Privilege, fair skin, and Latina pride

 

My privilege is living in America with Latina blood and fair skin

 

My privilege won’t let a man in blue suit, gold badge, baton and Glock 40 throw me down on the city’s cement because I walked out of a liquor store with hands in my pockets

 

My privilege lets me get away with identifying as White 

 

My privilege lets me earn 5,000 more a year than someone who identifies as Black or Hispanic 

 

My privilege is residing in an affluent area full of fresh, preservative free, edible resources

 

My privilege is not having to take a bus then a train a bus then a train a bus then a train to nearest grocery store to feed a family of 5

 

My privilege is not living in the middle of a food desert where meals are served from a liquor store with a broken window, 3 dollar cigarettes and alcohol for all ages

 

My privilege won’t let me eat A bag of chips with 60% air

A 40oz glass of malt liquor that tastes like gas-o-line 

and a cup of top ramen

for dinner 

every 

damn 

night.

 

My privilege is not having to skip school because I’m known as the car thief, speed demon, berry picker, cherry picker, coke camel, 

 

spic-and-span.

 

My fair skin and body type, however, keep people guessing What I am

 

My fair skin and body type keep people asking

 

“where are your people from?”

 

My fair skin and body type make people say

 

“ooooo You’re mixed, and ahhh that’s why

THAT’S WHY

you are so beautiful”

 

And mono-racial people aren’t?

And If I weren’t mixed, then what?

And if I’m just a small, curvy, porcelain, cherry cheeked, semi-freckle faced, jet black, front bang, thin browed Ruca and DOLL sitting on a large shelf built from sugar coated compliments and dehumanizing comments

for you to admire

 

then what?

another check off of the list of ethnic girls you’ve dated?

 

My grandmother came from Lima Peru

My grandfather came from Lima Peru too

 

My Latina pride came from Lima Peru

….

Hi I’m Valentina Vargas,

Not Val

Not Tina

“Valentina” 

Nice to meet you.