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I lived in a town with only 2 black families.  During my sophomore/ junior year of high school our town started busing in BIPOC from other districts to help with our diversity numbers.  I remember the students that were bused in were treated differently/ looked down upon.

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- I remember being told I could only play in the backyard due to the riots in DC after Dr. King was assassinated.
- I remember in HS, the division and bias was more about socio-economics than color.

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I never experienced racism until I moved to the south for college - there, they had a separate white bar vs the POC bar, it was shocking

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It was when I went to school (first grade) that I first saw anyone who was different outside of white people.

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I was ou

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My cousins would tease me because of my lighter complexion.  I'm lighter than most in my family.

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My parents said if I watched BLACK RAP on MTV that the police would come to the house and I'd be in trouble

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When as a young child, I  moved from Minnesota to Tennessee, I heard the N word for the first time. 

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When as a young child, I  moved from Minnesota to Tennessee, I heard the N word for the first time. 

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My parents were always accepting of my black friends in high school and middle school, and they always had black friends.  When it came to dating, they were "iffy" about it.  I was also afraid to date black boys in school, because the black girls did not like it when they liked a white girl.

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In 4th grade, my friends and I were taking a picture at school (with a disposable camera) on the playground and my friend Alexa didn't want our classmate Simone in the picture with us because she was black. We didn't understand and she told us her parents said "black people are bad". We didn't say anything when Alexa told Simone to get out of the picture.

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I went to Catholic school in south Charlotte growing up and there were very few people of color in my classes/grades almost every year and I always felt like they must feel lonely or left out.

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My best friend in elementary school was African American and my mother wouldn’t let her sleep over because she wasn’t white

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Was one of the only black children in my school in Tacoma Washington and he was killed accidentally by a younger cousin playing with a loaded gun in their house.  This was during the Vietnam war.  He was a very close friend of my older sisters.  There was a lot in the silence that he died because he was black.

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i grew up in a small town with only 3 black families - i was one of the few white friends their kids had - i grew up hearing stories of my father marching, shutting down campuses & striking for equal rights in his past. i never understood that i was supposed to be doing something instead of just being there.

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Sometime in middle/high school my father Said something about not going in certain stores because “those stores are ethnic if you know what I mean”

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From a very young age, probably elementary school age my grandparents told me the Bible said not to mix races. When I grew up to have interracial relationships, they still insisted that the Bible stated this and that I should not marry the POC I was dating at the time

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Not being allowed to watch "black TV shows" such as Cosby. Fresh Prince

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Not being allowed to watch "black TV shows" such as Cosby. Fresh Prince

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It wasn’t until I moved to USA that I experienced this. In Ecuador most people are dark complexion but everyone gets along without seen color of the skin. In USA I’m too white for my own people. I experience Hispanic people being racist towards me when they think I’m white but when they hear my name or my accent everything changes and they are nice. It’s WILD  this is the first time I have actually shared this. I’ve never typed it or said it to anyone... it’s weird.

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I can't access memories of race from an early age, but a close friend in high school dated a Black person and her parents found out and made them break up.  It was confusing and

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I was dating a POC in middle school and his ex-gf who was also a POC harassed me so much until I broke up with him. She did not think he should be dating a white girl.

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When I was in elementary school (maybe 1st grade?) I was really good friends with my bus driver and her daughter who were black. I spent the night at their house and became close to their family. One day her mom pulled me aside and emphasized that although we are friends we are very different because of race and I need to understand that. First time my eyes were opened to that no matter how close we will be friends, we will always have inherent differences.

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I do not recall my earliest interactions as a child. It was my late teens. When I moved from a predominantly white neighborhood to Queens, NY where it was incredibly diverse. This was on some level culture shock. I had known very few if any BIPOC.

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my first boyfriend was a black boy name James and I adored him.  I didn't 'see' the issue going out with him.  and i remember comments made by people around me 'well as long as you don't marry him' and it was triggering for me.  I remember feeling confused.  There are many positive memories but also negative emotions.

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Middle School - Interracial dating was okay for everyone else, but not for me. 

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Middle School - Interracial dating was okay for everyone else, but not for me. 

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Negative.

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I was five years old

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My grandmother always tells the story about her parents first meeting with my grandfather. He has darker skin and gets very tan in the summertime. Her parents would not allow her to see him at first because they believed he was black. When my grandparents decided to get married, they were not allowed to have a formal wedding because her parents did not approve. I first heard this story when I was very young — I’ve always been aware of it. NEGATIVE

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When I was in middle school, I remember a conversation with some girlfriends about dating and I brought up that I was attracted to the black boys and I can still picture the looks on their faces of disapproval as if I wasn't supposed to have those feelings, which broke my heart :(

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Living with white grandparents and friends asked why I didn't "LooK" like them. Being chased around the playground with people making hand over mouth "indian" sound to make fun of me. Negative

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When I was in elementary school and at a baseball field with my Mom, a girl my age asked why I was brown and my Mom was peach. I knew I was adopted from a very young age so was very proud to tell her I was adopted from Colombia. It was positive but very easily could have been negative had her reaction been different.

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The most notable message I got was when I came home with my boyfriend and his Black friend. My dad left the house and my mom told me to leave because my dad might have a heart attack. I felt so abandoned.
I remember my relatives and friends saying things like monkeys to refer to Black people.
NEGATIVE

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When in 5th grade I remember scantron tests.  and particularly having to select race. feeling very uncomfortable just selecting "Black/African American" because I felt it discounted my mothers heritage as a pacific islander and asian american woman. Refusing to select one answer I received mt scantron back and my teacher had selected Black/african american rather than accepting my answer. I was so Frustrated to have somone else Label me.
When growing up in Rural Virginia and being multiracial (non white) it was very interesting being the only "black person" in classes then when leaving classes not being "black enough" to hang out/be accepted by other black students.

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I went to a Montessori school that was extremely diverse/multicultural. I remember having days attributed to celebrating differences and learning about others. Then, for my freshman year, I went to a public school in rural NC. The divide between groups of people almost exclusively based on race was new to me. My initial learnings about race and differences were positive, my understanding at about 14 that this wasn't how the world would always be, was negative.

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I had friends of color when really young, then moved to area with no BIPOC. When I moved back to FL, I would hear one of my favorite aunts degrade BIPOC. There would be segregated tables in the cafeteria once we hit middle school.

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I have two half brothers that are POC and one of my earliest memories  is someone telling me that they couldn't be my brothers because we didn't look a like. I was only 6, so I didn't understand that they were my half-brothers, not just my brothers, let alone a different race. I am remember feeling very confused and upset. Negative.

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I remember my parents telling us how much they struggle and sacrifice to make sure that as immigrants we always lived in the "good neighborhoods" so that we went to the good white schools.

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I remember in elementary school, one of the only Black kids in my class was from Nigeria. Other kids joked around with him about his name and I remember feeling discomfort around it but not knowing what to do with that confusion.

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I had a friend who was a POC in kindergarten and he asked to spend the night. Every day after that he always asked if he could come home with me from school. I didn't understand that there could be such a difference in peoples lives at that time, based only on the color of skin.

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When I was in high school, I wanted to go on a date to the movies with a POC. I was told that I could not go by my mom because "of how it would to others." She stated she didn't care but that it would look bad to others. Clearly an excuse.

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I remember being a child (maybe 10) visiting my grandparents at the beach when my grandmother made a negative comment about there being a lot of black people at the beach we were visiting. I knew then, that she was wrong, but I din't know how to speak up to her. Negative.

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My earliest memory of having been taught racist beliefs was about 4 or 5 years old.  I was at a friends house and there was a photo of her sister with a Black boy at a dance.  I vividly remember questioning my friend why her sister was allowed to go to a dance with him because I had been taught interracial dating / marriage wasn't acceptable.

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Growing up with close friends that were POC and having your relatives make comments like, "You better not bring a black boyfriend home." Yet my family was friendly to my friends on a surface level, apparently.

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My peers as early as elementary school questioned my race and skin color, though I was adopted and didn't ever know I was black and white until age 28.
Negative.

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I had very close friends who were POC, yet I would sit at my very racist grandfather's house and have to "shut up and listen" as he spewed hate.

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That as a white girl, I was 'different' for wanting to have dark skinned babydolls. I remember family members making comments that I always had my two dark skinned babydolls with me -- they couldn't believe my mom would buy them for me.