I really love my Mexican side because that part of my family, they’re very nice and
loving, and they’re all about family and unity, which I appreciate.
Also my black side as well because black people are just dope in general.
Yes we are.
Hey guys, welcome back to my channel.
If you’re new welcome, welcome, welcome.
Today’s video is going to be on how I got this hair color.
I’m gonna be doing this challenge.
Hey guys, I’m Arnell if you don’t know me.
Normally I’d be showing you how to do your hair and makeup but today I’m gonna get
a little bit more personal and talk about something I’ve never talked about before
and that is being mixed raced.
My mom is Mexican and black and my dad is black.
Part of being mixed is being constantly told that you have to pick either being one of
your races or the other.
Both cultures are beautiful in their own ways and I love being able to identify with both.
I get comments, either in person or online, pressuring me to somehow prove which side
I identify with more.
I think in a way it’s made me unable to fully identify with either— and I’m really
tired of it.
Today I’m coming in with an open mind ready to learn and hopefully be able to embrace
both sides of myself once and for all.
One of the amazing things about living in LA is how easy it is to access Mexican culture and history.
I’m starting my day off on Olvera street.
I’ve heard so much about this place and decided to finally make the trip to see it for myself.
I headed to La Golondrina, LA’s first established Mexican restaurant.
Here I am meeting Jasmine, a local who has worked here for several years, to learn more
about the history and culture of this part of town.
Olvera Street was founded in 1781 by 44 settlers, which was a mixture of Spanish and African Americans.
It was never called Olvera Street — it was called Wine Lane, but then as the years went
by the town had a judge named Austin Olvera and they decided to name it after him.
So that’s how it became Olvera Street back in 1877.
What are these?
Those are chicharrones, in English, pork rinds.
Oh, they’re hard.
Oh snap.
They get soft?
Once you, yeah, once you chew them they’re a little tender from the inside.
I’m nervous.
It’s so good.
And that’s…?
That’s guacamole.
I don’t really like avocado.
Try it, you’ll love it.
Try it, try it.
I’ll try it.
Here it goes.
Oh my god.
That warms your soul.
We have a mariachi band here on weekends.
Oh cool, my grandpa was a part of one of those.
That’s actually so cute now that I think about it.
Oh my god.
I’m a weenie.
He passed away but he was so cool.
I feel myself getting emotional and I don’t know why.
Listening to the music, memories of my grandfather and my family came back to me.
It reminded me of where I came from and grounded me in the fact that my Mexican Culture has
been a crucial character in my story for years.
But I still had this feeling I couldn’t quite shake.
I had to talk to someone who knew me better than anyone else — my mom.
Hey Mom.
Hey.
So I know you’re at work and what not, but I want to ask you what is was like growing
up mixed raced?
Okay so for me, being born in the late 60’s, it wasn’t common to be mixed race, so it
wasn’t as accepted as it is now, so it was a little bit rough for me.
Because being black and Mexican, I wasn’t black enough to be black and I was not Mexican
enough because I was part black.
So I kind of fell somewhere in the middle there.
For me, growing up mixed was kind of difficult because like you said you’re either not
black enough or not Mexican enough.
And while I really enjoyed being around my Mexican family, it’s interesting that I
relate more to my black side.
It kind out weirds me out because I didn’t really grow up around them.
With you growing up mixed, how did that affect how you raised us?
I don’t think the way I raised you had anything to do with being mixed.
It was more taking my own experiences, but I don’t know that race had anything to do with it.
So how do you think things have changed towards the idea of being mixed?
Yeah, it’s come a long way and it’s become very accepted—I mean there’s a few that
don’t believe in it but it’s very common now.
Alright, well I know you’re at work so I’m gonna let you go now.
Love you, I’ll see you later.
Bye.
I thought talking to my mom would clear things up for me but what I walked away with was
a sense that even our experiences are different.
I wanted to get into a creative space to help clear my head.
For me, that means play with my hair.
Hi.
Hi, how are you?
Fine.
I went to West of Heaven in Baldwin Hills to meet with professional braider, Jessica.
I wanted help creating a braided style that represents both of my ethnicities.
Okay, well I have an idea.
I figure we can do the signature part down the middle, like Frida.
And then two big corn rows going straight back like Beyonce, you know, like in her Formation video.
And then at the end of the braids I can add some ribbons, any color that you like I have
a couple colors.
And then we can twirl them around to buns.
Growing up I wasn’t even aware of the texture I had I kind of thought that everyone had
the same hair texture until I was doing one of my friends hair in high school and I was
gonna do the same hair style on myself cause I thought it would be easy and I realized
that it was completely different.
And sometimes when I make videos centered around my natural hair I’ve gotten comments
saying that it’s not right for me to make those kinds of videos because I don’t have the
certain hair texture.
I got a few comments saying pretty much, “Why is she making these kinds of videos?
Her hair texture, she can’t relate to the struggles of having natural hair," and that
kind of thing.
It’s a bit frustrating because, yeah my hair texture but I still have my own struggles
and what not.
I hope you don’t take that to heart, you know.
It makes me not want to do natural hair videos which is why I don’t them on my channel.
Oh my god, no!
I’m like I don’t want to deal with that.
You can’t do that because some of the people that have the same texture hair as you.
But it also ties into my skin tone as well.
Because I feel like on social media a lot of times, I’ve gotten comments saying like,
“I’m too light to do natural hair videos."
I’ve literally seen articles of people saying why are light skins trying to be a part
of this movement and it’s something for darker skin women.
So it kind of makes me feel uncomfortable to do those kinds of videos because I also
don’t want to intrude on a movement that’s not meant for me.
So, I’ve gotten people tell me that I don’t understand what it is to be black because
I’m lighter.
So I haven’t been through the same issues and I get that, I understand that but it doesn’t
make me any less back in my opinion.
It builds a hatred within our own race—to hate someone else.
I noticed that a lot of people feel like…okay, if you’re just half of something and then
the other part of you is black everyone just feels like, “Okay, you’re just black.”
No – you’re both and there’s nothing wrong with identifying with both.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
I just want everyone to get that out of your minds, you know.
That’s just, that’s just bizarre.
I feel like being mixed should actually be embraced, because I feel like it’s cool
to be able to be a part of two different cultures.
I think it’s great!
Throughout this experience, it’s really made me excited because I finally feel
comfortable enough to embrace both sides of my culture.
Without being scared to be attacked for it, or judged, or questioned about it.
Oh good.
You should feel comfortable doing anything that you wanna do and I commend you on that.
Embracing both sides of my heritage has never been easy and I could still tell I have so
much to learn about myself and my cultures.
But I don’t have to pick between two sides of one whole because they are both crucial
parts of who I am and who I want to become.
Thank you so much for watching.
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