PBS American Portrait. A National Storytelling Project
FEATURED COLLECTION
“I want justice...”
Hear personal stories from Americans grappling with racism and its impact, past and present.
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Listen to people from all over the country as they share their own experiences with racial injustice and their hopes for change.
- I never expected to go from the devastation that Covid-19 has left not only in America but all over the world then the deaths of innocent African Americans and the riots following peaceful demonstrations all over. I want justice for the dead, I want for...
- I never expected to feel the same concern for the lives and safety of my sons, as my grandparents felt for my parents. Police Brutality should have been addressed long ago.
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- Now is the time to respond in solidarity as the entire planet has been mobilized to stand against violence; to receive the rallying passions and words of our youth, People of Color, and the wise writers and activists alive and dead; to reflect upon and recognize...
- What are your hopes for this moment?Share a Story
- Now is the time for all people to recognize the need for cultural education in our schools. As a teacher in two rural districts I have witnessed the prejudice and racist comments by students, teachers, secretaries and administrators. Sadly, I was often the lone defender of...
- Now is the time for meto tell my black brothers and sistersI'm sorry.I'm sorry for not actingI'm sorry for not lending a handI'm sorry for not using my privilege as a white male in America to help...
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- What keeps me up at night is thinking in general. It's difficult to shut off my brain and I become paranoid.
- What keeps me up at night is the impending doom yet to come :)
- What keeps me up at night is everything and nothing :)
- What keeps you up at night?Share a Story
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- Most days I feel restless. I want to go somewhere new and breath in the air, travel, hike, and just be outside. If I spend a day inside without going outdoors all day it just seems like a wasted day.
- Most days I feel like it sneaks up on me: the smothering weight of it all, the heaviness of the moment, the emotional vomiting, the sobbing and gasping for air. My spirit breaks a little every time remembering the personal hell he put me through. ...
- How do you feel most days?Share a Story
- Most days I feel exhausted. Even if I had just woken up, I feel super tired. And then, I'll be extremely hyper and annoying. I'll wake up and lay in bed for a few hours, and then get up and a couple hours later I'll be...
- Most days I feel I'm caught in a loop that never changes. With staying at home and doing online classes, there's nothing new that comes up every day as it does at school. It's the same process every day, wake up, do schoolwork, see the same...
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- What do people not understand about you?Share a Story
- You don't know what it's like to have to care for a mother that has ALS. My Mom was diagnosed with ALS early 2017. My mom had the best attitude and when faced with the ALS diagnosis it wasn't any different. She was comforting me in...
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FEATURED COLLECTION
“I’m trying to keep them all learning despite the chaos...”
American families, students, and teachers reflect on the “new normal” of learning and teaching at home.
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From accessing technology to students’ attention spans, hear about the struggles and the surprise lessons of remote learning due to COVID-19 from teacher, parents and students.
- A day's work is distant learning science with 7th graders. I respond to how they say they're doing in forms and to lots of emails. We zoom and discuss their data from their investigations. Sometimes some of them will stay until the end to chat with...
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- When I step outside my door I take a deep breath and begin to walk around the neighborhood. I feel so free inside. I look at the bunnies running around and see that they aren't stressed. The bird are out and about singing and flying around...
- What’s outside your door?Share a Story
- When I step outside my door When I step outside my door during this weird and challenging time I realize how unbelievably lucky I am to live to live where I live. I can't even imagine how the people whose homes are in the city...
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- A day's work is for me reading and writing pop culture news, and giving my opinion about what I write about.
- What’s a day’s work for you?Share a Story
- A day's work is distant learning science with 7th graders. I respond to how they say they're doing in forms and to lots of emails. We zoom and discuss their data from their investigations. Sometimes some of them will stay until the end to chat with...
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- My greatest challenge is staying positive. The news has been bad this week. George Floyd was murdered by the police deliberately. However, the COVID-19 cases are less than what they were.
- My greatest challenge is with the recent pandemic is to be motivated to do everyday things. Usually I tend to be pretty motivated during the school days but being stuck in my house has made me have multiple days where I am not motivated to do...
- My greatest challenge is looking for a quality job while also trying to homeschool a child and get my younger daughter to still be able to participate in her therapies.
- My greatest challenge is always trying to beat my past self, whether that is going one step father to reach out to someone, pushing just a little harder in sports or school or working a little harder.
- What is your greatest challenge?Share a Story
- My greatest challenge is to sometimes get going on my homework every day. I try my best every day even though it might be hard sometimes.
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- The people I relate to are the underdogs, the people who struggle, have hardship and strife.
- The people I relate to are kind, honest and truthful. I like people who are humble and transparent. People who care to share deeper thoughts with me are those, I can grow close to. Jealousy is not a quality, I can respect. Lastly, I can best...
- What communities do you relate to best?Share a Story
- The people I relate to are those who have a not so perfect story. A past that May have had up and downs but have kept their head up high and fault . I relate to those who worked for where they are today and ...
- The people I relate to are people that fight for what's right and fight to get the truth out to the world
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- My American story started whenIn response to a question “on how to do the actual breath work” that activated my brain to zero point. In April 1994 after my morning bodybuilding routine 5 am - 7 am I began to do the following breath exercise...
- My American story started when my husband Jamey and I, in 2010, began traveling to senior communities to share our love for the songs of the 20's, 30's and 40's, performing shows of the music they grew up with. Our performances ended abruptly because of the...
- How did your American story start?Share a Story
- My American story started when I was born hearing to parents who were deaf. I grew up very quickly in spite of my young age. There was always some event or happening that needed to be interpreted-- a funeral, a doctor appointment, a school conference...
- My American story started when I stood at Rouses Point, New York with one foot in Canada and the other in the USA. After two weeks crisscrossing the Atlantic our little ship made its first landfall in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada...
- My American story started when I realized I was not like most kids. Starting in kindergarten I noticed all these kids being walked into school each day with their dads. I asked my mom, what is a dad? Why don't we have a dad? Being...
- My American story started when we arrived to NYC in April 1939 from Hamburg. My father had been arrested by the Gestapo for the crime of being born a Jew . He was taken to Sachenhausen concentration camp on a cold snowy nightthe morning after Kristallnight...
- My American story started when I was 44 . I moved across the country from Maine to Arkansas ten months ago. I sold pretty much everything and gave up my long time teaching job. I have no family or friends here, or even close by...
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- I never expected my black friend of 45 years who attained Captain as a career Marine, received the Key to the City in our community would confess to me that after all of the accolades the one thing he couldn't fix is the fact he will...
- I never expected to feel the same concern for the lives and safety of my sons, as my grandparents felt for my parents. Police Brutality should have been addressed long ago.
- What has surprised you about your life?Share a Story
- I never expected ... that my junior year would have ended with me doing online school. It was a shock to many others and myself when I heard the news that we would not go to school for a month. It was an even bigger shock...
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- What tradition do you carry on?Share a Story
- The tradition I carry on is when it's christmas time and my family throws a party and we invite all my cousins and my Aunts and Uncles. my grandma makes the food so when everyone comes the food is done so they can eat. then we...
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- What gets you out of bed in the morning?Share a Story
- What gets me out of bed in the morning is food. I will keep pressing my head further into my pillow, until i get hungry. Only then will I get out of bed to eat. I do have school on weekdays, but i only have to...
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- When did you take a risk?Share a Story
- I took a risk when I opened my restaurant, and even though I thought the toughest times had ended, coronavirus showed up to change everything and turn the service industry on its head. Now we have to build it back up, and the small businesses have...
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- My parent(s) wanted me to find the truth. I grew up viewing the world through a filter which kept me from seeing the reality of my own identity. I am a trans person, I'm queer, I'm a drag queen, and I'm a traitor to the life...
- My parent(s) wanted me to to support myself, on my own and not depend upon another person, It took me some time, because of lack of education, but I was lucky enough to become a teamster, and with a high school degree,I not only supported myself...
- What did your parent(s) want you to do?Share a Story
- My parent(s) wanted me to have a better life than they had. In turn, I wanted a better life for my son and daughter. My son I gave a better life, when I placed him for adoption. The victim of a crime, I couldn't selfishly be...
- My parent(s) wanted me to feel like I belong. I feel I belong with my work in regenerative agriculture, my interactions with others on the autism spectrum, and with other species. I feel a great aching hole in my heart as I watch as modern humans continue...
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- My Saturday night looks like ordering takeout and watching the 100 on Netflix with my family then later playing some video games with friends. Because we are under stay at home orders my Saturday nights are no longer hanging out with my friends.
- My Saturday night looks like going to bed early. The days of the week blend into each other. Saturday night, which was once as exciting as a holiday, something to look forward to during the bleak week of work, now fades and blends with the other...
- What does your Saturday night look like?Share a Story
- My Saturday night looks like fun. Almost every weekend me and my family goes to one of our friends house or the come over. We have dinner, watch movies, play games and just have a fun time together. We stay up until really late and usually...
- My Saturday night looks like a band of idiotic friends all laughing and playing videogames into the night. We work together to win, but occasionally we relax and have a fun time. Talking online helps us forget what kind of world we live in at the...
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- When this is over I hope we realize that we are more similar than dissimilar and then we can re-imagine a better society, together.
- When this is over I hope I will be able to see my husband again. When this began, I was laid off a job in the US. My husband was in South Africa. I have been sheltering in Oregon with my daughter and grandson; when I...
- When this is over I hope we are a kinder, gentler more giving society. more that 40 million people have lost their jobs as a result of the covid pandemic, many lost their health care coverage at the same time, just when they might need it...
- How will this moment shape the rest of your life?Share a Story
- When this is over I wont be returning to the life I had prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, how I view daily life will forever be altered in ways that I never would have expected. My thoughts will always be on community and the...
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