Before telling you my story, I will tell you who I am. My name is Alejandra Rivera. I just turned 12 years old. I am a Latinx. I am from Puerto Rico but I moved a few months ago to the United States with my family. 

Antes de contarte mi historian, voy a contarte quien soy yo. Mi nombre es Alejandra Rivera. Yo soy una Latinx. Acabo de cumplir 12 anos. Yo soy de Puerto Rico pero hace unos pocos meses me mude con mi familiar a los Estados Unidos. 

If I am honest with you these past months have been somewhat weird in the United States. People over here have a lot of unusual ideas that I hadn't heard before. 

Si soy honesta contigo, estos meses que he pasado en los Estados Unidos han sido un poco raros. La gente de por aca tienen muchas ideas inusuales que nunca habia escuchado antes.

I noticed that people would give me and my family weird looks whenever we talked in Spanish. Also, the people from over here would go to Walmart using pijamas. When in Puerto Rico I remember my mom would tell me "Alejandra no te olvides ponerte una camisa bonita, we are going to Walmart y uno nunca sabe a quien nos vamos a encontrar alli". 

Note que la gente de aca nos daban miradas raras a mi y a mi familiar cuando hablabamos en espanol. Tambien, las personas de aca iban a Walmart en pijamas. Cuando en Puerto Rico recuerdo que mi mama me decia "Alejandra don't forget to put on a pretty shirt, vamos a ir a Walmart and you never know who are we going to see over there".

I thought it was funny whenever my mom told me that but I always paid attention to her and used something pretty to go to Walmart. But I imagined that this would be different whenever I went to school. Since for me, school was a place to learn and have fun with friends. 

Yo pensaba que era gracioso cuando mi mama me decia eso pero yo siempre le prestaba atencion a ella y usaba algo bonito para it a Walmart. Pero, me imaginaba que esto seria diferente cuando fuera a la escuela. Ya que para mi, la escuela era un lugar para conocer a nuevos amigos en este nuevo lugar.

So, let's move to the first day of school. I was SUPER excited to meet new friends. However, I was not prepared for the upcoming challenges that I had to encounter. 

Asi que vamos a movernos a el primer dia de escuela. Yo estaba SUPER emocionada de conocer a amigos nuevos. Pero, yo no estaba preparada para los proximos deafios que tenia que enfrentar.

As soon as I walked through the door of my new class, everyone was staring at me and I heard some classmates say negative things about me.  They were talking about my curly hair and the color of my skin. 

Tan pronto camine a traves de la puerta de mi nueva clase, todos me estaban mirando y escuche a algunos de mis companeros decir cosas negativas sobre mi. Hablaban sobre mi cabello rizado y mi color de piel. 

Even throughout the class I could hear them say things like "Her hair is so ugly, she looks like a poodle" or "Her hair looks like a mess! Does she even brush it?" or "Do you think she speaks Mexican?". I didn't understand why they were saying those things about me when they don't even know who I am.

Incluse durante la clase yo los podia escuchar diciendo cosas como "Su pelo es tan feo que se ve come un poodle" o "Su pelo es un desastre! Acaso ella tan siquiera se lo peina?" o "Tu crees que ella habla Mexicano?". Yo no entendia porque ellos decian estas cosas sobre mi cuando ellos ni tan siquiera me conocian.

My first day was a failure and I kept hearing those comments. So I started thinking maybe if I had straight hair they would accept me or even if I just had a lighter skin color. Maybe that way I would be able to find new friends in school. So, I can fix my hair by straightening it every day because I can't change my skin. 

Mi primer dia fue in fracaso y segui escuchando esos comentarios. Asi pense que tal vez so you tuviera el pelo lacio ellos me aceptarian o hasta si mi piel fuera un poco mas clara. A lo mejot de esa manera podria encontrar amigos nuevos en la escuela. Asi que puedo arreglar mi cabello alisandolo todos los dias porque no puedo cambiar mi piel.

As soon as I got home at the end of the day I asked my mom if she could straighten my hair. But she just wanted to know how my first day at school went. Also she said she wouldn't straighten my hair because my natural hair was too beautiful to do that. 

Tan pronto llegue a casa al final del dia le pregunte a mi mama si ella podia alisarme el pelo. Pero ella solo queria saber como me habia ido en mi primer dia de la escuela. Tambien, me dijo que ella no podia alisarme el cabello porque mi pelo natural era demasiado de hermoso para hacer eso.

I couldn't understand why she would say that. I couldn't make friends in school because of how UGLY it was. I think she could hear my thoughts because she said "Our curly hair is part of culture. "We keep a piece of our culture in that way wherever we go. Sometimes we just gotta share our story about our culture with others so they can understand who we are in reality". 

Yo no podia entender porque ella diria eso. Yo no podia hacer amigos en la escuelo de lo FEO que era. Yo piensa que ella pudo escuchar mis pensamientos porque dijo "Nuestro pelo rizado es parte de nuestra cultura. De esta manera mantenemos un pedazo de ella con nosotros a done quiera que vayamos. A veces tenemos que compartir la historia de nuestra cultura para que otros puendan entender quienes somos en realidad".