“The whole situation, I was looking for any other reason for his behaviors outside of race. I didn’t want it to be race related. We never do. Ever.”
‘You’re in the area to buy crack.’ I was alone on the side of the road, my beachball-sized belly hiding under my dress.’: Woman shares encounter with police officer, ‘I felt I didn’t belong’
‘I clung to fake hope if I didn’t say anything, they’d love me.’: Asian man shares experiences with racism in wake of hate crimes
“One girl who I really had a crush on made the ‘chink eyes’ as a joke, so I played along, did the same thing. She said, ‘You don’t have to do that.’ I went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror at my chink eyes, and cried.”
‘My dad’s dark complexion paired with my mom’s fair skin made them a target in ALL FORMS.’: Woman shares parent’s biracial love story, ‘They make America BEAUTIFUL’
“They still hold hands when they take walks. My mom still has the countless letters of love my dad wrote when he was away. My dad still cuts flowers from his garden for her. All that mattered was the love they found then. It’s all that matters now.”
‘I asked, ‘Do you trust me to raise our children?’ Loving them isn’t enough. It’s not the same as their dad’s understanding.’: Mom discusses challenges with mixed family, ‘I am their ally’
“Is love enough? Is it enough that I love them more than life? I’ve so desperately wanted the answer to be yes. As much as I can tell them it’s going to be okay, it’s not the same.”
‘My little girl asked, ‘Daddy, what’s a wawwy?’ ‘A rally?’ She nodded. I knew I wouldn’t be that kind of father.’: Gay dad of 3 multi-racial children teaches ‘our differences make us beautiful’
“Growing up in south Mississippi, I was able to easily see how my own father was the most racist and hateful person I had ever met. As I got older, he would call me sissy, mama’s boy, and queer. That was bad enough, but the things I can recall him saying towards black Americans were just as bad, if not worse.”
‘Black women are resilient because we have to be, not because we are stronger than you.’: Woman urges ‘our pain is real, physical and emotional’
“The Strong Black woman stereotype implies we are strong, which should be a good thing, but it often isn’t so.”
‘They see only your Black friend. They may take matters into their own hands. I’m trusting you.’: Mom to black son pens open letter to white friends
“He is still the kind-hearted boy who ate at their kitchen table, sat next to them at church, and came to your Spiderman birthday party. Don’t ignore it just because you can. In the wrong hands, his consequences could be far worse than yours.”
‘I want brown people to think I’m nice so they like me, and white people to think I’m nice so they don’t kill me.’: Photographer captures how young black boys see themselves vs. how society sees them
“I would like others to know I’m not a threat to society.”
‘Some may ask why this bothers me, why it affects me because I’m not black.’: Biracial couple call for open conversation, ‘Rather than raising your guns, help us raise our voices’
“I half expect people to say I’m being too sensitive, or paranoid. Only to be met with, ‘If you want me to say your name correctly, you should have a more American name.’ WE fear for our children as they get older, and I fear for him always.”
‘My oldest son has said, ‘The school officer treats the black kids meaner. It gives me anxiety.’ I’d never tell you that at the ripe age of 14, my son ‘fits the description.’: Mom says ‘my mama heart breaks for reasons you’ll never fully grasp’
“I don’t tell you that even though we are careful not to watch these awful videos of unarmed people getting shot, your children are showing them at school. That my son has said the words ‘I can’t breathe’ when seeing a police car. I need you to love them like you love your own sons, because my mama heart cannot handle another man being shot that looks like my brothers, cousins, uncles, and sons.”
