Emilio Cosgrove,
Ellicott City, MD

I am a mixed-race individual who is Colombian and Irish. While being Latino is more significant to me than the privilege I have because of my light skin, my white privilege is what matters in determining the opportunities that are available to me, the day to day interactions I have with other people, and my quality of life. The fact that I do not think about the very movements I make in public is evidence of the freedom I have because of white privilege. America’s cultural idea of race is also very limited and confines people to a handful of categories based almost entirely on skin color. As a mixed-race person, I have lived the pain of this truth because my white identity is assumed by people who look at me, but my Latino identity is not. Due to America’s narrow perceptions of race, a core part of myself is almost never recognized.