I was about 11 years old when I started to think I wasn’t like the other Latina girls. The summer before sixth grade, my mother put me in a beauty pageant sponsored by a Hispanic community organization in Syracuse, N.Y., where we lived. The stage wasn’t fancy — it was in a gymnasium on the West Side, one of the poorest areas of the city. At least not compared with my pageant competitors or the women and girls I saw in the media. Image The writer at age 11. Credit Natasha AlfordLatinas in movies, TV and magazines were always fair -skinned.

Source: New York Times July 28, 2018 19:18 UTC