity of racism, but the most powerful and eye-opening lesson we’ve learned is a simple one:
We are racists. We are all racists.
All humans are prejudiced, prone to assumptions and judgements and stereotypes to help us navigate through the gaps in our knowledge about people who are different from us. And if we are white people, we are all beneficiaries of privileges and powers that are given to us based on our race—in this time in this country. That’s just how it is.
When you’re ready to admit that color blindness is a fantasy and that you, as well-intentioned as you might be, are a racist like everyone else, you’ll be ready to overcome it. And if you’re ready now to start identifying your racist attitudes, I know just what you should do.
Listen to this moving story on NPR about The Race Card Project, which is collecting boldly honest six-word essays about race to get a read on Americans’ true feelings, unsavory or otherwise. Then submit your own.
Here’s mine:
“Educated. Black strangers scare me still.”
We cannot change what we cannot confront.
Listening to: Iron & Wine, “Teeth in the Grass”
Race doesn’t scare me. Clothes do
Robin Smith
Newburgh IN
Submitted via: NPR’s Talk of the Nation
Their age, not race, scares me
Jack Prewett
San Bernardino, CA
Many teens act like they are 10 ft tall, can live forever. I don’t know what happened in Trayvon’s case but I’m 6’5″ and 300 lbs and feel uncomfortable when confronted by young adults no matter what color they are. Standing with their hands in their pockets and they have a hoodie on is scary because I don’t know what to expect.
Bias in one form or another will always be with us because we are human. Overcoming bias only comes with understanding each other. Always treat others as you wish to be treated.
