I am Latina by Rosaura Cendeja Ayala

I am here 

standing on the shoulders of my race and fighting for what I want.

Before this moment everything was a dream.  

I didn’t know how hard my life was going to be.  

I thought everything was easy, with no problems.  

The reality is different from what I’m living now.  

I am Latina.

I promise to myself that I will be a successful woman.  

I will achieve every single dream that I’ve been wishing for.  

I promise to myself that I will love me over anything else.  

I will respect myself first over everything.  

I promise that I will be the pride of my race, 
my color, 
my language,
my style 
and my way of thinking.

I am Latina.

My race is very important to me.  

It represents who I am, where I came from, 

my family, my native language and my culture.  

I am proud of being Latina because I am 

strong, smart, beautiful, optimistic, positive, happy 

and the most important thing is that 

I never give up.  

Being a Latina to me is a holy gift.

I am Latina.

I am not just a shadow.  

I am alive, 

I can feel, 

I can cry.  

I don’t have an ID to show who I am, 

but, 

I have my personality 

and I have a strong feelings that will make me survive.  

Respect me for who I am, 

not for where I came from.  

Don’t look at me with horror.  

I am a human-being.  

Don’t judge before you get to know me.

I am Latina and

I am here.