00:00I really love my Mexican side because that part of my family they're very nice
00:06and loving and they're all about family and like unity which I appreciate I also
00:11my black side as well because black people just dope in general let's see
00:15are hey guys don't make my channel if you're welcome welcome welcome today's
00:22video is going to be on how I got this hair color I'm gonna be doing this
00:26challenge hey guys I'm Arnelle if you don't know me normally be showing you
00:31how to do your hair and makeup but today we're gonna get a little more personal
00:33and talk about something I've never talked about before and that is being
00:36mixed race my mom is Mexican and black and my dad is black part of being mixed is
00:41being constantly told that you have to pick either being one of your races or
00:45the other both cultures are beautiful in their own ways and I love being able to
00:48identify with both I get comments either in person or online pressure me to
00:53somehow prove which side identify with more I think in a way it's made me
00:57unable to fully identify with either and I'm really tired of it today I'm coming
01:02in with an open mind ready to learn and hopefully be able to embrace both sides
01:06of myself once and for all one of the amazing things about living in LA is how
01:10easy it is to access Mexican culture and history I'm starting my day off on
01:14Olvera Street I've heard so much about this place and decided to finally make the
01:18trip to see for myself I headed to Longolandrina LA's first established
01:26Mexican restaurant here I am meeting Jasmine a local who has worked here for
01:30several years to learn more about the history and culture of this part of town
01:36Olvera Street was founded in 1781 by 44 settlers which was a mixture of Spanish and
01:45African Americans it was never called Olvera Street it was called wine lane but
01:51then as the years went by the town had a judge named Austin Olvera and they
01:59decided to name it after him so that's how it became Olvera Street back in 1877
02:08what are these those are chicharrones in English pork rinds oh they're they're
02:17hard they they want to yeah once you chew them they're a little tender from the
02:24inside I'm nervous
02:29they're so good and that's guacamole I don't really like avocado try it you'll
02:36have it try it try it right here goes oh my god it's like warm your soul we have my
02:51mariachi band here on weekends oh cool my grandpa was a part of one of those it's
02:56actually so cute now I think about it oh my god I'm a weenie he passed away but he
03:04was so cool
03:19I'm gonna get emotional I don't know why I feel myself being emotional I don't know why
03:31listen to the music memories of my grandfather and family came back to me it remind me of where
03:36I came from and grounded me in the fact that my Mexican culture has been a crucial character in
03:40my story for years but I still had this feeling I couldn't quite shake I had to talk to somebody
03:50who knew me better than anyone else my mom hey mom hey so I know you're working why not but
03:59I want
03:59to ask you what it was like growing a mixed race okay so for me being born in late 60s
04:07it wasn't
04:08common to be mixed race so it wasn't as accepted as it is now so it was a little rough
04:14for me because
04:15being black and Mexican I wasn't black enough to be black and I was not Mexican enough because I
04:23was part black so I kind of fell somewhere in the middle there for me growing a mix was kind
04:29of
04:29difficult because like you said you're either not black enough or not Mexican enough and while I really
04:37enjoyed being around my Mexican family it's interesting that I relate more to my black side it kind of
04:43weird to me out because I didn't really grow up around them with you growing a mixed how did that
04:46affect how you raised us I don't think the way I raised you really had anything to do with being
04:52mixed it was more taking my own experiences but I don't know that race had anything to do with it
05:01so how do you think things have changed towards the idea of being mixed yeah it's come a long way
05:06and
05:06it's become very accepted and I mean there's there's a few that don't believe in it but it's very common
05:11now all right well I know you're at work so I'm gonna let you go now love you I'll see
05:15you later
05:16okay bye I thought talking to my mom would clear things up for me but what I walked away with
05:21was
05:22a sense that even our experiences are different I want to get into a creative space to help clear
05:26my head for me that means playing with my hair hi how are you fine I went to West of
05:35Heaven in
05:35Culver City to meet with professional braider Jessica I wanted help creating a braided style that
05:40represents both of my ethnicities okay well I have an idea I figured we can do the signature
05:48part down the middle like Frida and then two big cornrows going straight back like Beyonce you know
05:53like in her formation video and then at the end of the braids I can add up some ribbons any
05:58color
05:58that you like I have a couple colors and then we can twirl them around buns growing up I wasn't
06:04even
06:04aware of the texture I had I kind of thought that everyone had the same hair texture until I was
06:11doing one of my friends hair in high school and I was going to do the same style I was
06:14doing myself
06:15so that would be easy and I realized it was completely different and sometimes when I made
06:20videos like centered around my natural hair I've gotten comments saying that it's not right for me
06:26to make this kind of videos because I don't have a certain hair texture I got a few comments saying
06:31like pretty much like why is she making these kind of videos her hair texture she can't relate to
06:35like the struggles of having natural hair and that kind of thing it's a bit frustrating because
06:39it's like yeah my hair texture is different but I still have my own little struggles and whatnot
06:42I hope you know you don't take that to heart you know it makes me not want to do natural
06:47hair
06:47videos which is why I don't do them oh my god no come on you can't do that because there's
06:53so many
06:53people who have the same texture of hair as you but also ties to my skin tone as well because
06:58I feel
06:58like on social media a lot of times I've gotten comments saying that like I'm too light to do
07:05like natural hair videos like I've literally seen articles of people saying that like why are light
07:08skins trying to be a part of this movement when it's something you know for darker skinned women
07:12so it kind of makes me feel comfortable doing those kind of videos because I also don't want to
07:15intrude on a movement that's not meant for me so like I've gotten people tell me that I don't
07:21understand what it's like to be black because I'm lighter so I haven't met the same issues and I get
07:25that like I understand that but like it doesn't make me any less black in my opinion it builds a
07:32hatred within our own race to hate someone else I noticed that a lot of um people feel like okay
07:40well if you're like half of something like if you're if you're half of something and then the
07:44other part of you is black everyone feels like okay well you're just black yeah no you're both and
07:49there's nothing wrong with identifying with both there's nothing wrong with that I just want
07:54everyone to just really get that out of their minds you know it's just like that's just that's
07:59just bizarre I feel like being mixed should actually be embraced because I feel like it's cool to be
08:04able to like be a part of two different cultures I think it's great throughout this experience it's
08:11really made me excited because I finally feel like comfortable enough to embrace both sides of my
08:16culture without being scared to be attacked for it or judged or questioned about it oh good you should
08:23feel comfortable doing anything that you want to do I and I commend you on that embracing both sides of
08:31my heritage has never been easy and I could still tell I have so much to learn about myself and
08:35my
08:35cultures but I don't have to pick between two sides of one hole because they are both crucial parts of
08:43who I am and who I want to become thank you so much for watching for more videos click here
08:50and to subscribe click here
Comments