I find it funny how we are Hispanic until we're not Hispanic.
How my accent is thick until you hear it from another tongue.

I find it funny how we are Hispanic until we say we were born here.
And then we are still labeled as illegal even though we were born here.

Does the fact that I am darker than the “average hispanic” or the “average dominican” offend you? Or is it my nose? My hair?

Does the fact that all Hispanics, all across the world, come in different sizes, colors, and accents, offend you?

We always seem to be categorized in boxes meant to divide us.
Either born here or not.
Either speaking the native tongue or not.
Either Hispanic or not.

Does the fact that I cannot speak Spanish offend you?
Does the fact that I can speak Spanish offend you?
Why does my Spanish offend you?
Because you cannot speak it?
Is it that you don't have the right tongue to say pokito, salchichon(salami), naranja, or sancocho(San co cho)?

These are the questions Hispanics ask to those who don’t see the problem.

Allow me to explain to you the problem.

We are told we are wrong about our own culture.
Our  people
Our music
Our food
Our kids
Our love
Our livelihood

They try to correct something they could not understand.

How our music has so much rhythm, that it could bring celebration to a funeral.
How our food will never leave anyone hungry.
How our accents speak of love, and life, and memories, and sacrifice, and pain, and family.

Quick question. How can you act like a race? How can someone act Dominican, Puerto Rican, or Mexican.
My people are not an adjective.
You can not do things that I apparently do.
My people are so much more than you understand.
My people are spirits.
They are life and death.
They are dark and light.
You could never act the way you think we act.

Why are Hispanic girls b****es?
Why are we opinionated until we have attitudes?
Why are they always prepared for us to bark but never for us to bite?
Why must we always bite to get our point across?

This country likes to give latinas the labels of crazy and b****. We are crazy because we see the lies of others. We are b****es because we say no.

Why do all Hispanic men quit school at 16?
Why do they quit school just to go sell drugs after?
Is it because of the system? Is it the fact the system is working against them?
Is it that they just aren't trying?
Or is it all of the above?

Is this why we are labeled as loud, obnoxious, lazy, uneducated, and misunderstood?

I mean, is this why I won’t go to college, right?
Is this why you assume my brothers are in gangs?
Is this why you assume I’m illegal?
Is this why you assume we are all mexican?

These constant stereotypes are crushing my people.
We are constantly reminded that we are ghetto, hoodrats, and not wanted.

To my fellow Hispanics.

Why are we at war with our own?
Why is one race better than other?
Why is your accent right but mine is wrong?
Why can’t we love each other for the similarities we have, and stop hating on each other because of our differences?

These were all rhetorical questions; so why do some of you have answers?