See Beyond My Skin |

A Non-Profit Dedicated to Making America Safe for Black and Brown People

Our Mission

We share personal stories of Black and Brown People and are dedicated to fighting racism through community action.

How do you see yourself?

How do you fear that others perceive you?

These are the questions I want to ask you. My name is Nigel Ousey and I am fifteen years old and I am an aspiring activist. As a Black person in this country, many people see me and make a judgment about me because of my skin color. But that is not my whole story. And I know it is not yours either. We can not be defined solely by our skin color. I am interviewing people of color so we can present a complete and accurate picture of who we really are and hopefully change the way people perceive us in the world.

According to a Harvard study, Black Americans are three times as likely as white Americans to be killed by police officers. Every year a disproportionate number of black people are unjustly and unnecessarily killed. Some people think I am too young to do anything about this and I should be busy being a kid. But Tamir Rice was a kid my age and he was killed when he was outside playing. We are now at a point in history where people of color are exhausted. I am exhausted. I envision a world where people from all walks of life can be seen for who they are. I love the skin I am in. And I invite you to see beyond my skin. To see all of me. And I want to help other people to be seen also. Please enjoy my interviews.

If you identify as a person of color and are interested in being interviewed, please contact me.

My Interview with Dr. Cornel West

Dr. Cornel West was my first in-person interview. I assisted Rodney Whittenburg, from Melody Vision Productions on his upcoming film about the complicated musical bond between Blacks and Jews.

It was a great honor to help work on the film and a privilege to meet and interview Cornell West. We met at Minton’s Playhouse, a historic jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel in Harlem, New York City.

In our interview, Dr. West digs in beyond the superficial about Harlem, Black Joy, and the Funk.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

read the transcript

Stories

Photo by Richard Burbridge

Dr. Cornel West

“Well, I tell you that I am first and foremost the second son of Irene and Clifton West and the brother of Clifton, and Cynthia, and Cheryl and those are fundamental gifts in my life. So, first and foremost a member of the West family.

I’m a product of Shiloh Baptist Church, which always taught us that the kingdom of God is within us and everywhere we go, we ought to leave a little heaven behind. So that’s the spiritual formation and as a blues man and a jazz man, I want to be free. I want to be sensitive, and I want to be compassionate with others and especially vulnerable people.

So that’s my fundamental identity, my fundamental identity is one of a spiritual and moral identity of a member of the West family coming out of Shiloh Baptist Church on the chocolate side of Sacramento, California.“

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Kieran Renfrow

“How do I feel others perceive me? That is a beautiful question. I hope I’m perceived as someone who is passionate and confident. Sometimes, ironically enough, I get intimidating, but I don’t really think I’m an intimidating person. Anyone who knows me well, often says that I’m a very goofy, rambunctious person. I think also intentional. I’m a very introverted person by nature. I don’t like to do things or say things if it’s not intentional. I don’t like to bullshit. People say I’m straight to the point.

How do I see myself? I think as a student, not in the sense of education but as a human being. I know I came here to learn, as the soul. I see myself as a sort of unicorn. I’m very weird and unconventional. In my life, I’ve been told by others to harness that and push it down and swallow it. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve very much learned to let that come out and take pride in it and nurture it. I think the most beautiful thing about myself or anybody is their uniqueness and their unconventionality. I am a nurturing person, very much a healer. I think everyone in my family is very much a healer, especially my mother and my sister. I think that’s why I’ve come to who I am. It is because of their nurturing and their guidance. I’m incredibly grateful for them. What else? Black. Blackness is authenticity and taking pride in it and being absolute in it. There’s so much uniqueness in Blackness, and that’s the great thing about it. It’s almost like it shines through. Queer, I’m a very queer person. I love my community. I love being queer. Yeah, and I think also just inquisitive. I’ve always been a very curious child, very imaginative. And I’ve always tried to instill that in myself as I’ve gotten older because, man when you get older, people really want that imagination stuff to die off, but I’ve always really loved that part about myself. So yeah, I guess that’s a good summation.”

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Daniel Farmer

“I perceive myself as a traveler, an adventure seeker, a critical thinker, and a problem solver. I perceive myself as fun, and I don’t have many views about how other people perceive me. I have always been misperceived by people around me- not everyone, but I think it’s always been true that people have had misconceptions about me because I do live a life that’s very different from most people, and I’m on a trajectory in terms of my life path that is very different from the norm.

I don’t know that I’m bothered by anyone else’s perception of me at this point. This has to do with my work because I know those things are separate from who I am. I don’t spend any time internalizing any of that at this point in my life.”

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George

“I would like to first appreciate you for starting a platform where we can all learn and share with others of our differences and concerns.

I was raised in a very creative house and was taught diversity as a young man. I see myself as a strong man! The color of my skin is black and I know that I am as beautiful and as intelligent as any man, race, creed, or color.

I am a father, teacher, brother, and son. I believe in that order because it is my time to be a father to my 21-year-old son, and teach him all the lessons I was taught by my father and brother.

I pray every night that all black fathers and men of all colors will teach their children to have respect, love, and wisdom. That is only part of who I am and I still learn more of who I am every day!

I try not to be fearful, I take fear as a challenge as something I have not experienced or understand. Being an artist I can’t worry about what others think about me, I believe if you surround yourself with the things that bring you joy art, books, music and positive people you have no time to care about how others see you.
Ignorance is fear and people that don’t take the time to learn who I am before they judge me for the color of my skin or race or anything else they don’t understand, I have no time for!”

Kevan

“I am a Black Man,
I am a Husband,
I am a Father,
I am a Friend,

I am not a Shiny Token,
I am not an advisory.”

Nomad

“How do I see myself? That is a very good question. I see myself as a child in this world, just learning. Every day I am trying to learn. And not childlike in my mannerisms but more so childlike in my eagerness to learn things I want to learn about. I feel like I constantly want to learn and try new things. I bounce around a lot from thing to thing because I like experimenting.

Fear? What does that mean? What would I least want to be perceived as? I guess a bad person. Funny, because I have been perceived that way. It is funny because perception is life and life is funny because no matter what you do, you will have people that like you and people that don’t like you and you will have people that are kind of on the fence, so I don’t spend too much time thinking about how people perceive me, I just try to put out the most honest version of myself. Some people may like it and some people may not like it but at the end of the day, I am just being honest with myself. And that is all I can be.”

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STRATIS IDEA Team

“It was kind of liberating because this is the first time expressing who I am. And not only from being a person of color but also being a person who I felt could show that he goes through personal struggles and he has a life about himself that isn’t always perfect. It was a feeling that I’ve never really gotten before. I think STRATIS has kind of bred the culture where you can be open about your feelings and no one’s going to be there to judge you, or it’s not going to make for an awkward conversation. That’s something I appreciate. To go take it a little bit deeper, it’s a little bit nerve-racking, obviously. You put yourself out there in any situation, you don’t know how people are going to react, how people are going to receive it, but I was happy that I resonated with some people.”

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Cemah

“I really didn’t know who my sense of self was because there were so many different versions. As an immigrant, I not only see myself as Black in the White community but also African in a Black community. I see myself as a perceptual sculpture. A sculpture that changes depending on what angle you’re looking at it. But even though my surroundings and my outer presentation might change, at the core of it all, I try to be that same person through and through.”

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Lawanda

“I see myself as someone who has overcome a lot but still wants to bring all that I have to my life and the lives of others.

Despite how hard I have worked. People seem to have trouble believing that I have the skills I have actually worked so hard to develop. Even when I know I am the expert in the room – I can feel that no one is listening to me.”

Shenali

“I am an immigrant. I am a daughter. I am ambitious, kind, funny. I volunteer. I travel. I want to make the world a better place for future generations.

I worry that I am seen as a model minority. Or as just a dutiful East Asian daughter. Or as someone who doesn’t recognize how her own culture is often complicit in the oppression of other Black and Brown people.”

Brian

“I’m more Americanized than other families from Kenya. But, I’ve definitely bridged that culture. I live in both worlds, mostly the American world, but I live in both worlds in a sense. How do I want the world to perceive Me? Uh, hah, hah, I guess everybody wants the world to perceive them as a good person. I don’t know how else to put it. A good person, who did things for people, who helped out, was kind, I don’t know. That’s a difficult one. Well, I don’t have a good answer for you.”

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Husein

“I am a husband and a father and a son and a brother. I love nature and the environment, fishing and teaching. I would also say I see myself as a Patriot. I fly an American flag outside my house and I have one in my car. My wife, Karly, is my American flag whenever we go out together. She is white and when I am with her and my kids, I am an average dad and husband. When I go out alone, I am seen differently.

My biggest fear is that people see me as someone who is incompetent or a terrorist or an outsider and not a patriot in this country.”

See more of me

Listen to the Podcast Interview

Jemell & Cameron

“My name is Jemell and this is my son, Cameron. I am not an absentee father. We do not look suspicious. We are not uneducated. We are human just like everyone else.”