I Promise.

steveholtiscool Answer:

YANNO this sort of stuff is really funny to me because usually all I can think is “who in the world would want to FAKE being misrepresented and thrown under the bus by the American government on a near daily basis?”

My first language was Spanish. I grew up in Montebello which is 70% Hispanic. I was the first generation of my family to be born on American soil. My family has roots in Guanajuato, Durango, and Mexico City.

And I was ashamed of my culture growing up.

What I thought was normal and commonplace seemed weird and alternative whenever I watched TV or ventured outside of Montebello.

I wanted to seem more “American” so I pretty much stopped speaking Spanish, stopped eating my grandmother’s cooking, and denied my culture along with my family name.

However, this didn’t work out. At the end of the day, I was still Hispanic. I was still considered a “minority” and I was still treated as such. I had people look at my last name and speak to me in rudimentary English. I had people comment on how exceptional my writing was “for a Latina.” And I had people asking me if my family came into the country legally.

For the better part of my childhood I did everything I could to cover up my background and I tried to be as stereotypically American as possible.

[The irony here is that this all bit me in the ass whenever I went to Mexico because over there I was ostracized because I wasn’t “Mexican” enough and I acted “too white.”]

But at any rate, this is how I regarded myself and my culture as a kid.

I’m not gonna lie and say that one day it just hit me that my culture is something to be proud of. I mean, hell, it wasn’t until my grandmother’s death that I took an interest to my family’s history.

Even then, it took years and years for me finally get to the point where I embraced and loved my culture. As a kid I had every opportunity to learn more about it from my grandmother and from my visits to Mexico, but now I don’t have those chances anymore and God what I would give to go back and actually listen to the history.

Still though, I was a kid and it’s just one of those things you grow up to realize just how ignorant you were, so I don’t really fault my younger self for doing what I did. That being said, I’m trying to make good on it and embracing my culture every chance I get because both my mother and grandmother were right, it IS a part of who I am and it’s a very beautiful thing to not only learn, but to cherish.

But then I get people like you.

You see, I spent years trying to reclaim a part of me that I had tried so hard to erase only to have ignorant and self-righteous people such as yourself come in and try to erase it all over again.

Because for the longest time I have spelled my last name without it’s accent since I didn’t want anyone to consider me anything different than the norm. It was only until I left high school that I began to spell my name the way it’s MEANT to be spelled. I had finally began to appreciate what my last name held, but then people like you come in and claim that I’m only faking any of this for these magical “Tumblr points.”

My last name is Yañez.

It’s not Yanes, Yansee, or Inez. It’s ya-nyehz.

Because by claiming that you’re “fighting” against appropriation you’re removing my name and my background, you’re participating in active erasure and it makes you no better than the countless of people who have changed my name to something it’s not.

I’m looking in the face of ignorance and not balking at your accusations revolving around my upbringing and heritage. I’m defending who I am.

So yes, I am “acting my race.” Because Lord knows we do this far more than any person should have to. Online and offline.

Now get the fuck out.