My father was born and raised in the Southern United States with Scottish heritage. My mother was born and raised in Costa Rica with Hispanic heritage. So where does that leave me? Ever since I learned about what race, ethnicity, and culture are, I have been struggling with this question. Don’t get me wrong, I love both sides of my family and all the culture that comes with being mixed. However, there are also some parts of being mixed that are just confusing. My biggest source of conflict in this has without a doubt been the people around me: society. The white people tell me that I am Hispanic, while the Hispanics tells me that I am white because I don’t speak Spanish as fluently as they do. It seems that in this battle of the cultures, neither side really claims me because of my affiliation with the other. As I have gotten older, I have realized that I am not the only one fighting this fight.
In talking with Brianna* (Name changed for privacy), I noticed that she had faced some of the same struggles that I was. Her father is white and her mother is Cuban. Because her father is white, she got the white last name, which in both of our cases, just gave our fellow Hispanics another reason to exclude us. For Brianna* and myself, one of our biggest things to worry about as far as culture is the current atmosphere for Hispanics. Brianna* is a proud Cuban-American, and she advocates through social media for the rights of Cubans and other Hispanics.
Society’s opinion aside, I love being half white and half-Costa Rican. My father’s side of the family definitely has that Southern charm, and there is nothing better than a Thanksgiving at Nana’s house in Tennessee. My mother’s side of the family is just as amazing, my Abuela and cousins in Costa Rica welcome me in with open arms every time I get to visit. Both sides of my family make me feel so loved. So why is it so hard for everybody else to accept a mixed-race Hispanic? Brianna* says that the one thing she wishes she could explain to people is that she is “JUST as Hispanic as anyone else in (her) culture. (She) has just as much passion, strength, soul, and heart as any Hispanic person.” Being half-and-half definitely has its struggles, but I wouldn’t change my heritage for the world.