People think that growing up with different cultures and backgrounds is cool because you’re more exposed to the world than most other people. That might very well be true, too. The idea of growing up a minority within a minority, though, is not always rainbows and cupcakes however.
Majority of my life, I grew up as a Puerto Rican Muslim. Yet majority of that life, I grew up being told I wasn’t either of those things. It’s a harsh feeling when people, even your friends and family, are constantly trying to put you inside a box.
“WHERE ARE YOU FROM?” is a question I always hate hearing, but I hear all the time regardless by majority of people I meet. My reply is always, “I was born here,” but we both know that isn’t what they meant. They want to know my nationality, the culture I was born with, but when I tell them the truth, they never believe me.
A Latina Muslim is a rare thing in the Muslim community, with an estimate of about 4% in the United States alone. The Islamic religion, like many other religions, has always been welcome of people of different races and backgrounds. However, as I grew up being a Puerto Rican Muslim, there were challenges fitting in with my Muslim brothers and sisters.
With majority of Muslims in the United States being of Arab descent, it was hard to make a connection with any of them or even communicate with them. When I attended Saturday Islamic school, the books were completely in Arabic. The teachers spoke Arabic. I would even catch the students talking in Arabic, especially with their parents. There was such a lack of diversity in that school that we even had to do a project on “Muslim countries” regardless of the fact that my family didn’t come from a “Muslim country.”
Regardless, I did my project on Turkey. When I presented the country to my classmates, however, my teacher didn’t seem impressed. She told me, “Turkey isn’t a Muslim country. They’re Persian,” which confused me. How could Turkey not be a Muslim country when 99% of the population is Muslim? Isn’t being Persian and Muslim two different things? I wasn’t wrong, but it made me question what my Arab teacher and my Arab classmates considered to be a “Muslim country.”
It was then that I became aware of the seclusion among not really the Muslim community but the Arab community. As a woman now, surrounding myself with converted Muslims and Muslims of different countries besides the Arab world, I never felt this same isolation. It’s probably because of these types of Muslims that exist, that I’m still one myself.
However, it is much more difficult having the Latino community accept your new religion. Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in the Spanish world. If you ever went out to a Spanish store, you’ll probably find a bunch of tall candles with Jesus Christ printed on the front. You probably already found them in your local supermarket, located in the “world foods” aisle.
Other Latinos, when they hear what my religion is, they are first shocked before it is followed by disbelief. The Latino community is very close-knit as I have observed. Since they speak the same language and have similar cultures and even might as well share the same religion, it’s only natural. I never found anything wrong with a close community, as well, but the idea of a Puerto Rican Muslim is unfathomable to a lot of them. It goes against everything they know and everything they have been, and because of that, I’ve had to hear comments like, “You’re a disgrace,” and “Real Puerto Ricans don’t wear towels over their heads.”
I never grew up with the language. I only had a necklace from my late grandfather that read “Puerto Rican Princess” to show as proof, but when I did present it, I was accused of stealing it from someone else.
During my childhood and teenage years, I felt depressed over the fact of not being accepted. Now as a woman, though, I have come to realize the problem was not with me, but with the communities I was trying so hard to be a part of. Not to say this is their fault, but groups of all backgrounds have been conditioned to fear anything or anyone different over the anxiety that those people will somehow change their way of life when in reality it is not. Just because my religion is different, that doesn’t mean my culture is as well. People tend to mix the two together when they are different from one another.
Being a Muslim hasn’t stop me from eating rice and gandules or my love for reggae tone. I cannot take away either or because both are a part of me. I cannot be put into a single box. During the time of the 2016 Presidential Elections, it is more than important for people like me to make a stand against ignorance. Presidential nominees like Donald Trump don’t just insult one part of us. He insults multiples parts about us. Growing up a minority within a minority has made me realize that I and many others are more than a simple check on a box, and it is important that we get out of that box or we will never truly know each other for who we are.
