Thomas R Gerbasi,
Lewiston, NY

I’m Sicilian-American. Both sides of my family came to the USA in 1890s The KKK burned a cross on my Grandfather’s lawn. As a teenager, they offered my father twice what he paid for his home to move out because a “non-white” family in the neighborhood would “lower the property values.” Folks see my name on a name tag and compliment me on my ability to speak English. Yet for the purposes of surveys, I am asked to identify myself as either “white” or (incredibly) “Anglo” (even though there is not a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood in my heritage).