You’re Dominican? But you’re Black, really.

Juleyka,
Oxford, CT.

This phrase is often said to me by African Americans and other (usually darker) people from the Caribbean who insist that though I am Dominican/Latina, I am Black in the United States because of its racial history and current xenophobic climate. It’s nullifying in so many respects, and usually leads me to lose respect for the person, who is doing to me–classifying, categorizing, boxing-in–what Whites have done to “others” for centuries.