BLOG: Trigger Warning ⚠️ Biracial woman claiming to be black in Amerikkka (Patreon)

I’m not trying to be facetious because some of you were triggered by this week’s episode with @taymocha. Being black in America has a dark and complex history, period. It’s a lot to unpack but here are a few thoughts from a black Latina.

Has having a lighter complexion granted me privilege in some ways? I’m positive it has even unknowingly. Have lighter skinned “non biracial” person experienced privilege, I’m sure they have. Where you fall on the color spectrum matters a lot...to them. Them meaning white people. Which in turn means a lot of black people. Because we care a lot about white peoples view of us. We’ve had to. It has held us back and has directly effected us. I get it. I will never understand what it’s means to be a dark skinned woman in America. Just as you will never know what it means to be me. Let’s not pretend to know each other’s experience. Let’s not always assume one has experienced more outward racism then the other (even if the likelihood is higher that the darker human has). That is what they want. They win every time you do that.

Someone in our comments compared being biracial to a transgendered person. That’s a lot to unpack, but for me, highlights how deeply rooted colorism is. Often how black you are is gauged on how much of an outcast you have felt in society. “You would never understand how it feels to be a black woman” is something I have heard many times. This is the assumption that I have never experienced racism like “them” and because of that, I’m less black. I think of Trevor Noah. He grew up in apartheid as a biracial child.Lived in a poor black neighborhood with his black mother. He was deeply and directly effected by a type of racism that isn’t backhanded. It’s right there, loud and clear. Is he more black because he and his family experienced an insurmountable amount of racism? or is he transgender? I’m not trying to be funny. Neither experience is a laughing matter. I’m just trying to let them stand next to each other so you can how different every black person views race. Privilege shows up in more ways in our community then just color. Status, education, class. Their are black people that are more privileged then others. That’s just the truth. I have been discarded by people in my community because of something I never asked to be. light skinned limbo. Constantly being reminded of your skin color by your own and also feeling uncomfortable in white spaces where they may feel more comfortable degrading a part of you they think is not your experience. Being Latina (Mexican 🇲🇽)is an added layer. Latinos are the 2nd most marginalized group of people in America. I remember telling someone I was Mexican and they literally said “eww those are the dirty ones”. They were black. So being fully black wasn’t allowed but also being Mexican carried this weird shame. Like any other “type” of Latino was more acceptable.

I am raising a child and nobody would question if she was black. She will walk through this world and be enough for black people to embrace. She also speaks Spanish and will know the beauty of that side of her family. She is technically mixed race but won’t be asked to prove her blackness. Not like her mother. I love being black and Latina. It’s something innate. a connection you can’t explain. Me being black doesn’t take anything away from you being black. I want to embrace you and I hope you will embrace the millions of biracial people who have felt lost and not allowed to bask in the beauty of blackness because it’s assumed we haven’t experienced pain and rejection in our skin. Let’s gauge our blackness by our unapologetic joy in being that, and not the pain and division America has for so long successfully engrained in us.

I love you and I hope you love me back.

Love Always,

a black AF mom

P.s. I didn’t even get into the whole Afro Latino convo. That’s whole other post and conversation 😅