How our own identities shape our community

In this excerpt from his memoir, Rodriguez provides a stirring recollection from his adolescence: the first time he experienced racism as a result of being an immigrant in America. As he says, the experience "stays with [him] like a foul odor."

This short story—an important piece in early American feminist literature—sheds light on 19th century attitudes toward women with physical and mental illness. In this excerpt, the speaker details her bedroom, a place where her husband and doctors come to encourage her to health. Her ailment is vague; the emphasis is on what others—all men—think and say.

The principal of Hālau Lōkahi, a public charter school in Hawaii, speaks to students about the importance of having an appreciation for Hawaiian tradition and history.

Rosie Molinary describes how she felt as a Latina teenager in the United States, caught between disparate and unrealistic beauty standards.

“I was very strict because I was afraid kids would discover I was gay.”

Young people speak out against fitting every person into one of two narrowly conceived gender categories.

A white man writes about his journey to understanding his racial privilege and the “benefit of the doubt” that life has afforded him.

This article discusses the some of the issues that can arise when institutions attempt to address the complexities of the gender spectrum.

To cover is to downplay aspects of our identity that make us different from mainstream society. Kenji Yoshino argues that, although we live in an age where the law prohibits many forms of discrimination, people still face pressure to hide who they are.