Sarah Lucero-Prestidge,
Seattle, WA.
On Location: Seattle Community Colleges
FYI: I have donated my DNA to the NatGenome Project, and found that I am roughly 30% N Euro, 30% Mediterranean and 20% AmerIndan, and 10% East&West Asian and 10% African.
Before I knew this, I had always felt like people accepted me for being White enough, “Well, at least you’re able to blend in.” was a usual comment I received after disclosing my cultural/racial background. I have also been told that I looked like a full-blooded Spaniard, which in itself was closer to truth than being just “white.”
I have body of a little Latina woman, thicker in the middle and behind, short yet my skin is on the fairer side of olive toned and my hair (body included) is a very dark brown but has a red tint in the sun.
As a kid I was told to shave my arms by my peers, as a teen I developed curves before the white girls, and today young lady I still struggle to find clothes that fit me right, but that doesn’t make me mad. Since my father lived in another state surrounded with other latinos, it gave me a chance to see how different cultures when I visited.
I have accepted myself as a Latina, its a beautiful thing. My boyfriend is from Puerto Rico, he too helped me move on from the trauma of being a lonely Latina in a very caucasian state. He took me home to Morovis and I had seen how the women there look more like me than my American counterparts. They too come in many shapes and sizes and skin tones, but they had curves too!
I was floored, and felt like I was the same as them, but I’m grateful for my experiences while growing up since it has helped me to become an advocate for minorities and international visitors. I want to remind people that looks and cultures differ, and that ethnocentric thinking keeps people from moving forward from learning from others.
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