Propitiating the shame: my maiden name
Mary Bunce Benson, Lufkin, TX. My maiden name is BUNCE, because of which on my wall beside my bed hangs a tapestry with the words...
I don’t know anyone in Mexico!
Graciela Kavulla Houston, TX As a young woman I was asked. Where are you from in Mexico.? As a 6th generation Chicana, I stammered and;...
Proud to be a white man.
Bill Miller Houston, TX No liberal guilt here. I treat everyone as an individual and not as a member of a group.
Abolitionists- and slaveholders- in my family
Carla Prater Bryan, TX I recently found out that I have family roots in Texas. A man who rebelled against his father over slave owning...
Young blacks’ clothing can be disconcerting
Robert Sowards, Austin, TX. I’m sure it’s simply a cultural thing. Even so, I find the baggy pants that show part of a young black...
Dad’s white…thought you were Mexican.
Sherley Bedore Lubbock, TX Texas Tech grad student. 2013 OTC Symposium. American. I speak very fluent spanish and english. I’m half american(white) and half mexican-descent....
Collegiate christian agriculturist-must be judgmental.
Taylor Shackelford Lubbock, TX Texas tech student. 2013 OTC Symposium. Student government senator committed to equality. White, male, country roots, city raised.
Blacks shunned me trying to communicate
Rayna Delaney Pharr, TX This occurred to me in 1969 as I started college. I was a naïve white girl from a rural all-white neighborhood....
Hispanic or Non-Hispanic? No other options.
Katya Abazajian Houston, TX The government’s method of collecting data on ethnicity/race through the Census reflects the confusion and incorrectness in today’s label-obsessed culture. Our...
That Uniform Don’t Cover Your Ass
Sid Makeba Raleigh, NC I was so proud in the fall of 1960 to join and wear the uniform of The United States Air Force....
Check Race: “Other-American Melting Pot”
Roberta Wyse Torres Houston, TX When I completed my childrens’ forms to enter kindergarten, I was confronted for the first time with that droplist, “Check...
