#microinvalidation

I once overheard someone say that depression is a rich white woman thing. As a young depressed Latina women, I was very offended.

In high school, I was part of yearbook and I had to go around the school during class to get interviews from other students. Whenever I would walk around with my white classmates, no one would ever question us. If I walked with someone that was either black or Hispanic, we would almost always get stopped by security. Sometimes, teachers wouldn't believe that we had permission from the yearbook adviser and had to go through a lot of trouble to prove that we were just doing our schoolwork. We had an ongoing joke that we had to have "the designated white person" when we went to get interviews. Now that I think about it, it's not all that funny.

In high school, my counselor told me I shouldn't take two AP classes at the same time. Even though my previous grades were really good, she still insisted that I couldn't handle the course load. She told me that AP Spanish Language was the only class I could probably handle. I decided to ignore her advice and I got the credit for both classes.

My uncle told me that it didn't matter what I chose my major to be as long as I found a man who could support me

I attended a Christian private school in 10th grade and was one of two Latinos in my grade. I was the only Latina. Most of my class consisted of wealthy or upper middle class white students. There were the occasional black kids and that was it. By 10th grade you would think these kids who have been raised with Christian morals in and out of school would have decent understanding of race and equality. However, perhaps these students were not at fault because they had never really experienced much diversity and lived in a bubble. One time in Honors Chemistry the class president decided it would be amusing to start making fun of people. He called out the black kids on all being good at basketball. He thought the half Asian family in the school was ironic since "in China you can only have one kid" and this family had 7 enrolled in school. Then it was my turn. He said some incredibly rude things that I blocked from my mind but all I remember was "Magi why don't you just go make us some tortillas in the kitchen?" I don't even like tortillas than much and I am really bad at making them. I buy flower tortillas from the store like everyone else who can't make them or I'll get my tortilla fix at chipotle. It was a very hurtful comment. Was he sending me to the kitchen because I was a girl? And on top of that I could only make tortillas? He didn't know corn tortillas are typical in many Central American countries because it is the most economic food for families. I was infuriated but I didn't say anything because people at this school had already gotten me into trouble. However he then encouraged me to say work thing back because I was "killing the mood". Rolling my eyes I simply said "go play your banjo." Of course the teacher turns around and scolds me for what I said. I got sent to the back of the room while Mr. Class President stayed where he was. No one punished him for what he said to me or the other students. He had been loud and I know the teacher heard his jokes. But as soon as I say something I get in trouble? Why? I still don't know and I'm glad I left that school. I didn't feel like I belonged and it just wasn't because of the family income differences.

I have felt like as a Latina, we are hypersexualized and exotified. In social media our main representation is objectifying images of half naked or fully naked Latina women. It feel like I have to prove myself as something more than a body because of this

One time in my last few weeks of middle school, my teacher doubted my intelligence. She told me that I should double check with my high school counselor to make sure that the " AP US History" on my schedule for my first quarter in high school wasn't a mistake. She said that class is usually for juniors and seniors; that basically I wasn't equipped to take an AP course as a freshman. And guess what? I did well in the course and got to experience the rigor of an AP course my first year. The obstacles I faced, I learned to get over, thus launching my overall success in high school. If I had listened to that teacher, I wouldn't have discovered my true potential