In “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina,” Aleichia Williams writes about her experience as a Black Latina in a world where fitting into one single mold is the norm. She expresses how difficult it was to attend school in a place like North Carolina, where the diversity is nowhere near the way it is in New York City. She felt she couldn’t fit in with other Latinas because their skin tones were lighter, and she felt she couldn’t fit in with the Black students because of her Latin culture and language. This reading has reminded me of how fortunate I am to live in such a diverse location like Queens, NY. There are all different kinds of cultures here, which definitely brings me comfort. In “The Power of Identity Politics,” Alicia Garza writes about Identity politics and what it’s like to live in a country where everything is structured and created around white culture. She explains that in order to really understand identity politics, one must first understand the power and what it actually means to have power. She defines power as being able to make decisions that affect one’s own life and have the freedom to shape and determine our own stories/lives. The “identity” part of the term means living outside of the mold/norm, such as being white. “if white people had not created false classifications for people based on skin color or genitalia or class status in order to maintain power and privilege over others, would we even be having this conversation?…Identity is the elephant in America’s room.”