Karinna,
Holland, MI
The phrase“Way too Mexican, but too white” to me shows the life I live. Every summer I go to Chicago where my family from my Mexican side lives. I remember we always make jokes about how white I am. Like “gringa” , or “ shouldn’t you be a bit paler” or “coconut.”
Basically a ton of light-hearted jokes about me being too white. But once I go to my white side, they again make jokes, some not as lighthearted as others. Most are but not all. They like to play into the Mexican stereotypes like “Are you ready to be the pool girl this summer? You know because your Mexican” or a more light-hearted one like “you are so dark and Mexican.” On both sides of my family, I’m always too much of one race. No matter if I try to code-switch or not it doesn’t work.
