Borderlands/La Frontera
Dance for Me
Ruben: And when the White People represent us, it’s for their own sake. They want our “exotic” identity to be one that is easily consumed. Don’t you see it in the sexualization of our brown, beautifully imperfect bodies? They want us to have the Latin lover’s smile or the JLo ass, and if we don’t, we don’t exist. Latinos lacking chiseled jaw lines or boner-inducing curves don’t grace our television screens. I stand shirtless in front of the mirror, and what is reflected there is not what I see on TV or on my movie screen. Instead of sculpted abs, I have a fairly normal stomach, but because there are nothing but sexualized, desirable individuals with my skin tone in our media, I begin to hate what I see. Unless they can call us Papi or Mami in bed to fulfill some wet dream, we’re not worth seeing.
I Ain’t Your Teacher
Zoe: It feels like that's all my purpose is here. I walk into a room and, as the only person of color, I transform from being just Zoe to the voice of “the minority.” It doesn’t matter that my life is just one facet of the kaleidoscope of stories that make up our community. Someone comments on what they see as an observer looking into my “marginalized” community. I cringe when I have to begin my sentences with “As a Latina…”, because suddenly I feel like the weight of my words have grown to carry the voice of my entire ethnicity. That’s my only value. All that matters is that I have brown skin and can articulate a sentence. That I can be their walking, talking, visible diversity.
Querida Familia
To our brothers and sisters on campus. To our mothers and fathers back home. To every person who has taught us what our Latinidad is supposed to be. Who we are is a result of what you’ve instilled in us. The strength, resilience, and compassion that nuestra historia, has gifted you, you’ve in turn given to us. Your stories, struggles, joys, and sorrows seep into our skin, our soul, and our Latinx identity–creating Latinidad.
Let Me Fail
I saw, for the first time in my life, a television screen filled with so many women of color like myself. The shades of their skin—so similar to my own and that of my community—took center stage as a symbol of the best that our country has to offer.
