The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Stephanie Connors
Eureka, CA
Music is one of my biggest reminders of the cultures that I grew up with. It fills me with nostalgia and pride, longing and love of the people who came before me. The people from: everywhere! I love all of it now. From day to day I swirl around in a delicious mix of American, Texan, Californian, Panamanian, English, Colombian, Scottish, Cuban, German, Irish and Woman!
Rachel James,
Syracuse, NY.
Growing up in a Latina household I learned the English that my mother spoke as a Panamanian immigrant. Therefore, I learned to say certain words while rolling my r’s or with an accent and I don’t notice it because that’s how I learned to pronounce them. But because I look more African than Latina people always think I’m “faking it”, “trying to be something I’m not”, or “trying to show off”. Seriously!? No, I’m not faking my accent!
Danixa Carr
Brooklyn, NY
I am Panamanian and Puerto Rican. My mom is Afro-Panamanian (her roots are mixed as well) and my dad is mestizo. Growing up, I’ve always identified with my Panamanian side and considered myself to be Latina. However, I had one life altering experience in Panama. I traveled to Panama in 2010 because I came in second place in a beauty pageant. The winner was mixed just like I me but had straighter hair as opposed to my kinky dreadlocks. I was not allowed to wear the national costume in an upcoming parade, La Pollera because I was told that my hair was deemed too “ethnic”, Because my hair is locked, many people define me based on their own racial experience. Many African-Americans call me “sista”, whites think I am mixed, and to mestizos I am a “morena”. I personally do not identify myself along any racial lines but tend to be more nationalistic and prefer Panamanian-Puerto Rican
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