Dear Complexion,

Brown. Black. White.

Café. El color de mi madre tierra.

Brown. The color of my mother earth.

Negro. El color que simboliza audacia.

Black. The color that symbolizes boldness.

Blanco. El color de pureza, crecimiento.

White. The color of purity, growth.

But what happened? Have I been oblivious to color.

I am lost. Estoy perdida.

Me dijeron, they told me that color didn’t matter.

We were told that we would only be judged by our personality,

not by you, complexion.

They lied, me mintieron.

Middle school.

Words like wetback, nigger, white trash destroyed the innocent mind.

Spic. “No hablo Ingles” they would say.

I spoke it. I did. Bilingue. My native language, Espanol and the west germanic language, English.

You, complexion. Why?

Why am I seen as inferior? Why is mi raza, los Mexicanos, now seen as illegals, greasers, mensos? Why?

Complexion, I’ve changed.

Ahora veo--I now see people by their complexion, not their persona.

Cafe. El color que representa a un frijolero, un frijolero que debe de quedarse en los montes sin educación.

Brown. The color that represents a beaner, a beaner that belongs working in the fields without an education.

Negro. El color que representa a Jim Crow, segregacion.

Black. The color that represents Jim Crow, segregation.

Blanco. El color que representa corrupción, los que viven la vida lujosa porque para los demás somos menos.

White. The color that represents corruption, those that live the luscious life because everyone else is lower than them.

I love you complexion, but the world does not.

Amo mi raza. I love my race.

Pero comprende-- la sociedad te odia.

But understand--society hates you.

Society sets reglas--rules to mock you.

Society is them around you, me.

Perdoname.

Forgive me.

Brown, Black, White.

Sincerely,

A lost BROWN girl.