Who am I ?

Growing up around different groups of people will make you ask yourself where do I belong?I found myself asking this a lot growing up ever since I was at a young age

I am Puerto Rican and black Puerto Rican for my mom side an African American from my dad sideOn my mother’s side I never really thought I fit in because all my cousins were fair skinned with thinner more manageable hair than me, and here I am the darker girl who wore two Afro puffs. Now on my father side some of my cousins who were my age would always compare my skin color to theirs the difference is now I was being compared to being much lighter then everyone else. back then and even today I would get the phrase “oh you’re not really black” too often. Why because I didn’t grow up watching the same generic Tyler Perry movies as they did growing up ? Or is it because I had better pronunciation and vocabulary than others because I went to a predominantly white middle school. One experience that changed perspective being a darker Puerto Rican is some of my few times visiting the island I often heard “negrita linda” meaning beautiful black girl. It made me happy to hear that others appreciated my darker complexion. I realized that at a point I was unwilling to accept the parts of me that didn’t get what I needed as a child, which was being accepted by others. certain things that i didn’t accept early on that made me shy away from who i really was and made me struggle with self acceptance. I wouldn’t say I overcame this obstacle but I’ve learned to accept that this is reality and I have to embrace who I am because there’s only one of me. And now I am more than comfortable with who I am and what I come with.