I am fortunate in that I have not been front and center to a lot of racism during my lifetime. That, of course, does not mean I'm blind to the experiences that have occurred with friends, peers, and inhabitants of the cities I've lived in. Chicago, for instance, is pretty much divided into the North and the South sides with great segregation of mostly African-American people in the South. Will we ever have a fully integrated and harmonious society when it comes to race? These free creative writing prompts about race will draw on my limited experiences and they will hopefully allow us to think in a more open way about the colors of our skin. This may help you to create some writing ideas dealing with this intense and interesting subject matter.
Free Creative Writing Prompts: Race
1. Talk about a time in which you've dealt with racism. This can be with you being discriminated against, a friend of yours, or something you witnessed. How did it make you feel and what do you feel you should have done in that situation to improve things?
2. Have you ever felt racist yourself? Be open and honest about this because even tiny things like a sarcastic joke or an internal opinion can be included in racism. Why do you feel as though you've formed this opinion and do you want to change it?
3. If you are black, imagine you are white, if you are white, imagine you are black, if you are neither, pick a different race from your own. Describe your new interaction with different races and how these encounters change now that you have a new color to your skin.
4. You are white and in the deep South of the United States. You have unknowingly been invited to a Ku Klux Klan meeting. What do you do and what do you learn from the experience about this scary organization?
5. Imagine that you have a child that is dating (or considering getting married to) a member of a different race than your own. How do you deal with this? Describe at least the first meal with this person and at the most go through the entire relationship in story-form.
6. You have been asked to give a speech about racism to a group of 1st graders. What do you talk about and how do the children react?
7. Talk about a time in which you accidentally offended a person of a different race. If this has never happened, make up an instance in which it has occurred. How did you deal with your backtrack and were you able to diffuse the situation?
8. Discuss a time in which you were made uncomfortable by someone talking about race. Did you change the subject or put in your two cents? Go into great detail about what you believed the other people involved in the conversation were thinking.
9. Talk about a time in which you hung out with a friend or co-worker who was another race and noticed him or her (or yourself) experiencing judgment based on race. How did this make you feel and did you do something about it?
10. Discuss the opinions of your parents, grandparents, and previous generations on race, the terms they use for people, and the different ways that they talk about and exhibit racism.
I hope that as we continue on in this world, people are able to put aside more of their differences to understand that our cultural identities are important ways to connect not disconnect. These free creative writing prompts about race can serve as a springboard into understanding the way that we view other people. I hope that if you have determined some degree of discrimination for other people that you can learn to grow and get past it. Be well!
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Use the above prompts or article as inspiration to write a story or other short piece.
