Poignant and candid stories that explore what it means to experience race in America - from our earliest childhood memories to our current day social and political beliefs. Some heartbreaking, some cringe-worthy, some uplifting – all very personal. By sharing the stories of when we first learned we are all different, we find the common thread that shows us how much we’re all the same. Follow #unitedstatesofrace for more content at instagram.com/unitedstatesofrace and medium.com/united-states-of-race. If you have a story to share, send us a message at unitedstatesofrace@gmail.com!
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Introducing United States of Race, a podcast about experiencing race in America through the power of personal storytelling. Premieres Monday, January 18th. If you have a story to share and would like to be featured in an upcoming episode, contact us at unitedstatesofrace@gmail.com
Speaker 1:
I'm American. As much as my parents were born in Mexico, I was born in America, as an inner-city kid in Houston, Texas. I'm American, whatever you want to call it. But, America is a melting pot.
Speaker 2:
I was teased so much as a child. I had kids pulling their eyes to make slants chanting Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these. I felt so ugly and ashamed to be Korean. I wanted to wash every bit of Asianness away. I wanted to be white, like my friends. But of course, I couldn't.
Speaker 3:
In the schools that I grew up, all the honors classes and the AP classes were mostly white, and all the remedial classes were mostly black. These teachers didn't realize the power that they had to categorize you. But at the same time, I don't really want to think about that and say, oh, what could have happened or what could I have been if I was white? What are the possibilities if...if I had been treated equally,
Speaker 4:
My life's pretty good. I have a lot of options. You know, if on occasion, I'm getting disadvantaged because of my skin, I'm kind of okay with that. Because things are good for me. It's not like I don't have challenges, that I don't have things like that. But I know for a fact that a lot of doors and a lot of things just open up for me just based on this as a white male.
DB Crema:
The topic of race is one of the most divisive of our times, when we talk about race, it's from these deeply entrenched positions, each of us representing a unique perspective. But we are not always like this. Most of us are taught about race at such an early age, we may not even realize when our opinions were first formed, or the ways it's impacted how we navigate relationships for the rest of our lives. And as we become increasingly polarized over the social issues of our time, we rarely stop to question where our opinions came from.
Speaker 5:
I grew up watching movie musicals with my mom. And I remember watching South Pacific with her and hearing the song you have to be carefully taught, talking about, you know, you have to be taught to hate and fear people who look different than you.
Speaker 6:
I learned very early on, you're going to evaluate me based on your biases. Nobody is going to evaluate me based on fairness.
Speaker 7:
The racial mix of the kids and families I grew up with- just very few black families in our in our neighborhood. Like when we would go to an Oakland A's game, there was like, palpable tension in the car as we drove through those neighborhoods. I think what the kid notices is, I don't see black people very often and the time I do is when I'm being told lock your doors.
DB Crema:
Welcome to the United States of race. I'm your host DB Crema. Look, race is a tough subject. Everyone's got an opinion, and they feel really strongly about it. And I've asked people of all races, ethnicities, ages and genders to open up and share their stories about experiencing race in America, from their earliest childhood memories to their current social and political beliefs. Some are heartbreaking, some uplifting, and some are downright infuriating. But this isn't about endorsing or discrediting any views. It's about tackling this divisive topic and broadening perspectives. Because by sharing the stories of when we first learned we were all different, we find the common thread that shows us how much we are all the same.
Speaker 8:
The practice of talking about race in such a thing that you don't do and yes, we can talk about these thi gs. We can question these thi gs, we can discuss these thi gs, and I don't have to feel s ared to do it.
DB Crema:
If you believe in the power of personal storytelling, subscribe to this podcast now. ou can find the United States f race on Spotify, Apple odcasts, or wherever you get our podcasts. We're also ooking for guests for the odcast. So if you - Yes, yo would like to be featured in a upcoming episode, send us message at unitedstatesofra e@gmail.com Thanks for listening!
