so I am a light skinned Hispanic and I was wondering if it would be inappropriate to discuss how I am treated to be too dark skinned to be white and yet too light skinned to be accepted by my other Mexican peers. Is this too heated an issue? Will it portray me in a negative light?
Thanks!
No do it!! My topic is also about racism, I’m the child of African immigrants so I’m too “white” for black people and too “black” for white people. It’s nice to see someone else experiencing something similar 
Do you have a group of friends that have accepted you as you are? If yes, include it in your essay. If no, then your concern may have some validity. It would be highly unlikely that every kid in your neighborhood harbors such prejudice.
It will only portray you in a negative light if you just use the essay to describe your negative circumstances without having done anything about it or learned anything from it. How has your situation shaped your identity? How has it changed the way you interact with others? What have you learned about the people who have treated you differently? It’s easy to conclude such essays with, “Despite what everyone thinks of me, I’ve learned to be proud of who I am,” but many essays will come to that conclusion. Try a different take on it if you can.
Thanks for the responses. Why would mentioning other peoples opinion in my essay make me more or less valid as a Latino student?
@educateddarcy My biggest issue among my peers is that hispanic students do not typically excel in my school and when I interact with them they are very defensive about the fact that I am not a real latino because I could pass as a tan “white”. What they don’t understand is that even though I am lighter than they are, I still deal with the bias’ they face from white people when they read my last name and realize I am more than just tan. I had a teacher in an AP class state that Mexican immigrants were ruining modern America and ask me if my parents were legal. An issue I took straight to the school board. My complaints were often implied as being less valid because I had lighter skin. Among the friends I make in AP classes, even though I share a heritage and language they do not appreciate my culture and often make insensitive remarks or playfully imply that I am only trying to gain an edge in admissions. Then I have really close friends, with whom race and college admissions are not a topic of conversation because we don’t see each other as competitors.
I would only write about racism in my essay if you have done something in your life to try to right that wrong. Otherwise you will come off as a victim, rather than someone who takes charge of their life and tries to fix the world for others.
So if you can say something along the lines of: from a young age I have noticed that people have excluded me and other hispanics from their social circle and activities; so I came up with the idea of forming a weekly discussion group to talk about racism with middle and high school students…and now there is much more social interaction and we have done fundraising to keep this and other similar groups going–well then racism and what you did to prevent it would be an awesome essay topic!
I’m fine with the substance in your essay. With Trump in the news, your AP story is more than relevant these days. Ii would definitely include that you have an inner circle of close friends who do not judge you based on the color of your skin. Listen, I’m sure this essay is not going to be the first time an admission counselor has come across this subject matter, but your personal stories will make it unique to you. Good luck.
Wow, the AP teacher’s remarks were egregious. I think you definitely can write about racism, but be sure that your essay doesn’t sound cliche.