ISABELLE SAID: "I’m tired of being called morena, I’m black.".

I’m the daughter of black parents, with dark skin, so being that that’s true I was born a black woman; but due to family genetics the color of my skin is lighter, and this interfered a lot in my childhood, because I called myself morena, parda [light-skinned], etc. Despite the fact that my family always said: Isabelle, you’re black! I remember in grade school, when I was around 10 years old, I had a white teacher who gave one of those state tests to the whole grade, and in this test I had to pick my “race,” and in the end I picked the option where I said that I was black, at this moment this teacher spoke in a very loud tone of voice that I was wrong, “Isabelle, you’re not so dark to be considered black … Pick the parda option, or put down ‘unidentified.’” So, it was like this that I grew up thinking that I wasn’t black, I had my hair straightened so that it wouldn’t be so voluminous and I didn’t like my features: mouth, nose, etc. Today, after long years of deconstruction and empowerment, not only aesthetically, I am certain that I am a black woman. I understood that my fairer skin doesn’t make me any less black, I accepted my thick lips, my black hair, my roots, that by the way are not from slaves like they always tried to teach me, but rather of Kings and Queens. At the same time it’s sad to know that there was a time that I allowed myself to be dragged down because of the words of others, and also immense happiness to see that I was able to get through all of this. This is what I’m tired of, I no longer accept being called morena. I’m a black woman!