I’m never a proponent of pulling the “race card”, but I do think there are some things that warrant a race reference…as an American of Latino/Hispanic decent there are some things only people of the same background would understand. What would that be you ask???
Well, as a “Latina” I have a weird obsession with all things bright and glittery… and not just diamonds, but sequins dresses, satin red shoes with flowers, glitter shoes, gaudy rings… My list of obnoxious and gaudy attire goes on and on. But I can’t help it! It’s because I’m brown! Like a moth drawn to a fire I can’t turn down a sparkly dress or shoes… I must buy… even if it sits in my closet for a year before I wear it.
My insane cravings for tamales fresh out of the husk and homemade corn tortillas are something that only a person with a grandmother like mine can appreciate. Every time we go visit “Momo” she has brisket, homemade salsa, tamales and homemade corn tortillas waiting for me. It makes the 8 hour drive to the small town in west Texas well worth it! Regular cravings for chalula sauce, tamales, fresh corn tortillas, jalapeños, salsa and cheese are probably eating me to a slightly earlier death, but I’m brown… it’s in my blood.
In addition to my closet full of glitter and bottles of chalula sauce I have vowed to never leave the house without make-up. Ever since I was young, I can remember my mom and "mis tias" never leaving the house without their make-up on. Now, as a 28 year old single female in the big city I wouldn’t dare leave the house without my concealer, foundation, powder, bronzer, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara and highlighter. Who knows who you might run into… I might meet a single, catholic, attorney who wants to have 5 kids and loves a girl with a glitter & chalula sauce obsession… It may seem farfetched, but so are Santa and the Easter bunny. I can’t help always looking like I may run into my future husband…I’m brown and that’s how we roll.
My list of what some people may call crazy, weird or odd practices is never ending… I don’t notice them until I’m around someone who isn’t brown like me. I don’t expect someone who is of a different background to understand my weird obsession with Selena, dodging a flying chancla, my wall of crosses and wanting my grandmother’s wall sized portrait (aka “Lupita”) of the Virgen de Guadalupe.
These are all things that are related to my background… and there are Latinos who are different from me… it’s who we are. We are all different and unique in our own way. Every race and religion is different. It’s what makes us who we are as a country. We are a melting pot of diversity and it’s amazing to say I live in a country that embraces diversity.
Even though I love my country and its diversity I don’t love people who use their diversity as an excuse…an excuse to perform at a lower level, to not work, to not speak English, to not pay taxes or to be hateful to other people. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who make excuses for not doing their best. And on top of it using race as the excuse to not do their best.
As a Latina I have always been caught in “limbo”. As a product of private school and a predominately white public high school I was always a little different. I was never white enough for the white people and never brown enough for the brown people. I didn’t fit the stereotype… and I’m damn proud I didn’t! Not every Latina has to look like they just had a run in with a black sharpie, have an accent or have crispy curly hair. Even though I have encountered some uncomfortable situations I never let it get to me. I never used race as an excuse to not push forward. I never let my race limit who I was around or dictate what I believed.
I recently heard something at a “Latinos of the GOP” forum that disturbed me. I heard people complain about not wanting to play the race card yet they said they wanted someone in office who was “Hispanic to the core”. This was a complete contradiction and it boggled my mind. These are the kind of people who keep a community, country and most importantly a race from performing at its best. Instead of putting emphasis on a person’s morals, values and beliefs they are putting emphasis on their race.
What we, as a country, need to start doing is following the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and be a country that does not allow people to “be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”, and most importantly we also need to be sure we are a country that does not use the color of our skin to be an excuse for a lack of character. Even though I was fairly sheltered growing up I’ve always worked in places where I came across a lot of different races, religions, ages and social classes… I feel that excuses, not race, are the biggest issue we have as a country.
We have become a country of excuses. The people who break the stereotypes are looked at as “lucky” or at the right place at the right time. Not that they didn’t make excuses for where they were from or who they were and just worked. People who broke the mold are the people I look up to. They have inspired me to not try to be white enough or brown enough… they’ve inspired me to be me.
Many people may not get dodging a chancla, Selena, my attraction to glitter and my cravings for home made tortillas. But they can understand me never using it as an excuse to not perform. They can respect my decision to never make excuses and to never be white enough or brown enough, but to just be me. To be a 28 year old, American female who wears glittery shoes, doesn’t use race as a reason to not be all I can be and who does some things just because I’m brown.
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