Myla Ledesma,
Westbloomfield, MI.
My mother is African American and my father is Puerto Rican. Me and all my siblings are biracial, we all look alike the only difference is their light skin and I’m brown skin. We all have medium length hair. Anytime I’m with them we get ask are we mixed and when its just me and my younger sister (were 11th months apart) we get asked if were twins. I never though there was difference between me and them till high school. I met a boy who was African American and Puerto Rican to. I told him I was too and he quickly replied “no your not” I said “yes I am” and he said ” no your not, your too brown”. This caught me off guard I was speechless. A girl in my class then said “yes she is her hairs long and her sisters light skin”. I didn’t know what to say, how did my hair determine my race? and my sisters being light had to do with my race? This was confusing to me till I realized that in today’s society your not mixed unless your skin is light this is not true mixed kids do not have to be light there are various shades and I also realized that people always expected me to speak Spanish as a determining fact about my race. But now i know those are just people who do not understand that race is more than just your skin color and what you speak. Yes I am mixed, no my skin color is not a factor in me being mixed.
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