Cover Photo: A close-up photograph of a  light-skinned child with light curly hair and bright eyes
Photograph by Janko Ferlič/Unsplash

My Ancestors’ Mission to Lighten Our Bloodline Ends With Me

My kin may have erased themselves, but I won’t erase them. Just as I may be their wildest dreams, they are also mine.

I know they’re here. Come on.

The scissors.

l

I’m white, like my Almanda.

needed me to bring them home for her

gifted

When my mother shares that my birth father was half Black, Abuela will quiet her voice and respond, “No one will ever know.”

*

I’m white like my great-granddaughter

J. Amanda Sabater is a Puerto Rican essayist, filmmaker, and co-owner of NextRound Productions, a minority and women owned video production company based in NYC. She is passionate about elevating BIPOC voices in literature and film and was also a featured speaker at TedxYouth@Hewitt where she spoke about body positivity and the power of vulnerability and female friendship. Follow her on instagram @asabater.