Race and social identity analysis Response: RaceMinimum 1 page, double-spacedWhat are some important points that our readings for today make about race as

Race and social identity analysis Response: RaceMinimum 1 page, double-spacedWhat are some important points that our readings for today make about race as a social identity? Why is it important that we understand how people’s experiences can differ according to their racial identity? 58. • Alerchia Williams
TO BE BLACK, TOO BLACK TO BE LATINA • 383
TOO LATINA TO BE BLACK,RAM)
TOO BLACK TO BE LATINA
Aleichia Williams is a feminist writer, photographer, and artist. She has been blog-
ging for Huffington Post and published her first book, 21 Ways to Live a Fulfilled Life
According to a 21 Year Old, based on her blog posts. She was born and raised in New
York and currently lives in Texas.
I can remember the first time I had a ‘race crisis.’
I was probably twelve or thirteen and I had just
moved to the quiet state of North Carolina from
my
home state and city of New York. North Carolina
was a lot different than New York. For one, there
wasn’t an enormous variety of culture and people.
I didn’t have class with any Russians. My professors
weren’t Puerto Rican and there wasn’t a whole lot
of mixing between kids of one race with kids of an-
other. In fact, at my middle school you had three
groups you could classify as; black, “Mexican”, or
white.
Unaware of this fact I walked into my second
class on my first day of school and decided to sit
next to a group of friendly looking Hispanic girls.
As soon as I sat down the table was quiet. Then one
girl snickered to another in Spanish “Why is she sit-
ting here? I don’t want her to sit here.” Her friend,
family friends spoke Spanish. From the music we
listened to, to the church we went to, to the food
we ate, everything about me surrounded a Latin-
American culture. This was a culture that I knew
and belonged to but was excluded from it entirely
when I left the melting pot that is New York City.
My crisis continued for years. When the violence
broke out in middle school between the African-
American gangs and the Hispanic gangs and the
students spoke among themselves on who was best
I could remember screaming “I don’t know who to
side with!” When I got into high school and a class
mate told me “You’re the most Mexican black girl
I’ve ever met!” I could remember thinking ‘Is that a
compliment because my family is from Honduras?’
Even now as an adult I find people are constantly
trying to restrict me into a specific mold and identity.
My home language is Spanish so this must mean I
eat tacos. I have kinky hair so this must mean I bang
class introduction, blushed and replied to her friend
who had been in my previous class and had heard my
in English “She speaks Spanish.”
That
was the first time I could remember being
aware of my skin color and the overwhelming im-
plications it held. This was also my first ‘race crisis.’
Now, I know what you’re thinking. How could
you grow up unaware that you were black? This isn’t
to Meek Mill. For many, I am too black to be Latin
and too Latin to be black.
However, that’s not how I see things. I currently
live in Texas and my identity is unique because you
don’t have many dark skinned girls singing along to
bachata around here. I’ve learned though, that just
because I don’t fit into one specific mold or the other
doesn’t mean I’m any less of who I am.
I’m learning to embrace every aspect of my iden-
tity and not let small minds put me in a box that just
doesn’t fit. I’m Latina. I’m black. Also, I’m human.
No one can take that from me.
it was normal to be colored and walk into a store and
to in Spanish did not prepare me for how
be spoken
mom
people in other places perceived my skin. My
spoke Spanish. My grandmother spoke Spanish. Our

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