At the end of Hijas Americanas where the questionnaire is included, there was one question that stood out to me the most. It was number four which stated, “Describe your overall experience of being a latina in America. What are the triumphs and the challenges?”. Now I wanted to answer this specific question because it’s something that I think about often without realizing and I thought it would be quite interesting for me to put my input of what I wonder  when I hear a question like this. 

Being an afro latina who was raised here in America. I’ve experienced specific things solely because of the way that I look..and because of this, I had a lot of moments growing up where I simply just wished that I didn’t look the way that I did. It was very awful that I had to face these things starting at such a young age where I was trying to figure out who I was. I felt like it really brainwashed me and made me insecure in a lot of ways.

For example some challenges that I went through when I was younger was that I had people ask me why I looked the way that I did because to them it didn’t make sense how I spoke spanish but my hair, nose and lips looked the way that it did. To them it just didn’t add up so that golden question “Where are you from?” always popped up. But it was never just a simple question and answer because 90 percent of the people always had a micro aggressive tone. So they just kept asking until they got the answer that they wanted.But then I started to realize that people were never fully satisfied by my answer. When things started clicking for me I noticed that it was probably because they were disappointed that I didn’t reach up to their standards of what they thought I was. 

Other things that I dealt with growing up was the urge of wanting to look like someone else because American culture idolizes a specific look a lot , but eventually I learned how to overcome these feelings and just realize that people will never be satisfied, so therefore I should never take things personally. I need to be more kind to myself and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. So, besides all the cons I would still say that growing up latina in America has its triumphs. I feel as if it lets me be exposed to different cultures. Even more so that my parents are also both from different hispanic countries. I was able to learn different morals, traditions, etc. from not only where they are from, but from America as well. It helped me fit in easier and better understand that people have different standpoints and that it’s ok if someone thinks differently than me. 

I think that “Hijas Americanas” by Rosie Molinary was not only an interesting read but it was super beneficial. Reading about so many different stories from latinas that come from many different places helps you realize that you’re not alone and that your feelings are valid and always will be. I think that this is a story that every latina woman should read if they get the chance to.