Carissa Renee Chacon,
Wayne State,
Detroit, MI
Born with the curliest, thickest dark brown hair (well now it’s auburn). Hazel eyes that have green and specks of gold. Skin white as snow. There’s always been a push and pull situation regarding my ethnicity. Most people don’t believe me when I say I speak Spanish fluently. No, I never took classes for Spanish. I grew up with the language. I’ve received a lot of positive and negative backlash for my mixed race. Most work places have hired me because of me being bilingual. Yet I’ve had other places not hire me because they want someone “of color” to work for them. Not someone with white skin. Yet people don’t understand that I consider myself a person “of color” even though my skin is fair. I’m Hispanic, for crying out loud. People will just look at me and make assumptions right away. I think awareness about the race card is such a great way for this to become an open space where people can just express their feelings and have open conversations. It’s not everyday where we get to talk about this or it might be considered “taboo” or “uncomfortable” to some. But so what?
