Do I deserve a voice here?
Samantha Poelstra, Richmod, VA. I am half Czech, half German, very much white. I chose these words because I sometimes have a hard time adding...
Couldn’t convince grandmother slavery was immoral
Denise Pierce, Sterling, VA. My grandmother who was born in NC in 1901 and lived to be 105 tried to instill in me a love...
I am German, not a Nazi
Peter Alison, Richmond, VA. I come from an Austrian mother and an American father, so when people ask me about my ethnic background I tell...
She is just some white girl
Brooke, Richmond, VA. Virginia Commonwealth University Racism goes all sorts of ways. My race shouldn’t define everything about me, and definitely shouldn’t generalize me as...
Your race is not an excuse.
Scott McLean, VA The world is full of millions of people trying their hardest just to get by. They do not have time to be...
You’re the whitest Hipanic I know.
Annie Woodbridgem VA In high school, a white male classmate once said this to me. I am a half-Korean, half-Dominican woman. I had no idea...
Dress like trouble, seen as trouble
Mike Arlington, VA I’m tired of people dressing, acting, talking like trouble makers, gangsters or criminals then complaining of discrimination. You will become as those...
Realizing how much they dislike us
Tara Newport News, VA Despite my personal cynicism and ongoing interest in matters of race, I am still surprised at the pervasiveness of anti-black sentiment...
Charles, Betty, Moses, Rose, and Nice
Ted Hudson Centreville, VA Excerpt from my fourth-great-grandfather’s 1790 Sussex County, Delaware, will: It is my Will and I do order that the Negroes I...
My March On Washington Freedom Kiss
Isabel “Scottie” Dalsimer Alexandria, VA It was a bright and sunny day in August 1963. I was 25 years old and just back from a...
Imagine if we were all blind
Silvia Bobby Norfolk, VA What would we our judgments and impressions on?
White Doesn’t Say Enough About Me
Nathan Smith Richmond, VA White is a generalization of what I really am. I am a quarter Cajun, quarter Swedish, and a quarter Italian, and...
Mixed race? No wonder you’re smart!
Michele J. Andrews Richmond, VA Upon seeing a picture of me with my (apparently) white grandmother, my boss said this to me. Then tried to...
