When you grow up at the intersection of two vastly difference cultures, sometimes it can be easy to lose your sense of identity. But poet Xóchitl Morales wants to remind all Latino Americans why it’s important to never forget their heritage.
Morales breaks down her own life journey in a powerfully personal poem titled “Latino-Americanos: The Children Of An Oscuro Pasado,” in a video posted Tuesday on Pero Like’s Facebook page. Her verses detail everything from the loss of her Spanish language fluency as a young girl to the rejection of her Nahuatl name.
“My first language was Spanish, learned from sweet stories told by my papi at bedtime,” she says in the video. “My tongue a formation of the stardust of my heritage, and intertwined galaxy of rolled R’s and the pledge of allegiance. It was something I would soon forget after I was told it was wrong and taught a new way to introduce myself. ‘Mi nombre es’ turned to ‘my name is’ after the girl in my class told me she couldn’t understand me.”