Intelligent despite assumptions, Yes I can!
Brianna Jenkins, Fauquier LFCC, VA People were often confused by my large vocabulary especially when I was younger. It was almost like a brown skin...
Not colorblind, just failed to see.
Megan Pastore, Chesapeake, VA Pull me over, and I get to walk away. I’m not colorblind, but due to my white privilege, I failed to...
You’re too white to be 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....
Little White Girl from the ‘Hood’
Caitlin Zembruski, Manassas, VA The town I grew up in is a very diverse community. There are specific areas that vary racially and ethnically, as...
Where are you from? You’re exotic!
Abbie Elliott Leesburg, VA For my entire adult life, dating has been a challenge. As an Asian-American, I vehemently resisted falling into stereotypes. But, as...
White girls rescued by black boys
Mary Barnett, NEWBURY PARK, CA I was about 11 02 12. Mary Penn Carter and I were playing in a section of woods in Danville,...
Busing: white girl, black schools, lonely
Clara Silverstein, Boston, MA. As one of the white children in Richmond, Virginia in the 1970s whose family willingly participated in busing, I had few...
I’m not woke, but I’m learning.
Joe Boehman, Midlothian, VA University of Richmond I grew up not having to think about my privileges. I believed that I was a product of...
It’s time to expect the unexpected.
Desiree, Chesapeake, VA. When I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s I use to hear about black people are the most uneducated race,...
Sheltered friends. Life is not effortless.
Mary Beth Bergeron Rapid River, MI I am white. I have lived in Tidewater, VA and a highly diverse college town in southwest Ohio. My...
Was your dad in the war?
Petra Snowden, Virginia Beach, VA As a German-born immigrant I always felt this to be a sensitive question, especially when asked by my Jewish friends....
There should be more black physicists.
David Boehnlein, Hampton, VA p>I am a retired White physicist and worked with hundreds of colleagues over the course of my career. I could count...
I’m black. so I am dangerous?
Brianna Branch Norfolk, VA I’m black and therefore I am seen as a threat to others because of my skin color. I have never tried...
I won’t forget them–six million
Cheryl Zapien, Dumfries, VA I’m so happy to be a part of the discussion. I am Jewish married to a Mexican American man–so we are...
Son, let me explain ‘busing’.
Joe Stainback IV, New Tazewell, TN. A quote from my mother … My positive spin on ‘race’ interactions gleaned from mandated busing in the early...
Tribalism is more divisive than race.
Elias Jones, Charlottesville, VA. It is tribalism that leads to assumptions both affirming (they are like me, they accept me, I am safe with them)...
