[Lisa]

What was your worst experience of discrimination?

DIRECTOR’S NOTE: Y? would be interested in hearing as much detail as possible about these incidents.

User Detail :  

Name : Lisa, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 15, City : Central Square, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC24035]

I think, just like most Americans who are not white, I could give you literally hundreds of incidents from my own life. From being followed by store security at as young as age 10, to being stopped by cops an average of every other day during my teens and twenties, to having even my college professors call me ‘chief,’ there are just so many it’s overwhelming to recall them all. Instead I’d like to share an alternate experience: when I realized just how pervasive these experiences are. The first time I went to Mexico, I was amazed at the difference in how I was treated. No hostile stares, no women clutching their purses, no one looking over their shoulders as I walked past (because, you know, all ‘those people’ are dangerous). It was an incredible, almost ineffable experience that after a few days made me feel like shouting out loud as long as I could, or like I could break down crying in the street any second. I literally felt like a hundred-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders and there was so much more that was open to me, a taste of truer freedom that I didn’t have and still don’t have in my own home country. Then, of course, I had to return. But I still hold that memory very precious, because it’s my hope that someday, maybe my children or grandchildren will know what it’s like to not be branded a threat or an alien in a land you and your ancestors have always known.

User Detail :  

Name : ACC24035, Gender : M, Race : Mexican and American Indian, Age : 34, City : W Lafayette, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Grad student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Dave]

I was a sophomore in high school in California. My social studies class had a peer assignment, and we had to form teams to complete it. My friends and I decided to get together to do the assignment – we were all of East Asian descent, although from different regions of East Asia. One weekend, we met at a round table of the local public library. Across the room, I noticed a certain Caucasian female – she was one of the more popular girls in our school. As my friends and I were working, she walked over to the round table where we were, leaned her head forward toward the center of the table to look at all of us, and said, ‘You know, we chinks have got to stick together.’ And she walked away giggling, looking back at her girlfriend, who was also giggling. We were all upset. But it was common knowledge among the racially-‘disenfranchised’ students that 1) school administrators would do nothing, 2) the girl would simply deny everything and 3) she probably learned her ideas from her parents – and this school was in a predominantly upper-middle class white community. My worst experience did not come from a white man, but rather, from a white woman.

User Detail :  

Name : Dave, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 27, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Law Clerk, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Melissa]

Well let’s see. There are so many:
1) When I was 12, I lived in an all-white neighborhood, and one day I was outside playing and some teens rode by and called me a nigger.
2) I remember walking down a street past a man painting his house and him saying ‘damn niggers need to go back to Africa.’
How can you say ‘worst’? It is all equal. Discrimination doesn’t have a scale. You can’t compare instances. Each one hurts. It hurts me to think someone would kill me just because I am black.

User Detail :  

Name : Melissa, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 31, City : Philly, Pa, State : PA, Country : United States, Occupation : technology, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Tracy24224]

I have mixed ancestry: African American, Irish, Italian, and German. I have very light skin and reddish-brown hair. Many people do not realize that I have African ancestry, so I have heard white people say things that they would probably never say in front of me if they knew I was black. The most scaring experience with discrimination happened when I was is 7th grade. It is not the worst thing I have encountered, but it hurt me the most. I went over to a girlfriend’s house after school on a Friday for a slumber party. I had been over there several times, even spent the night there once of twice before. We were in her room and I saw a book about Martin Luther the Protestant, but I thought it was about Martin Luther King Jr. My friend told me who Martin Luther the Protestant was, and that her dad would never let her have a book about Martin Luther King Jr. in the house. This confused me because in my house Martin Luther King Jr is very important. I asked her what her dad had against him, and she said he just didn’t like him. So I waited until her dad got home from work and I asked him why he didn’t like Martin Luther King Jr because I had to know why someone wouldn’t like a man who I regarded as a hero. After I asked the question, a string of obsenities and racial slurs came out of that man’s mouth that I could not believe. I had never heard anything like that – no one was even allowed to swear in my house. One of the things he said was that the n*****s had no business in this country and that they should all go back to Africa. I had enough courage to remind him that most of the Africans were brought here against their will as slaves, and he yelled at me for taking the side of the n*****s and not siding with my own kind. I was so upset that I ran out of the house and went home without taking my things with me. I had heard stories of racist people, but until this point I had never experienced it first hand. Obviously the man had no idea he was talking to someone with African ancestry. When I told my mom what happened she was very angry. She sent my grandfather – who is very obviously black – over to the girl’s house to retrieve my things. I don’t know what occured between them, but we never heard from that family again.

User Detail :  

Name : Tracy24224, Gender : F, Age : 25, City : San Jose, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Amy31592]

My worst experience of racism would be the fact that I live in a country where my ethnicity doesn’t even have a specific name on official documents (it’s conveniently forgotten). Yet it makes up quite a large percent of the population… Never being considered truly white, or black, or Asian… We are just sort of here, in the background. We have no special groups or any sort of racial pride. We just end up being the butt of ever stupid, ignorant joke. So what would I call myself? Middle Eastern is the closest term we have.

User Detail :  

Name : Amy31592, Gender : F, City : n/a, State : AR, Country : United States, 

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