“The two most important words in my life would be foster care: That changed the course of my life forever. And then number two would be race. There’s no comparison after those first two—anything else would be a far run down the line. Those are the two most important things that have shaped my life and have caused me aggravation with a big A. If I could, would I change the fact that I’m black and white? Absolutely not. What I would change is that my mom wasn’t there. I’d change that.”
Black, White, Other Flashback: Heidi Durrow
“I’m just as Danish as I am black. And I was raised more Danish than I was black, for sure. But beyond telling people that, I can’t do much else, except wear this sign on the front of me that says, ‘Excuse me, I’m a white Dane.'”
Black, White, Other Flashback: John Blake
“I remember thinking when I was maybe ten or eleven, What would I do if a white person walked into my neighborhood? I remember thinking it was my duty to hurt them; that’s how I thought, that was the mentality. I guess it’s weird, ’cause all the while I knew I had a white mother.”
Kimani Fowlin
“I was on a plane and happened to sit next to an Orthodox Jew. We got into a discussion and I felt the urge to tell him I was Jewish. After those words were uttered, something shifted. He suddenly wanted to know more about me and my background and how I grew up. It made me feel like I broke into the sacred and cryptic inner circle. “
Black, White, Other Flashback: Sallyann Hobson
“My mother snuck away, got on the train, and came back cross-country. Her brothers found out she had left California, and so in Penn Station in Newark, she sees her brothers, who found out what train she was on. On one side are her brothers; on the other side is my father. She waved to my father to go away, and she went home with her brothers. They hit the ceiling about her coming back. How could she do this! That night, when they went to church, my father came to the house and picked her up, and she never went back again.”