The Wildling Story Booth

"Being biracial can be pretty difficult a lot of times. There are days where I feel like my cultural worlds are totally on opposite poles of this world." - Anja, 8th grade

"We need to recognize our personal and historical negative patterns and start a new pattern based on understanding empathy and revolutionary love." - Arameni, 6th grade

"Two police cars pulled up. They approached my brother and they handcuffed him and put him against the front of the car. My mother was very upset." - DeAnthony, 7th grade

"Remember where you came from. Remember the rice paddies and blazing sun and Peking duck and polluted skies that are your own. Remember your heart, your dragon, your fire." - Hallie, 10th grade

"I am half white and half Asian, specifically Indian. And both my parents are immigrants. So growing up in the United States is a completely unique experience for me." - Sonia

"I've been one of the only faces of color within a grouping of white children." - Julianna, 11th grade

"What was in my head was more just assimilate, trying to fit in with what they already had going on, rather than being myself because I didn't really know who myself was, at the time." - Mac

"This song ("Eguw Meri") means "The Song of the Victorius". I wrote it the day of the verdict in the George Floyd murder trial." - Obi

"Being born to immigrants that fled a civil war in Somalia, I didn't realize that I would face a ton of microaggressions during my first year as a freshman in high school." - Maisa, 12th grade

"I just really love using music as a vehicle and a means of creation to manifest the state I wish to be in." - Bakari

"You can't let anybody define you or tell you who you are. Sometimes you could take the negativity of situation and flip it into a positive triumph. " - John Paul (Breezy 2 Fresh)

"Even though things are in the past. And they might be considered history in a textbook, they affect real life people today." - Grace, 11th grade

"The first thing he asked me is if he says, Are you from the hood, where your guns and drugs?" - Julius, 12th grade

"The art teacher would constantly mix me up with all the other black students. I just don't understand how you can mix this up because we are clearly different people." - Jackson, 11th grade

"My parents were both born in Ecuador, and I was born in the United States. My first language was Spanish." - Kamila, 7th grade

"There are so many parts of who I am to share, I'm a dancer, actor, I am outspoken and creative, and I am caring. I also am adopted." - Mathias, 4th grade

"Every time I ride in the car and a police car passes by, I think, what if they think I stole something or did something wrong?" - Janna, 7th grade

"I try to wipe off the brown of my skin because I thought that I was genuinely dirty. And my mom said 'What are you doing? You're not dirty. This is your beautiful skin'." - Maria

"My classmates designed a game in which they would come up to me and try and pronounce my name. None of them ever could." - Avery, 10th grade

"My classmates designed a game in which they would come up to me and try and pronounce my name. None of them ever could." - Grace, 10th grade

"In fifth grade, an older student told me that I looked like a monkey because of a hair on my arms. He didn't know that I was going to shave my hair off for four more years after that." - A.M., 11th grade

"I've learned how racism has been institutionalized through the various systems that make up our country." - Alison, 12th grade

"I love being Black because I feel so good when we sing songs about our history. like Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr." - Aniyah, 4th grade

"I know that I can put my mind to anything. And I am special." - Aya, 4th grade

"The black girl role model I look up to is That Girl Lay Lay because she's confident and she's not afraid to speak her mind." - Tavi, 4th grade