"Growing up in Montana in a predominantly white area then moving to a smaller town in Colorado as a Blaxican, was not easy to say the least. Speaking Spanglish in a white world while looking Black af felt comical then, but now, beautiful. I remember being taunted for my big lips and frizzy hair..being called a nig9er, spic, mutt and black bit*h over the years. (just to name a few). Let's be honest, nothing has REALLY changed. Sometimes I still hear those things. I was taught to hate myself from the people I had the "pleasure" of growing up around. I was taught to hate who I am, the way I looked, my culture, race, and ethnicity. All of it. Now that I'm grown up I wish I could talk to my younger self and hear the voices of the ones who loved me louder. I would tell myself, honey you are beautiful, and your biggest flex is the words and the works of your ancestors. Be proud. I still have that same dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had almost 58 years ago...and here we are still fighting for ununity. I will use my voice and fight for justice and equality like the Brown Berets and the Black Panthers did. I love who I am and proudly represent for the Afro-Latinx community as an African American with Mexican roots. I know how it feels to feel to be the outcast, racially profiled, ridiculed,, and hated for something I cannot control and was born into. I speak for the little boys and girls that don't see representation and even the adults who are still struggling to love themselves. I am mixed and there's beauty, strength, and power in diversity".