In elementary school, I was a minority. One of the only Hispanic kids in the entire school, with my mother immigrating from Honduras, my father immigrating from El Salvador, and I being born in Washington DC. I was a mutt.

I am a proud Latina.

I was bullied, bullied for being one of the few Hispanic kids. Being called Mexican and being told to go back to where I came from. Little did they know that this is where I’m from. I was born in the United States just like the rest of them. I didn’t know how to stand up for myself. I was bullied so much that I thought that since I wasn’t white I was ugly. I thought that in order to be pretty and perfect I had to be white.

I am a proud Latina.

Fast-forward to middle school: I moved to a different school. One where I wasn’t a minority… I was part of the majority. With Hispanic children having the second highest population at the school.

I am a proud Latina.

The transition from being the only Latina in my school to being one of many felt different it was like this for the next 7 years. I felt like I was finally able to fit in. But I didn’t fit in, I was different from the rest of the Latinos. For the 6 years prior to coming to middle school, I was brainwashed into thinking that I wasn’t normal. I was considered a “Hispanic Oreo”, which meant that on the outside my skin tone made me Hispanic but on the inside I was white. I didn’t dress the same as the rest of them.

I am a proud Latina.

Despite all that was said to me in the past I am proud of who I am. I am proud of where my family comes from. Yes, sometimes my accent comes out when I’m mad or when I say something in Spanish, but honestly it’s stuff like that and many other things like that that makes me who I am today.

Soy orgullosa de ser Latina.