I was the most excited to watch the Latino video as I knew I would resonate with it more, but I found myself relating to many individuals throughout the video. I am bi-racial (white and Mexican) but was not raised by my white family. My cultural values and traditions align with those of my Mexican culture. When I saw the gentleman who described that he experiences white privilege even though he is of Latino decent, I identified with it. I have a white last name. I've experienced white privilege. Other white people have come up to me and talked about "wetbacks" and "those Mexicans who need to go back to where they came from" and I've had to correct them and tell them I too am Mexican and explain why their comments are not okay. What has always happened though, is one I speak up, I become "one of them" and that person no longer associates with me. One of the most eye-opening experiences of my adult life has been the ability to look at a situation and realize that I was treated better than someone around me, because of my skin color. It was hard and honestly still haunts me today. On the other hand, I am half white and would like to celebrate that culture, but don't exactly know how. I don't know what it means to be white. Therefore, I also empathized with those in the video who stated they are white, but don't know how to be proud of their culture. There was a woman in one video who stated that because she had "one drop of black blood" she wasn't "native" enough, and I've felt that too. On the outside I look white, but there have been times I'm been called too white for my Latino peers, yet, white people immediately can tell that I'm not fully white, therefore, not white enough. Where do you stand when both cultures think you're not "enough" for theirs? It's hard to accept the fact that I empathize with so many individuals in these videos, but my story is not as bad as theirs, because of white privilege. I don't think anyone needs to be ashamed of where they come from, how they identify, or shame someone who is different. We have to do better.
