NPR

'Racial Impostor Syndrome': Here Are Your Stories

We got more than 100 letters from our listeners about how y'all feel like fakes. Here are some of our favorites.
"Racial impostor syndrome" is definitely a thing for many people. Shereen and Gene hear from biracial and multi-ethnic listeners who connect with feeling "fake" or inauthentic in some part of their racial or ethnic heritage.

It's tricky to nail down exactly what makes someone feel like a "racial impostor." For one Code Switch follower, it's the feeling she gets from whipping out "broken but strangely colloquial Arabic" in front of other Middle Easterners.

For another — a white-passing, Native American woman — it's being treated like "just another tourist" when she shows up at powwows. And one woman described watching her white, black and Korean-American toddler bump along to the new Kendrick and wondering, "Is this allowed?"

In this week's podcast, we go deep into what we're calling Racial Impostor Syndrome — the feeling, the science and a giant festival this weekend in Los Angeles that's, in some ways, all about this.

Here's how we got started down this track. A couple months ago, listener Kristina Ogilvie wrote in to

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR3 min read
Why Protesters In Georgia Are Opposed To A 'Foreign Agents' Law And Why It Matters
More than 50,000 people took to the streets of the capital city Tbilisi over the weekend to protest against proposed legislation that critics say is modeled on a Russian law used to crush dissent.
NPR4 min readWorld
In Gaza, A Hidden Threat Could Kill Palestinians Even After A Cease-fire
The United Nations says 7,500 metric tons of unexploded ordnance litter the Gaza Strip. The U.N. says it could take 14 years to dispose of these dangers.
NPR1 min read
Deadline Extended: NPR Student Podcast Challenge entries are now due May 31
Entries for our sixth annual contest for middle and high school students (and our first-ever fourth grade competition) are now due Friday, May 31 at midnight E.T.

Related Books & Audiobooks