Bienvenido mis amores! My name is India Taina, named after the Native Taino tribe that inhabited my place of origin, Puerto Rico. Of course, I gave myself this name, as I think it’s important for me to reveal the truest parts of myself under a false (but important) name/alter ego. Reason being is that I’ve never been one to hog the spotlight, and I like to set boundaries early on about what I reveal and what I keep private to just myself. I just want the focus to be on the important things at hand— and those important things include the everyday hassles that Latinx folk (and countless other minority communities) face while dealing with the “Caucasity”- which is the boldness of white people, the people in power, to demean, devalue, and simply ignore the contributions that we minorities make to this society, as well as the personal boundaries that we set. Examples of Caucasity include white entitlement (you see it in arrest videos, places you shop, even sometimes a demand from you, a minority, to serve their needs— or else), white privilege (other people placating whites on the basis of color) and of course, the newfound boldness in the face of the election of 2016, leading to openly racist and demeaning comments made right in the open, on camera, to minorities faces without fear of consequence. That last one really sums up Caucasity for me.
The thing about Caucasity though, is that no one has a manual or a platform on how to get around this. It is an experience that too many Latinx, Black, Asian, and Middle Eastern (such a Western and outdated term, please if anyone else has a better term to encompass this magnificent group, let me know! You matter!) men and women face EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. for there NOT to be something out there for us. It should also be noted that the word Caucasity was invented by, and made popular by, black women (as is most everything, but that’s for a different blog post. I love you black women). They single-handedly identified this mysterious phenomenon that we minorities face almost daily, and they gave it a catchy ass name. So when the girl at work that you barely say two words to sticks her fingers in your 3C textured curls the DAY AFTER wash day, that b*tch has the motherf*cking Caucasity. And when a white man tells you that he was thinking of you because he saw a girl with giant hoops and an accent, but you know damn well you have never worn hoops in front of this man nor have you really shown him much of an accent and you acknowledge this to him and he still says “Well, yeah, you seem like the type though,” that is MAJOR motherf*cking Caucasity, okay? (based on a true, unfortunate story).
And I am sure that all of you can come up with thousands of other stories that fit this narrative, because baby, the Caucasity is real, and if you living in America, it’s alive and well alll 7 days of the week for 24 hours at a time (I say America because it’s the only real, tried and true experience I have. If you are from abroad and deal with this, please share it in the comments, I would love to know about it).
But anyways, let’s not give all the attention to these interactions and aggravations, and instead, focus on what’s really going to better ourselves and our days. To deal with Caucasity, one must focus on your own inner boldness— the good kind that talks you through difficult situations and tells you to keep your head up in spite of everyone and everything around you bringing you down. We have to foster our own audacity to speak up for ourselves, to be proud of ourselves (for a lot of us, this is an audacious act), and to simply BE ourselves in a world that’s constantly saying you have to be something else to “attract” what you want. You can be you and still get wtf you want, sis. Maybe you need to learn new skills and self improve but you do not have to change your whole name, birth date and address to fit into somebody’s box on an application (snap snap).
So, to wrap this all up and get this show on the road, here are some of the things you can expect to see on this page:
- Self Care that goes BEYOND skin care and face masks (I’m talking about internal [food/diet, mental health, emotional and spiritual well-being] AND external [essential oils, massages, etc] care baby)
- Discussion posts on what I think matters in our day and age (could be race relations, politics, feminism, love, stress, professional life, etc.)
- Poetry pieces to stimulate ya mind
- And finally, anything that you tell me you need. I’m not an expert on many things, but I know somethings and can try to help you, as well as learn from you what I should be doing better and what I should be touching on, so that all us brown girls feel included!
I also want to leave a note for my white brothers and sisters, because I know that sometimes the heat and the dismay of our many interactions with bad people who just so happen to be white 99% of the time can make you feel hated and displaced. But I want you to know, that this is not what this is about. Although this website is pretty much revolving around the problem of white entitlement/privilege/superiority, it does not mean that being white is a problem. You also matter. You also get a paragraph on this site. But for the first time, you are not the only paragraph that matters nor are you even just the only paragraph. Are you catching what I am throwing here? So white women and men, I absolutely encourage your insight, your commentary, and most of all your questions!!! This is for all of us to learn, and to grow. And we honestly cannot solve the issue of Caucasity, without the Caucasians! So come and grow baby, we won’t bite. You are welcome too honey. Just don’t be on any bullsh*t because you just might catch an ancestor or two in the comments readyyy to put you back together. And that is on that.
And so now we’ve reached the end of this journey, of this introduction into what I am about to share with you. And hopefully I’ve already given you ideas on what to share with me so that I can make you feel more included, and more empowered to be you, whatever beautiful color that you may be. So go on girl, sigue mujer! Find a post that inspires, comment on one that you think might’ve missed the mark, and tell me what you need, girl. I’m here for you, through all the bullsh*t.
Love.
India Taina.
*A note on the cover of the homepage: The image I used is of various colored flowers, meant to represent the absolute elegance, the absolute illustriousness [this might not be a real word but I’m going for it] and beauty of being colored. Before publishing, I got a remark that maybe it wasn’t appropriate to have such a beautiful, colorful background to hold the weight of such a heavy discourse, but I beg to differ. I think color is the only thing that has gotten us by, through and through, and so I stand by my decision. Enjoy.
The Thing About Caucasity 