Yami.

A student and daughter of Afro-Dominican immigrants who have taught me, and who I have taught back. 

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Being that I grew up in a low income city, I always felt as if there was no necessity for me to spend a significant amount of time learning history, as I live and endure the aftermath of its unspoken flaws. 

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As I grow older, I realize that the importance for me to learn my own history is not a power I hold, rather, it is a decision that has already been made for me. Universally, it seems like, for all people of color, you quickly learn that it is impossible to avoid politics when your existence has already been politicized. 

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I especially became aware of this responsibility when I began to tap into the conversations that the adults in my life were having, conversations that were once passed onto them and that they continue to regurgitate to me in hopes that I will continue the generational error of teaching wrong history in the name of Dominican pride. 

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Tapping into conversations that were more bittersweet, such as the stories of my mother, is when I drew the line between pride & nationalism fueled by hated and misteachings. For Black youth & diaspora, I hope that my stories could impede the fabricated history that has allowed room for the hatred & mistreatment of our own kin.