March 2012
60 posts
February 2012
142 posts
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Can you share how different your experiences and...
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. Today we want to know: Can you share how different your experiences and perceptions of race have been based on the region of the country or world you’re in?
Submit your story (videos are encouraged!)
Here’s how:
Pick a question to answer from this list or make your own
Click here or the...
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"Oh don't mind the creepy Black guy in the...
In answer to “What’s the most awkward racial interaction you ever had?”
So I was at Texas A&M University, their College Station campus for a summer research. The program consisted of students with different racial backgrounds, what made it good was the fact that there were other Black guys in the program so I did not feel to alone. Well one Friday evening myself some of the...
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Black President = Way too much honesty
In answer to the Day 18 Question “How has Barack Obama’s presidency affected your view or experience of race?”
I’m torn about Barack’s presidency. While it has helped us make some great strides in furthering the idea of what it means to be Black, it has also brought out the crazies. But I have to admit the crazies are at least vocal and upfront. There’s a lot...
Dear NYC, Sunday night I will be doing standup w Hannibal Buress, Wyatt Cenac & more. FREE. http://comedyattheknittingfactory.tumblr.com/ FREE SHOW///Starts @ 9pm///21+
The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn
361 Metropolitan Ave.
Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
347-529-6696
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"Our neighbors love us (to our face anyway), I...
In answer to the Day 11 Question “Are You The Black Friend?’”
My family and I live in an upscale neighborhood and are one of two black families. Our neighbors love us (to our face anyway), I think because we don’t bring any other black people to the neighborhood. They don’t know that it is just circumstantial, our black friends live in a different region of the US...
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"My ultimate dream was to be Mrs Michael Jackson."
In answer to the Day 1 Question “When Did You First Realize You Were Black (or X)?”
When I was about 8 or 9, in the early 70s, I loved the Jackson 5; I built up a whole pre-adolescent fantasy of Michael coming to my backwater town in western Pennsylvania and somehow meeting and falling love with me. My ultimate dream was to be Mrs Michael Jackson. This dream was shattered when my...
baratunde:
I’m off to #Chicago! Doing a big #HowToBeBlack event at The Hideout Thursday 7-10p http://www.chicagoreader.com/gyrobase/baratunde-thurston/Event?oid=5642176 #bethereorberacist
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What's the most awkward racial interaction you...
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. Today we want to know: What’s the most awkward racial interaction you ever had?
Submit your story (videos are encouraged!)
Here’s how:
Pick a question to answer from this list or make your own
Click here or the “Submit” button on the top of the page
Choose how you’d like to...
3 tags
Has anyone ever said judgmental things about a...
February 20 - Has anyone ever said judgmental things about a race and assumed you had no problem with it?
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. For day twenty we want to know: Has anyone ever said judgmental things about a race and assumed you had no problem with it?
Submit your story (videos are encouraged!)
Here’s how:
Pick a question to...
We need a web storefront to sell autographed books, hoodies, etc. Who should i investigate? amazon webstore, paypal, etc? #HowToSellBlack View more on WhoSay »
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"I had just assumed that as you grew up, you...
In answer to the Day 1 Question “When Did You First Realize You Were Black (or X)?”
I suddenly learned everything I needed to know about the world when I discovered that I was Black. What can I say? I was an Air Force brat who was born in Long Island, New York, moved promptly to Japan and had maids who lived with us, proceeded to Maine and lived with the “Eskimos” (at...
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"I am responsible for introducing the Afro to...
In answer to the Day 4 Question “Can You Swim?”
Oh, yes — like a fish. Having grown up in Long Island, NY and Okinawa, Japan, swimming came naturally. It wasn’t until we moved to Altus A. F. B., Oklanhoma, did my swimming become an issue for people. We were almost the only Black family on base and I was certainly the only Black person in the pool, and I am sure I am...
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Why Can't We Just Ignore Racial Differences?
In answer to the Day 6 Question “Why Can’t We Just Ignore Racial Differences Already?”
Yikes — how boring would pot lucks be with no variety …
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“Thurston is at his best when chronicling his experiences as the child of a...”
– via the San Francisco Chronicle review
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Have you had a moment in which you considered...
February 17 - Have you had a moment in which you considered yourself having failed at being black (or other race/identity?)
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. For day seventeen we want to know: Have you had a moment in which you considered yourself having failed at being black (or other race/identity?)
Submit your story (videos are...
5 tags
"I even have the power to somehow suddenly...
In answer to the Day 14 Question “Do you ever find yourself turning your race “up” or “down” depending on who you’re with?”
Yes, almost every day at work when I am in a meeting with executives. Given that I am the first and only Black employee in myunit, I have the profound effect of causing heads to turn when “they” (non-Black executives) realize that the person to whom...
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"As a medical student, I never imagined that I...
In answer to the Day 6 Question “Why Can’t We Just Ignore Racial Differences Already?”
my first clinical rotation of my third year was medicine. I was filled with energy and optimism. My school is located on the cusp of social economic disadvantaged urban center. So of course most of my patients are black, hispanic, or asians who often don’t speak english. The current...
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Tweet of the day from @SuperDaveWho
I am currently reading #HowToBeBlack by @Baratunde while listening to #NiggasInParis and wearing a RIP MJ shirt. #blackhistorymonth Done …
— Superdave Houdini (@SuperDaveWho) February 16, 2012
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Do people consider you an "exception" to your race...
February 16 - Do people consider you an “exception” to your race as in “you’re different?”
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. For day sixteen we want to know: Do people consider you an “exception” to your race as in “you’re different?”
Submit your story (videos are...
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Turn that shit up B!
In answer to the Day 14 Question “Do you ever find yourself turning your race “up” or “down” depending on who you’re with?”
I turn my blackness up when I find I’m around elite White people. But at the same time, I try to act scared of them. I’ll pull up next to a white woman in my very expensive BMW and make sure she sees me lock my doors as I’m listening to ACE...
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"'I am not Martin Luther King,' I exclaimed, and...
In answer to the Day 14 Question “Have You Ever Been Asked To Speak For ALL Black People?”
When I was accepted into Medical School, I assumed it was because I was intelligent, had an impressive academic history, and clinical + research experience. When I arrived to orientation, I realized I was one of a select group of four specifically chosen black ambassadors. Our mission, to...
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How I learned about black people
In answer to the Day 1 Question “When Did You First Realize You Were Black (or X)?”
I was a military brat, and we moved to Alabama when I was four. When I was five, my best friend Kim and my “boyfriend” Jamal were both black (I’m so, so white), but I didn’t actually realize that at the time. My mom says she’d get dirty looks sometimes when she’d...
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"I was largely programmed for Black Friend status"
In answer to the Day 11 Question “Are You The Black Friend?’”
Being part of the first post-civil rights generation, and growing up in a middle-class environment built by parents who took every advantage they could for their kids (integrated schools, etc.), meant I was largely programmed for Black Friend status from a young age. It was our generation’s duty to increase...
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WatchFebruary 15 - Do you ever find yourself turning your race “up” or “down” depending on who you’re with?
Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity. For day fifteen we want to know: Do you ever find yourself turning your race “up” or “down” depending on who you’re with?
Check out the above video...
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"How would I want to be treated if I was...
A great story about identity and race.
Yes, it’s true. I’m white, 56 years old, and nerdy. To further establish my whiteness: Raised in Utah and Wyoming where we had only one black guy in my high school. His name was Michael Jackson — REALLY. But I’m writing to tell a different story… Flash backward to after college, almost 30 years ago… I’m in my first...
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