Drawl big words. They are surprised.
Roy Turrentine, Normandy, TN. Race is actually just a part of our natural xenophobia. Over the course of being a southerner rooted in agrarian dialects...
Prayed God would make me White
Amber Price, Atlanta, GA. I was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I grew up ashamed of my Blackness. I heard the n-word for the first time...
Hero. Musical Genius. Jazz is color.
Mark Lynn Honeycutt, Knoxville, TN. I’m a white, middle class, born and raised East Tennessean. But also a musician. Well, drummer. And my heroes have...
Private School? No, I’m not rich.
Tempe Ray Memphis, TN I have the privilege of attending a private school. Many people assume that just because I go to a private school...
I unpack my white privilege daily.
Sarah Walton Nashville, TN I descend directly from southern slave-owners and, more recently, racists. My family’s wealth is built on the backs of over a...
Yeah, but you’re not BLACK black.
Ruthie Mengistu Memphis ,TN What does that even mean? Is it because I look biracial? Or is it because my parents are first-generation Americans from...
Hapa: but always the wrong half.
Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, Chattanooga, TN. I’m half Japanese and half white. In Hawaii, where I grew up, mixed race people like me are called “hapa”...
1/2 white 1/2 Mexican. I am equal
Isabella, Memphis, TN. I am half white, half Mexican. I’m not more white than I am Mexican. I’m not more Mexican than I am white.
All this, and still just white.
Anonymous, Memphis, TN. I feel like I have a wonderful heritage full of rich culture. Italian and Native American mostly, but when people look at...
Slave trader descendent attempts healing words
Lyn Franklin Hoyt, Nashville, TN. I’m on a search, a journey for words, to figure out how my family heritage can be used for good...
Little white kids have it hardest
K Russell, Chattanooga, TN. As a little white kid growing up, I was constantly harassed by black boys for no other reason than I was...
Know who you are, be proud.
Cole, Nashville, TN. A lot of my family comes from Spain and Latin America. And I take pride in that. Every once in a while...
You’re cool for a brown chick.
Shawdee Naimy, Redwood City, CA. Growing up in Tennessee was interesting.
Too brown here; too white there.
Rachel Jennings, American Samoa. I am a proud afatasi: half Samoan (Polynesian) and half Southern white. However, whether I’m living in Tennessee or in American...
