Jigaboo – Not a cat’s name, really?
Betsy Twining Quinton, VA I feel like an idiot for not realizing, until I moved to Richmond, VA at the age of 38, that Jigaboo...
Drank from the wrong fountain: white.
Ty Cooper Arlington, VA I was born (1950) into a family of sharecroppers in eastern NC. We lived one mile from the nearest road. I...
Baby born. What color? Healthy girl.
Kessara Eldridge Fredericksburg, VA My aunt – Irish/German ancestry married a Cape Verdean man. When they had their first child, my cousin, my grandfather didn’t...
“How we get along in Washington, D.C.!”
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...
Mother: “Our family never owned slaves.”
Jane Dorick Midlothian, VA This was, I think, my mother’s way of letting others know that she didn’t consider herself a racist or as culpable...
Black on black prejudice hinders advancement
Jay Poynte Virginia Beach, VA A friend of mine, a 30 something black woman, was working full time and going to school part time. Originally...
Knew segregation was wrong, accepted it
Walt Pulliam Jr. Richmond, VA Grew up in Greensboro, NC and was familiar with the Woolworth lunch counter where the sit-ins occurred.
How can I not be Racist?
Mary Leslie Tappahannock, VA I’m not racist, I don’t want to kill or torment people because they aren’t white like me. My mother taught me...
Wishing more Black women dated out
CBP Falls Church, VA I’m a white woman engaged to a black man, and I hate feeling like a stereotype. “Typical, another self-hating brotha stolen...
Why’s my skin darker than yours?
Kristen Green Richmond, VA My five-year-old multiracial daughter said these words while sitting on my lap today while we were both in bathing suits by...
Forever an immigrant in my country
(Ms.) Kamakshi P. Murti Fairfax, VA I have been a citizen of the US for several decades, yet whenever I am in a public space,...
