Silvia - 02/11/2018

Coming to America has made me think about things that had never come to my mind back in my country, Spain. Race is one of those matters, as it is my first time being a foreigner in a place with such diversity.

The other day we talked about people of color and identity in my English class with Dr. Vidal. She expressed how she was considered a white woman in her country, Brazil, so she came here seeing herself as that. After a few weeks in the US, she went through some situations with the rest of the faculty that made her realize her new identity as a woman of color here, because that is how she was considered for others. She decided to embrace proudly the new label and get fully involved in projects related to CAMD, and she continues with her work and dedication now.

Since September, I have found myself going through a similar process. Although I haven't inherited an incredible light skin due to my mother's dark tone, in Spain I never had to ask myself whether I was white or not, because the 95% of the people I know is white and I was always treated like so.

But here in the US, with my strong Spanish accent and not so white skin, I have experienced tons of moments with people (friends, faculty, PA workers) assuming that I'm Latina, showing confussion when they find out I'm European (other aspect is that some people don't even know where my coutry is, of course.) The other day, my black house counselor invited me to a lunch for black and Latina girls from PA, doind it really carefully because she was scared of offending me somehow. As if there was something to be offended by. I told her yes, I consider myself as woc now and I would be delighted to attend the event.There, we had a stimulating conversation about race, class sucess and I felt really comfortable all the time.

It is weird to embrace my "new" identity and sometimes a struggle as for some Latinas I don't belong to their community either (because obviously, I'm European). However, independently of how I'm seen, I'm the same person, fighting for equality and inclusion no matter if I'm white or not.