The Continuum of White (In)Validation / El Continuo de la (In)Validación de los Blancos
When my mom came from El Salvador, she did what most womxn from Central America did at the time to make living: work as domestic, nanny, or housekeeper. By the time I was 6 years old, I was fully bi-lingual and began serving as my parents’ interpreter. Every summer, because there was no school and my parents didn’t want to pay for someone to care for me, I would go to work with my mom.
I remember being inside all these fancy houses in Beverly Hills. I saw my own mother clean other people’s toilets, cook food I wasn’t allowed to eat, and be a mother to children that didn’t look like me. In the afternoon, all the “misis” would come back from whatever it is that older, affluent white ladies did throughout the day and come and inspect my mom’s work. I remember being terrified of them, and of white people in general. But necessity (my mother) forced me to interact and communicate and negotiate for her.
That first incident depicted in 1985 ACTUALLY happened. That was literally my posture as the white lady made me feel both pride and shame at the same time. What is not depicted is my mother pushing from from behind because I was being all “bayunco.” “¡Contestále, vos!”
Ah, memories.
