#pocnerds

Dear Nerdy Person of Color.

I see you, I know you’re there. I know you exist. How do I know you exist? Because I exist too.

I was constantly picked on for not “acting my own race” or for “speaking like a white person.” I was constantly bullied for reading manga and watching anime because “that’s not how Mexicans act.” I didn’t speak Spanish because my parents never taught me and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that until people of my own race would call me “white girl” like it was the worst thing you could be. I spent lots of time crying and hating myself because I wasn’t what society wanted me to be. I didn’t think other people like me existed, “white washed” was a term I had to get used to hearing because there was no other way to describe me. People of my own race made me feel like I was less of person just because of who I was, as if I was saddest excuse for a Mexican girl there was and for the longest time, I agreed.

But as I got older and more active in the nerd community, I found more people like me. Literally just nerdy people of all races, and that was perfect. I came to find out they all suffered similar types of bullying the same way I did and how alone it made them feel, like no one else like them existed.

We do exist and we are everywhere. You do not have to justify your existence too anyone because you’re you and that’s all that matters. We are not “white washed”, we are our own people with our own interests and we are still human beings at the end of the day.

So just remember; I see you, I am here for you, we are here for you, and we’re not going anywhere.