After watching the entire season two of “One Day At A Time” on Netflix with one of my friends, I began to really wonder at the position that Elena takes as a Latina. But more specifically, as a light-skin Latina.
On the show, her brother is a “beautiful caramelo,” and she is light skinned. Elena realizes that where her brother has to deal with name calling and being told “go back to Mexico” (even though that’s wrong because they’re Cuban), she has never had to deal with any discrimination growing up. She immediately takes offense saying that “she’s passing” and that’s why no one bullied her.
My reaction to that was “Okay, in the first season you’re upset because you got the spot for diversity, but now you’re upset that people don’t recognize that you’re Latina? Girl, come on. Stop getting mad at the little things.” But after, I considered the fact that some people don’t think I’m Latina.
Most people think I’m Italian or of some other European descent. If they do think I’m Latina, they ask me if I’m Colombian, because many Colombians are light-skin. While this doesn't particularly bother me, I proudly tell them that I am Guatemalan. While most people go "Ohhh okay, cool cool," others look at me and say "Really, you're Latina? I would've never guessed."
Then, of course, the next question is either, "Can you speak Spanish?" or "So obviously you can dance right?"
While in my case, the answers are yes I speak Spanish, and yes, I can dance, but my sister can't dance for her life. But sometimes people assume that other light-skin Latinos/as can't speak Spanish because they're light skin. Literally not the case because I know plenty of darker skin Latinos/as who don't know the language for different reasons.
Being a light-skin Latina hasn’t stopped me from embracing my Guatemalan heritage.
There are times where I do feel that maybe I’m not Latina enough because I don’t have that “beautiful caramelo” color like a majority of my family has, or because I don’t automatically speak Spanish to my Latino/a friends like others do, or because I don’t “dress” or “act” like a Latina.
Okay, but how does one dress or act like a Latina? Because clearly, I’ve been living under a rock if such a thing exists.
Being a light-skin Latina has taught me that white privilege is a thing and that because I “pass,” I cannot relate to what my fellow dark-skin Latinos/as experience. I cannot say that I’ve been discriminated against because of what I look like. I cannot say that I’ve had to experience the negative stereotyping of the Latin community.
As a light-skin Latina, I’m not asked if my family is here legally or if I moved to the United States at a young age. People just assume that I’m white and that my family has been in America for generations. People don’t automatically think that I would ever do something wrong because I’m “white.”
Like Elena, I'm "passing."
Being a light-skin Latina has taught me that to some in the Latin community, I'm not Latina enough because of my skin color. But it also taught me that to others, my light-skin is more desirable (not just because dark-skin has a negative stigma) but because it's more "beautiful." Where sometimes I long to have my aunt's darker skin color in order to feel more Latina, some long to have my lighter skin to feel more beautiful and desirable.
Being a light-skin Latina has taught me that just because I'm light-skin – something I didn't just check off on a piece of paper, in the womb, when I was applying to be a girl – doesn't make me any less Latina than the next Latina/o. It doesn't make me any less Latina than my cousins who I love and adore so much.
Soy Guatemalteca.
I am Guatemalan.
I am Latina and proud.
I am enough.
