Puerto Rican Identity

Puerto Rican/American don’t know wither to identify myself has Hispanic or Latino. Why? Because I was born on US Soil even if being born in Puerto Rico itself, you’re considered a US Citizen. What I catch myself doing is asking myself “How do I know which term to use”? Especially when it comes out to filling out any documentation. I have to check off Hispanic on any documentation that is asking to my ethicality, only option there is are: White, Black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic. So the only option I have is Hispanic. For the race I check off White if I have more options. Is it ok, to say Hispanic is a word the government invented for us? Or is that too harsh to say? If you were to look into the History of Puerto Ricans and where we
My parents both born in New York. So it’s hard to say what I consider myself. If you were to ask me what is my ethnicity and race I will tell you I am an American who speaks Spanish, has funny has it may sound but it’s the truth. In Puerto Rico skin color and other physical characteristics are used by people on the island of Puerto Rico to identify themselves when it comes to races. For instance the times I’ve traveled to Puerto Rico, I would hear terms such as trigeo, blanco and Moreno, in English, is caramel colored skin, light skinned and dark skinned, so there is so many ways for indentity. I live with the “Your Puerto Rican? I thought you were Dominican or cabverdan?” How is that even possible to judge without asking?” Why don’t I look like a Puerto Rican How is it that a Puerto Rican supposed to look like? When my youngest daughter Adriana was born, people were so amazed by how different she looked from me and her older sister Giana. Giana my oldest has my caramel complexion, dark long black hair, and dark brown eyes. On the other hand, Adriana has a light complexion, blonde hair and light brown eyes. Because of it some people would least think Adriana is my biological daughter because she doesn’t have the same color, complexion as myself and she looks like a White person as they would say. Is as if our appearance is our
For instance one time I was driving, I was at an intersection that I was going to pass. My lights turned green and I began to drive, but then another car came crossing right in front of me so I had to slam my brakes to prevent from hitting this other driver. I was so furious at the situation, all I shouted out of my mouth was a whole bunch of swear words and said this person is such a reckless person how did they even receive a license to being with. But guess what? The car slammed into the corner pole so I stopped and safely parked to go cuss out this driver and let them know that’s exactly what they get for driving like an idiot, but also make sure the driver was ok. Come to find out the driver was suffering from a seizure, which made him drive out of control because he had no reaction to the situation during his seizure attack. Now after taking this class and thinking back on the situation, I believed his behavior reflected on his fundamental nature of poor driving skill and reckless driving. It’s crazy how you can think someone’s intentions are malicious, but in reality they were an