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“And as long as injustice prevails, we do not have the luxury of calling ourselves either.” 

      I was thinking about the in class discussion of this quote. As was mentioned, it is difficult to form a racial/ethnic/national identity if there is not equal representation and respect of cultures. In forming an identity, one feels torn over placing priority of one racial/ethnic/national identity over another. Most of the discussion of identity was centered on doing justice to the minority culture.  

           While the discussion of identity was worthwhile, I felt we neglected the people who have started to lose the connection with their heritage.  Personally, I feel detached from my Bolivian heritage. When my father came to the States, he faced discrimination because he was viewed as a foreigner. He hoped his children wouldn’t face the same situation. Because he felt his accent caused people to treat him differently, he didn’t teach his children how to speak Spanish. In high school, I became curious about this “lost” half of my heritage. As I visited my family in La Paz and struggled to learn Spanish, I started to feel that I would not be able to fit in either Bolivian or American culture completely. I felt guilty about losing the connection with this heritage and ashamed of way I would pass with heritage that was easier. It can be difficult to define views on Latino/a culture because I don’t feel worthy critiquing the culture I lost a connection with. Forming an ethnic/racial/national identity is complicated by this mystery space which is usually filled by guilt.

      This “empty” space complicates my views on what feminism is and what it means to me. I find myself using broad terms and avoiding specifics. As I considered a potential universal feminism, its definition is similar to my metamorphosing definition of feminism. It would be openness to varying sexual/gender/ethnic/racial/national/political/religious identities. There would be the freedom to develop and express this identity without fear of persecution. Of course this accepting environment wouldn’t happen over night, so feminism would work to create and support these communities.