The picture submitted by Allison Williams of Amara la Negra along with the article she shared it reminded me of just how colorist Hispanics or Latinx can be. Being born and raised in NYC and being a Dominican woman I’ve seen the discrimination and even been discriminated against of course nowhere near African Americans have. But being Hispanic something as simple as my hair I was told that my curly hair was unprofessional and should always be kept straight. I was told not to be out in the sun for too long and before when I thought it was for my health I now realize the comments that came after of a family member saying “you don’t want to turn dark” is blatantly colorist. It is very apparent in the Hispanic and Latinx cultures. It seems like there has been a shift in the way many Latinx view themselves and their African roots where the term afro Latinx came from.

Reading the article “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina” By Aleichia Williams, I resonated with what she says when she wrote “Even now as an adult I find people are constantly trying to restrict me into a specific mold and identity. My home language is Spanish so this must mean I eat tacos. I have kinky hair so this must mean I bang to Meek Mill. For many, I am too black to be Latin and too Latin to be black.” Growing up in a more urban part of new york city I was surrounded by both sides of that spectrum and I am more of middle skin color so I felt like I couldn’t fit into either side of the Hispanic spectrum.

In the Power Of Identity Politics, it says “Part of taking power was about controlling the narrative and shaping cultural norms. …Women finally inching toward breaking that glass ceiling became the reason and the rationale for broken homes and families and a changing way of life” Women are trying so hard to break the mold of not only gender but also race as well as helping themselves and helping others. Many women are advocates for what they believe in as well as lifting the voices of other people so they can fight for what they believe in, even if it doesn’t necessarily pertain to themselves.

Identity is usually defined as recognizing one’s own and others’ personalities and character. Then there are identity politics connected to race, religion, and other factors that define someone that can position them in a certain group. The author breaks down identity politics based on the text called “The Power of Identity Politics,” the author breaks down identity politics. The author begins to discuss the concept of what is power. Power has two definitions, which are “..the ability to make decisions that affect your own life and the lives of others, the freedom to shape and determine the story of who we are.” and then “..the ability to reward and punish and decide how resources are distributed.” Then the “identity” in identity politics is about what it means to live outside of the norm by the United States.

Identity and power correlate because one’s identity is the extent of how much power we are allowed to have and if we are willing to put our interest in it. The white people had the most control because everything was up to their standards, definitions, and people who didn’t illustrate those standards were the outsiders who were affected or experimented on to see the result of control or destruction. But then, if we, colored people, go against those standards and what is defined as the “core organization of America,” we use the same strategies and tactics that are causing our oppression that we seek to destroy. I think this topic of identity politics goes back to the idea of privilege. Whether it is deserved or not, there are some advantages and special rights towards white people that they don’t realize they have that define their power, identity, authority. Not to say white people don’t struggle just as people of color do. Still, everything has its own narrative that challenges the cultural norms or issues created by the white race. If it weren’t for this or by them, we wouldn’t be having such controversial discussions, movements, and even conversations. The examinations of the past trauma will help discuss how we change this and move forward. If we don’t, we will continuously move in the same cycle of the “identity” that holds weight into America’s work, organization, etc., and platform.

A snapshot that I really connected with and stood out to me the most was Allison Williams’s snapshot. Amara La Negra is a world-famous singer, personality tv star, and performer. She’s always discussed and expressed public acknowledgment about the hair; the grows out of her head and skin complexion. She has always faced the idea of colorism and racism because of her appearance. In the text of “To Latina To Be Black,” a quote that stood out to me was, ” Even now as an adult, I find people are constantly trying to restrict me into a specific mold and identity. My home language is Spanish, so this must mean I eat tacos. I have kinky hair, so this must mean I bang to Meek Mill. For many, I am too black to be Latin and too Latin to be black.” Amara has always spoken about her experience with growing up in Latin and African communities. She never fit in any cultural or racial group because she spoke Spanish, her complexion was too dark, and her hair was too kinky. Especially when she was on a reality tv show, her co-star even wanted her to change her appearance to be another world-famous African American singer or even another Hispanic singer. Because someone challenged her identity, it provoked a universal impact and conversation to discuss the Afro-Latina background and culture.

Identity tells us a lot of other people it tells us who you are and how you thought of yourself and the way you are seen by the world and how it defines you. The reading ”The Power of Identity Politics” tells us how most people thought of power which is individualized. ”One wakes up in the morning feeling empowered but empowerment is different from power. They had to teach them to do it for themselves because how they don’t have enough power. And how they have for women’s freedom was only given for white women and not for freedom of all women makes it so unfair. So the purpose of power tells us that not everyone can get the power only the white race can.

When I read To Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina I couldn’t really relate to her but her story tells us that she has been through a lot when she is sitting at the table with other girls and every one of them went quiet. Doesn’t want her to sit there because of her skin color. But she learned to embrace herself and her identity. And doesn’t care about what people say about her. This also tells us that we cannot really do anything to change our race and everyone should accept who they are even if it is hard. And we should all help one another out we are all humans. The only thing that happened in school for me is I don’t even like myself because of how I am Asian American and many people always say these sort of things like do you eat dogs and cats because of what I eat. And I was born in America and many of the people made fun of me and thought I didn’t know English. But everyone can say what they want from their own mouth just don’t listen and try to accept yourself the way you are. I’ve noticed that there doesn’t hurt me as much.

The SnapShot that really stood up to me was Jaisely Dominguez because it shows us all the races and even gender. Basically telling us that every single one of us is humans and we can’t change our race to another. And not only that there are stereotypes in many races like I even wrote about my own race. We should all help each other out. And I felt that not only it help the community but everyone in this world.

Identity is the way we define ourselves, we should always respect one another by their representing your own identity. According to the reading “Too Latina to Be Black, Too black To Be Latina”, it state’s ” I’ve learned though, that just because I don’t fit into one specific mold or the other doesn’t mean I’m any less of who I am.” This to me means that you shouldn’t care about what other people have to say. It’s more of like, this is who I am. Another part that caught my attention from the article “Too Latina to Be Black, Too black To Be Latina” was when it states, ” As soon as I sat down the table was quiet. Then one girl snickered to another in Spanish “Why is she sitting here? I don’t want her to sit here”… That was the first time I could remember being aware of my skin color and the overwhelming implications it held. This was also my first ‘race crisis’ .” While I was reading this part I thought to myself why didn’t she say something like do you have a problem with me sitting here or something like that. I mean I’m pretty sure if the other girl was in the same situation she wouldn’t like it either. Going back to what I was saying about to why didn’t the girl said something I don’t mean to say it in a tone of sounding rude but you know like normal, if that makes sense. In the article ‘The power of Identity Politics’ they defined the term identity politics to describe lived experiences of people who are not white, heterosexual and cisgender men. A part that stood out to me from the article ‘The power of Identity Politics’ when it stated, ” We believe that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression… To be recognized as human.” The reason why I say this is because they are right we should be recognized as human which is who we are. In the article ‘The power of Identity Politics’ it mention how black people have little faith about white women fighting to free black women but they still fight for themselves. Everyone has different opinions and I think that black women will always be fighting for themselves. As I kept reading it mention how if white women wouldn’t have created false classifications base on skin color or class status we would not be dealing with a conversation or issue like this. Same thing when black people were stolen and forced into subjugation by white people we wouldn’t have to be dealing withe the effects and impacts of this issue. Overall I think that there are man more issues that have affected us as humans and the world. I wonder what the world would’ve have look like from the past to the present if theses issues were never created. Therefore identity is important because it defines of who you are.

The article “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina” focuses on accepting oneself even when getting criticized for accepting your culture. As people grow up they get criticized or accepted for speaking another language or how they look. While reading the article it points out how people are separated into different categories such as White with whites, Black with Blacks, and Mexican With Mexicans. People are always labeled based on skin tone and never personality which makes it difficult for society to change and to accept someone. The environment people grow in impacts the way they are perceived, based on how they act, speak, dress, the neighborhood, people criticize those things and make predictions. People are always trying to label other people to put themselves above or to find where they fit in. It shouldn’t be like that, people shouldn’t be divided based on color or culture, they should be friends with whoever they want or someone that matches their personality, not being friends with someone only based on their race is judgmental. 

The second article “The Power of Identity Politics” focuses on how most people lack power. We let people decide what our identity should be. In this society the people mostly in power are white, and all the other people are compared to the whites. Whites get the most respect, most white get accepted for their sexuality, white in politics, more white presidents. By most of these things, whites have more power which means everyone else is treated less, most white get a better education, better financial status, better housing, better job. The other races get poor healthcare, are more likely to be unemployed, have a horrible community, are not being approved of a role based on their color, body size, are more likely to be ignored, and police brutality. Black people are told to forget about their history to move forward, however, history always repeats itself and Black people especially Black women are still not being treated as equal, they still get judged based on their looks, the way they are dressed, and their community. How are they supposed to move on from the past when they are still being judged, and making less than, and being denied a job, not being able to state or fight for their opinion without being looked at wrong? Forgiving and forgetting are two different things, moving forward would mean equal opportunity, equal healthcare, equal education money, and opportunities, equal pay, people would need to be treated and respected and not looked at wrong for their race and sexuality.