Unlearning Racism As A Non-Black Person Of Color
The first time I learned about the history of race and racism in America was during my first year of college, when I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me. Before then, I had plenty of lessons on race, only none of them had ever happened in the classroom.
Growing up as a mixed-race Iranian American girl in the suburban Midwest, being the target of racism was as integral to my education as learning how to read. As a kid, my skin was much darker than it is today, and in my mostly White classroom, I was usually one of the brownest kids and undoubtedly the most hirsute.
My race has always been ambiguous, but my hairiness earned me the name “Bigfoot” from some of my classmates. Some who knew my racial background opted for more targeted insults, such as “terrorist” and “Muslim f...