As a Latina.. is your voice being heard?

As I sit here in my bed… a bit tired… sick… but feeling better.

Low energy while reading a book titled “Uncolonized Latinas by Valeria Aloe” I am reading while thinking and reflecting. 

    How Latina culture is beautiful, full of different histories, full of different stories, full of different dialects, languages and how many stories have been untold or unheard. Oppression has played a major role in the Latinx community and families. Depending which country and community you are from, some of our families have experienced more oppression than others. Depending on the politics of our parents' countries, some of us have experienced more trauma than others. All of this carries from generation to generation. Trauma plays a big role in the Latinx community, just leaving your family behind to come to the United States for better opportunities is traumatic in itself. People leave their families, their communities, their support system, their language(s), their dialects, their inner self behind to come to a country that speaks a different language, culture shock becomes real. 

    I am a U.S. born Latina from Dominican parents. I consider myself Dominican-American and proud. I acknowledge that I might have some privileges compared to my parents or others but let’s not forget that with that, we are “considered ni de aqui, ni de alla”. What does that mean? When traveling to D.R. I would be called “la gringa” and when I am in the U.S. I can be looked at as a “migrant” because of the way I look or if I speak Spanish in public, some people start to give you that look of “why are you speaking Spanish”. So, yes I might have more privileges than my parents but at the same time, I am still fighting to speak the truth, to speak for others that can’t speak for themselves. Latinx communities are considered to be the “silent community” because some of us might be scared to speak up because of many different reasons. Every reason might be different but I started to speak up when I saw the inequities of how some people are treated in this country by the way they look, (race, or ethnicity), the language that they spoke (other than English) or where they lived. (socio-economic). It wasn’t until I left my neighborhood of South Providence and attended college that I recall being the only Latina in some classrooms. I would walk solo from class to class because I felt that no one could relate to me or my family. Also, my fellow classmates in college didn't even try to start a conversation with me. I would sit in front of the classrooms because first I can’t see from far away and also because I would feel more confident to raise my hand and share my ideas. I even had to have a conversation with a professor because she would first mispronounce my name ALL the time and that was soooo annoying. Also, because she gave me a grade that was unacceptable, I had proof of all the work that I did, compared my work with other classmates, showed her the rubric and defended myself like no tomorrow. She then realized that maybe her bias had something to do with it, eventually that grade became a better grade because I spoke my truth. I couldn't stay silent. I couldn’t just sit there being the only Latina in that room and while this teacher was mispronouncing my name all the time, I then became more upset. Yes, this is where I am unprivileged. This is one of many occasions where I had to speak my truth, stand up for myself and for others. I started to speak more for myself and then realized that I am not only defending myself but others that are marginalized. 

    I started to sign up for committees in colleges, while living in New York became part of writing groups, there is power in the written word, I then started to be part of the conversations. I would start to be part of the people “having a seat at the table”. I would have a seat at the table but that didn't mean that my voice was heard all the time. Yes, again, feeling discouraged most of the time because my ideas were nodded at but most of the time never acknowledged or taken seriously. Was my voice heard? Most of the time, no it wasn’t. As a Latina, we experience this most of the time where most places act if they want diversity and if there are a few of diverse people, our voices are there but not taken seriously because then our voices are the “minority”. Not realizing that our voices might be reflecting many other people in the community. Actually, plenty of people in the community. So, when we speak as a Latina, I’m looking at things from a different lens, from a different perspective, from a Latina that grew up in the United States speaking Spanish as her first language. I am defending my parents, mis tias, mis prima(o)s, my siblings, my family, my children, my husband, the communities that are marginalized. So again, when I continue to speak the truth, do not forget that there might be an entire community of people that are waiting for the truth to be heard. #SiSePuede