HOW IT FEELS TO BE COLORED ME-- RIOS

I WAS BORN IN EAST LOS ANGELES, YES IAM A MEXICAN AMERICAN. IAM PROUND TO BE MEXICAN AMERICAN AND I LOVE THE DARK SHADE OF BROWN OF MY SKIN. I COULDNT AND WOULDNT PICTURE MYSELF ANYOTHER WAY. ALL MY LIFE I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SURROUNDED BY THE HISPANIC/ LATINO COMMUNITY. YET WITH IN THE LATINO CULTURE THERE ALWAYS EXIST A LEVEL OF HOSTILITY TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER AND ITS ALWAYS BEEN THERE. I DONT LET THAT AFFECT THE WAY I TREAT OTHERS, WHETHER IF THEY'RE MEXICAN, WHITE, AFRICAN AMERICANS, ASIAN, OR IRISH. BEING OF MEXICAN DECENT IS THE ONE THING THAT IAM MOST ORGULLOSO ABOUT, ORGULLOSO MEANS FOND OF, I KNOW THAT THERE'S A HUGE WORLD OUT THERE. I'VE BEEN DISCRIMINATED, HATED, ENVIED THROUGH OUT MY LIFE. TIMES WHERE I CAN JUST IGNORE IT AND NOT LET IT GET TO ME. BUT THERES TIME WHERE IT FEELS LIKE EVERYONES OUT TO GET YOU. AND WHY JUST BECAUSE YOU LOOK DIFFERENT ON THE OUTSIDE. I FEEL EVEN THOUGH I MAY BE DIFFERENT, WHEN I ENTER OTHER COMMUNITIES WHERE THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION IS NOT OF LATINO HERITAGE, I CAN OFFER A LOT.

"How It Feels to be Colored Me"

As for myself I'm living loving & learning and plan to do more of it. I’m content with what I have and who I have in my life I'm still going through phases to figure out what live is going to be when I go on to California State University Northridge. I'm happy with who I've become knowing that I'm couple of days away from graduating with the class of 07. As been a Mexican American I don't judge others on they're appearance, color or culture only on their character. It’s the little things people do that mean the most. I seek the good in the bad I know what I want out of life I have many dreams that I wish to accomplish.
Something I really had said to myself “forget what anyone thinks about you”. Really it doesn't matter what everyone else wants from you or expects out of you. Just smile and laugh a lot really. Be happy to be who you are. If you're in school, concentrate on your school work, people that will be there for you doesn’t matter who it is, and that special someone. Have fun with your life. Don't ever be ashamed of who you EVER. Do what you LOVE.

How it feels to be colored me-Evelyn Tineo-

To me belonging to a mexican heritage i feel as if i belong to a culture of where we have the same traditon. the color of my skin if brown and my hair color is dark brown. and i feel very proud of who i am and where i come from, i feel that we all treat each other like one big family but some tend to discriminate one another even though we belong to the same race. i feel very proud to be mexican american, and it doesn't matter what skin color you are what mostly matters is how you treat one another.

"How It Feels To Be Colored Me"

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at seventeen,

When the color of my skin is what you really see

My short black hair,

My dark brown eyes,

All that speaks to you;

Is what your able to see.

You say you see no color.

How can that really be

When part of who I am

Is my ethnicity?

For I come from the mexican heritage,

So proudly I say,

But have you notice?

That we have lost are way.

This endless battle that we are engaged in,

Has made me see,

What it feels to be colored me

How so much pain has aroused,

When we try to see ourselves

Succeed, in a way that you can not.

This world confused and engaged in chaos,

Lost in each other's doughting gaze;

The fire that burns in each of us,

Trying to become something great.

The unsolve jealousy seen in our eyes

The depression that makes us

Wish we would die.

Then even through all this

Why do we choose to stay alive?

For we are stronger than you think

We do not give up as easily as you may think.

We face what we can't see

We speak our minds,

When you don't want to hear,

We fight for what is right,

So that we can have the same opportunities you have,

For the color of my skin is brown,

Were you consider what it means,

To love without condition,

It means to see all sides of me,

Yet love is your decision.

But I wouldn't want to be you,

I like myself just fine,

And I don't want you to be me,

Because we'll both get there in time.

All I want you to know is that

I finally understand,

How it feels to be colored me;

At the age of seventeen.

How it Feels to be Colored me?-Guillermo Huerta

To me being the race that I am, it feels like I belong to as group of people who are identical in the inside, but may be different in the outside. In my case, belonging to the Mexican race feels like I belong to a family where everyone treats each other according to the way they get along. Some people tend to treat each other with respect like it should be and others just don’t do the same. If there’s something that really bothers me is when people discriminate among themselves even though they belong to the same race. As for me, I always get along with different kind of races, especially with my people because I am always interested with their background and where they come from. Basically I feel proud to represent the race that I am because I was meant to be Mexican.