"Brown to the Bone"

    I recently re-watched the film Blood In, Blood Out which is about three Chicano cousins and gang life. I watched this film when I was younger and of the three cousins, I connected with Miklo the most. Now that I'm older, and I watched it again, I realized why. This character has white skin, looks like white, and he doesn't feel comfortable in his skin. His light skin is what makes him feel different from his Mexican blood. 

 

   As someone who is of Mexican and Honduran descent with light skin, I can relate to his plight. I inherited my mother's light skin but not my father's deeper skin tone. I have been confused for someone who's white by my own people and they always have this shocked look on their face when I reply in Spanish. It makes me feel like I'm "Other". Of course I know that light skin Latinas exist, but growing up, American media when portraying Latinas only shows people with caramel to coffee colored skin. The only media that shows off different colored Latino/a skin is the Latino/a media. Thank God I grew up watching Univision too... 

 

   Miklo's desperation to fit in with his Chicano family is something that resonates with me. I wouldn't go so far as to join a gang, but I can understand his need to feel like he is truly a part of his culture.