[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From a young age, we are wired to notice differences and similarities between ourselves and others. According to UNICEF, babies notice physical differences like skin color at around 6 months and children can show racial biases at as early as 5 years old. Imagine being that young and exploring the world around you. Why do…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2684″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]step one: (un)learning[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It starts when you feel a deep uneasiness in your body. Like a secret code between you and the earth that thumps and prods and irks; the earth whispers to you to open your eyes. You begin searching for safety, for care, for liberation, only to find that it is never…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] My Mother’s English [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Last spring, I read Mother Tongue, an essay novelist Amy Tan had written about her mother’s English. Tan’s mother, who had immigrated to the U.S., held an “expressive command” of English. [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]But her mother’s English was also grammatically imperfect. Because of this, she was ignored, mistreated by workers in department stores,…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The first time I saw Kitty Tsui—and really, anybody like her—was the fall of my sophomore year. Her photograph was printed in black and white in an essay anthology, which I had checked out discreetly from my university library using the self checkout station. Hiding under the hanging sheets of my lofted bed, I marveled…
Neither my grandmother nor my mother processed their pasts, one a child bride and the other an immigrant. Consequently, I inherited their pain, and I am forced to reconcile with a history and culture I did not choose.
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”2610″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]My name is Sydnie (she/ her), and I lived in Raleigh growing up until I moved to the Philadelphia area to study sociology at Swarthmore College. As a biracial girl who presents as an ambiguous woman of color who grew up in the racial landscape of Raleigh, I thought about race…
A few days ago, I was virtually shopping for a new skin sunscreen and typed “sunscreens for people of color” in the Google search bar. I realized that my white counterparts would not have to tailor their searches for their…
Now, in one of the biggest health crises in the modern age, COVID-19 has tested the world in many ways. People have been forced to accommodate by wearing masks and social distancing Also, the lockdown has led to a shutdown…
I was drawn to further explore caste through a conversation I had with my former thesis advisor, Professor Sonalini Sapra, a Dalit feminist teacher-scholar, in the fall of 2020. We were meeting to pick a potential topic of research for…
As an East and Southeast Asian woman, I have been subjected to fetishization from men because of my race. Fetishization for East and Southeast Asian women can be also known as “yellow fever.” While this nickname is more recent, the…