too white Archives - The Race Card Project

Too ethnic here, too white there

May 11, 2026May 11, 2026 Addisyn Lumsden, ethnic, Fort Madison, IA, Iowa State University, too white

Addisyn Lumsden,
Fort Madison, IA

Iowa Community college

Too white to be part black

January 23, 2025 Ankeny, Black, IA, Lauren Goode, too white, white

Lauren Goode,
Ankeny, IA

Too white…yet not white enough

January 14, 2025 Lex Garcia, PA, pittsburgh, too white, white enough

Lex Garcia,
Pittsburgh, PA

Too white to be Native American

May 12, 2024May 12, 2024 brown eyes, Cherokee, Chicago, green eyes, IL, italian, light skin, mom, Native American, Simone, stereotype, too white

Simone,
Chicago, IL.

A lot of people say I look too white to be Native American. It’s tiring that my mom is full Cherokee while my dad was full blown Italian, all my other bothers came out darker than me and had brown eyes, I am the only girl int he family. As far as having light skin, but tan in the summer, dark hair with green eyes. I tell people that i am mixed but seem not to believe based on soley the skin color. To me skin color doesn’t matter on a base of streotyping people, but that’s what you get on people who choose to live inside the box rather than out.

That Don’t Count Because You’re White

February 12, 2024February 12, 2024 confused, Lakeesha Graves, Richmond, too black, too white, TX, where do I belong, white, white thinking

Lakeesha Graves,
Richmond, TX

Black and White yet too black for white people and too white for some black people. Where do I belong? Why can’t I be black? Why do I have to be white? Why can’t I be white? Why do I have to be black? Why is my contradictory thinking considered “white thinking” to black people? It is all so confusing?

Not white enough, not black enough

February 28, 2022 black enough, Cassie C., interracial, lips, middle class, Native American, skin tone, socialized, society, southern, suburban, too black, too white, VA, white enough

Cassie C.,
VA

As the child of an interracial couple (which are not just black & white but also Native American) that ended in divorce – and my parents remarried people of similar races – it has been a struggle to truly fit in anywhere. A Sociologist would say I’ve been “socialized” as a southern, middle class, suburban white girl, but my hair, skintone, nose, and lips say otherwise. Growing up with my white mother, stepfather, brother, surrounded by my 99.9% white family, I stood out – and still do. It has always been difficult to date because of this; I’m not white enough for most men, not black enough for most black men’s families. Not white enough for society to see who I really am… but black enough to still get racially profiled when shopping.

“You’ve sold out; you’re too white.”

January 2, 2022January 2, 2022 Gianna Donovan, New York, NY, sold out, stereotype, too white

Gianna Donovan,
New York, NY.

You’re too white to be black

October 14, 2021October 14, 2021 Alyssa Swearingen, black dad, Half, hold my tongue, interracial marriage, mixed, Norfolk, too white, VA, white mother, You don't look black

Alyssa Swearingen,
Norfolk, VA.

I come from parents who are different races. I have a mother who is white, and a father who is black. All my life, I get told “You don’t look black,” or I get asked if “I’m sure I am HALF black.” I’ve been told numerous times that I look like I’m only white. As a young girl, this discouraged me. I started off fighting it. I would argue with everyone and try my best to prove my race. However, as time went on, I began to fight less. I began to just hold my tongue. It was so much easier to let people think what they wanted, and say what they wanted. Now as a woman, I am starting to get my fight back. I refuse to hide a part of who I am.

Because I’m white, I feel ashamed.

September 21, 2020February 21, 2021 1950's, ashamed, best friend, check the box, excluded, first experience, ice cream, Minority, PA, Philadelphia, Sadie Petersen, small family, too white, white

Sadie Petersen
Philadelphia, PA

As a child, the streets of west Philadelphia were my playground. I loved going to school in the area and wouldn’t change a thing about how I was raised and how race was never even noted in my small family of four, which eventually grew to a family of 7. However, living in west Philadelphia and being a white female, I was the minority at my, almost, all black school. I was one of 5 white kids but seeing as we were such a community, race and skin- tone never seemed to be of any issue to any of us as young children. The story seemed to change, as I got older though. I was never teased or bullied, but sometimes I was excluded from conversations or hangouts because I was “too white” and “wouldn’t understand because I had it better.”

There was a time in my life when all I wanted to be was black and I was jealous of the coffee-cream skin tone of my best friend at the time, Amanda. Later, when I graduated to high school, I found that some people still held racial prejudice, and seeing as my youngest sister was mixed, I was horrified. It was astonishing to me that being black wasn’t as desired at it was at my old school, or at least for me. No matter how you look at it, when It boils down to me and that box, I cannot help but feel the twangs of embarrassment for the privileges and acceptance that I may receive out of racial bias over others because I am a white female with brown hair a green eyes. I feel ashamed that my appearance is what defines me and assess me as a human being. I feel ashamed for admitting that every last crime committed by my ancestors in the 1950’s and earlier is a part of me. That is what makes me cringe when I check that box labeled “White.”

You’re too white to do that

July 5, 2020July 5, 2020 Adam Costa, anthropology, blacklash, dance, do what makes you happy, happy, NH, Rap, Salem, social media, Tik Tok, TikTok, too white, trends, Unh

Adam Costa,
Salem, NH

You see a lot of dancing in the social media spotlight and trends that are started. Either on TikTok or through dances created by rappers and trying to do copy them draws a lot of backlash. I jokingly try to do something and I always draw a response from my friends, “you’re too white too do that”, what determines the state of how white you are. I feel that we have the freedom to do something that makes us feel happy and not get negative comments.

Half White, Half Hispanic, Full Human

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 Half, Hispanic, human, John Michael Rendon Nicholson, Latino, Mexico, music, San Antonio, Spanish, too latino, too white, TX, white

John Michael Rendon Nicholson,
San Antonio, TX.

Growing up around Latinos and Caucasians, I was either “too White for Latinos” or “Too Latino for Whites”. Very few people saw me as “one of them”, even to this day. Of course, this didn’t stop me from indulging in my culture. I learned Spanish; and I even speak it better than some of my “full blooded” Mexican friends. I learned how to dance both Spanish and American music; a trait that all people love after a couple of beers. I also got the opportunity to see some of Mexico, a land rich in culture, while coming back to my beautiful state of Texas. I used to be ashamed of not being 100% one race or the other, but now, I see it as a gift. Very few people are given the gift of being mixed. To all the mixed people reading this, I tell you to be proud of who you are. Go learn about both of your cultures, and embrace them; both make you who you are. We are all humans with our own culture, and some of us having bit more than others.

Too white for my own good.

March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 #whitepeopleproblems, Lauren Qualters, mother, PA, Philadelphia, stereotype, too white, West Chester, white

Lauren Qualters,
West Chester, PA.

For my race card project I chose the phrase “Too white for my own good” which is most certainly a true statement, in both humerous and negative ways. I am certainly very sterotypically “white” but not in an intentional or discriminatory way. My traits are my own and they embody who I am. To take the prase another way, specifically the “for my own good” portion, recognizes that though I am aware of the many racial injustices that are a part of the world today, I often find myself blind to it because I am not the victim. Though I recognize this as a problem, it is still something that I struggle with in terms of omission and ignorance.

If there is someone I can pinpoint as being as “white” as me, it is my mother. We both grew up in (generally) the same white Philadelphia neighborhood, and have both (generally) been upper-middle class our whole lives. We atended the same all girls catholic high school that was very very white (in a graduating class of 213 we had maybe 10-15 non white students) and we enjoy a lot of the same activities. Not a week goes by that we do not text each other about our most recent “#whitepeopleproblems” or musings. If you go to the website ” Stuffwhitepeoplelike.com ” there is a 4/5 chance that my mom, myself, or both of us will absolutely love any entry that is picked at random. Entires include “Where the Wild Things Are”, “Picking your own Fruit” and “Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy”. Check, check and check, and thats just on the first page. It is certainly easy to make fun of myself for being “too white” so that is one reasoning for choosing the phrase that I did.

Another aspect of my phrase is that I often find myself blind to the social injustices going on around me because it sometimes feels that “I’m not a part of it” or “It doesn’t effect me” – both of which are positively dripping with ignorance to the world around me. I admit that I live in a bubble and that it can very often be a safe and comfortable place to be, but “safe and comfortable” never changed the world. I am certainly interested in a variety of cultures and their practices, but I also recognize that I have a habit of ignoring the bad things that go on in the world right around me. I like to think that I am open minded and non discriminitory, but I doubt that I’m going to be the next big social activist.

Though I might be “too white for my own good” I like to think I do my part at work where I teach preschoolers. We do a lot of multicultural leanring, and talk a lot about accepting others. Bullying and discrimination are certainly not tolorated and I like to think that I am giving them the best advice that I can. I know I still have a ways to go in my own life, but hopefully by helping them out I can help the next generation to be a little bit more aware of the world around them.

You called me “white devil slavemaster”

January 28, 2018January 28, 2018 first experience, FL, High School, holocaust, Joe Schechter, Shoah, too white, white enough

Joe Schechter,
FL.

This happened when I was in high school. It was not the only incident of its kind. It was especially galling when you consider that members of my family died in the Shoah (Holocaust). I am not white enough for some people, & far too white for others.

Not white enough and too white.

November 14, 2017 Central Texas, culture, dallas, female, Home, human, labels, life, Maritza Aviles de Garcia, norms, outside, Puerto Rican, sheltered, too white, two world, two worlds, TX, white, white enough, white folks

Maritza Aviles de Garcia,
Dallas, TX.

My entire life has been spent walking between two worlds, the predominantly white world outside of my home, and the watered-down Puerto Rican culture of my home. Growing in Central Texas, there were three Puerto Rican families. We were one of them. I translated for my parents whether they liked it or not. It made white people realize that if I was smart enough as a kid to translate between two languages, then my parents must be smart too. Some folks would change the way they treated my parents. I witnessed this as a child in the eighties.

As I got older, identity became more complicated. People were looking for clear-cut labels. On more than several occasions, I was asked, “What are you?” My response, “I’m a human female.” (I was a trekkie at heart.) No one liked that answer. When they persisted, I explained they were asking the wrong question. I’m not a “what,” I’m a “who.”

So to sheltered white folks, I wasn’t white enough. I was exotic. To everyone else, including other Puerto Ricans, I was white. I never belonged. It still kinda hurts me to say that. I wasn’t actively trying to defy societal norms regarding race and culture. It was pretty obvious to me when the lines were being drawn.

I also had issues with forms. Hispanic is not a race, it’s a culture. No, it’s a label for a group of people who speak Spanish. Spanish speakers come from different countries with diverse cultures and dialects. No one wanted to hear that back then.

Now I’m forty. Has anything changed? Yes. Those who love indiscriminately are more numerous than before. More voices speaking out all at once can’t be easily silenced.

You’re Not Black, You’re Too White

April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 Black, CA, embrace, heritage, judge, KayKay Mara, Lancaster, matters, Race, racial slur, religion, skin color, too white, you're not black

KayKay Mara,
Lancaster, CA.

I have spent my whole life being judged by my skin color.

It was never a big deal to me since I was always warned that life was going to be this way no matter how hard I tried to fix it. People don’t see that sometimes the little things they say are offensive, and after a while I stopped noticing as well. I went from being a little girl offended by the racial slurs and jokes of the world, to a person who has practically made them a thing in my everyday life. I get told everyday that I’m too white to be black, and that I’m too black to be white. I mean I understand why, but it just bugs me I guess. Sometimes I don’t even know where I stand with certain people, ya’ know?
Why does it matter what race I am?
Why does it matter if I look different from others?
Why do people care if I embrace one side of myself more than the others?
I am not my ethnicity, or my religion, or what color my skin is—I am me.
I’m not “too white” to embrace my African American heritage and I am not “too black” to embrace that I am part white. Why can’t people—why can’t my own family—understand that? I am a living and breathing organism trying to make it through life without crashing and burning just like any other person. Why does it matter if I look like one race more than the other?

My infant doesn’t need to tan

November 21, 2016 baby, colors, different, Gladstone, infant, MO, sad, son, tan, Tanisha Rueter, too white

Tanisha Rueter,
Gladstone, MO.

It makes me sad when people tell me my son is “too white”. No, he is perfect, just like everyone else it. The world would be a boring place without the many different colors.