The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Keisuke Okaguchi,
Lake Forest, CA
I am Japanese but born in United States. Both parents are from Japan and lived in a Asian life style my whole life. When I moved up to High School, I realized that everything was different from other people such as lifestyle, food, and hobby. Trying to find “who” I am in general.
John Everett,
Miami, FL.
same difference~
it should be more about
who i am
than what i am,
agree?
see, i could survive
being you
but could you exist
being me?
i’m hated and shunned
just for my skins’ hue
no matter what i say
it doesn’t matter what i do
but you lie in the sun
to darken your complexion
and acquire fuller features
with collagen injections
do you see the contradiction
the incongruity
you wont admit that you do
but i know that you see
our situation is different
from any other race’s claims
they fought and died to get here
we were brought here in chains
oppressed and depressed
whipped and hanged
literally and figuratively
and the scars remain
and you say forget it
it’s all in the past
but we’re still second class citizens
in a country built on our backs
but above all that
and this is what’s magnificent
we’re so much more alike
than we are different
Kaller,
Portland, OR.
Native American grandfather, Quaker grandmother, their child was my mother. Black stepfather, biracial brother, adopted Latina child, all Chinese grade school, segregation, race riots, the battle for Civil Rights…who are “my people?”
Jamie Lee Myers
Jacksonville, FL
Many people seem to identify who they are by their race. We also all seem to have a tendency toward making assumptions based on how people look. I am fair with naturally red hair that is currently blonde. Most think I am Irish and that is in my family tree, but I am so mixed that its confusing. People tell me ‘just act white’ but is that who I am? does that define me because that is how I look. Can’t I pick up other traits or behave in ways characterized by other portions of my ethnicity? My great grand father was black (though family classify him as Cuban), another great grandfather was of the Erie tribe (according to family lore) and lot of other nationalities are mixed in. How can I decide who I am? What identifies me?
Christopher Allen Cummings,
USA.
The notion circulating among a few of my black friends is that as a black man I should feel represented in some way by Michael Brown’s demise. Yes I know I wasn’t there and facts are still pending, but I think there’s enough evidence to show that Brown wasn’t innocent. It’s a fact that he robbed a convenience store and according to nearly a dozen eyewitnesses, at least six of them black, assaulted and bum-rushed officer Darren Wilson. My parents raised me by example to respect myself, to respect others, to obey the law, to take accountability when I err, and to work hard for what I want in life. Everyday I put forth an effort to espouse those tenents. If a black man who tries his damnedest to do what Is right and whose innocence cannot be challenged, is gunned down by a police office or another, only then will I be represented and impassioned to take a stand. I’m THAT man but not Michael Brown.
Nancy Rawn
Storrs, CT
I have been so proud of my beautiful boy for all of his 20 years. He struggled with so many high school identity issues but it has been especially painful to watch him struggle with the big question of “Who am I?” in this white community and white family. He has taken an alternate path which has led to reckless decisions and several arrests. We have accepted the harsh reality that showing up at court is essential- our race, his father’s and mine, effects his court outcomes. I am white but I live the reality of every mother of a brown son who wishes the world was more color blind and accepting of her child for exactly who they are.
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