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 are just dope in general let's
00:15see our hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new welcome welcome
00:21welcome today's video is going to be on how I got this hair color I'm gonna be
00:26doing this challenge hey guys I'm Arnella if you don't know me normally be showing
00:31you how to do your hair and makeup but today we're gonna get a little more
00:33personal and talk about something I've never talked about before and that is
00:36being mixed race my mom is Mexican and black and my dad is black part of being
00:41mixed is being constantly told that you have to pick either being one of your
00:45races or the other both cultures are beautiful in their own ways and I love
00:48being able to identify with both I get comments either in person or online
00:53pressure me to somehow prove which side identify with more I think in a way it's
00:57made me unable to fully identify with either and I'm really tired of it today
01:01I'm coming in with an open mind ready to learn and hopefully be able to embrace
01:05both sides of myself once and for all one of the amazing things about living in LA
01:09is how easy it is to access Mexican culture and history I'm starting my day off
01:14on Olvera Street I've heard so much about this place and decided to finally make
01:18the trip 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
01:44and African 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
02:36love it try it try it 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
02:55it's actually so cute now that I think about it oh my god I'm a weenie he passed
03:04away but he was so cool
03:30listening to the music memories of my grandfather and family came back to me
03:35it reminded me of where I came from and grounded me in the fact that my Mexican
03:38culture has been a crucial character in my story for years
03:41but I still had this feeling I couldn't quite shake I had to talk to somebody who
03:51knew me better than anyone else my mom
03:54hey mom hey so I know you're at work and whatnot but I want to ask you what it was
04:01like growing a mixed race okay so for me being born in the late 60s it wasn't common to be
04:09mixed race so it wasn't as accepted as it is now so it was a little rough for me because
04:15being black and Mexican I wasn't black enough to be black and I was not Mexican enough because I was
04:24part black so I kind of fell somewhere in the middle there for me growing a mix was kind of
04:30difficult because like you said
04:31you're either not black enough or not Mexican enough and while I really enjoyed being around a Mexican family it's
04:38interesting that I relate more to my black side it kind of weirds me out because I didn't really grow
04:44up around them with you growing a mixed how did that affect how you raised us I don't think the
04:49way I raised you really had anything to do with being mixed it was more taking my own experiences
04:56but I don't know that race had anything to do with it so how do you think things have changed
05:02towards the idea of being mixed
05:04yeah it's come a long way and it's become very accepted and I mean there's there's a few that don't
05:10believe in it but it's very common now
05:12all right well I know you're at work so I'm gonna let you go now love you I'll see you
05:15later
05:16okay bye I thought talking to my mom would clear things up for me but what I walked away with
05:21was a sense that even our experiences are different
05:24I want to get into a creative space to help clear my head for me that means playing with my
05:29hair
05:31hi how are you fine I went to West of Heaven in Culver City to meet with professional braider Jessica
05:37I wanted help creating a braided style that represents both of my ethnicities
05:44okay well I have an idea I figured we can do the signature part down the middle like Frida and
05:50then
05:50um two big cornrows going straight back like Beyonce you know like in her formation video
05:55and then at the end of the braids I can add up some ribbons any color that you like I
05:59have a couple
05:59colors and then we can twirl them around buns
06:03growing up I wasn't even aware of the texture I had I kind of thought that everyone had the same
06:07hair texture until I was doing one of my friends hair in high school and I was going to do
06:14the same
06:14style I was doing myself so that would be easy and I realized it was completely different
06:19and sometimes when I made videos like centered around my natural hair I've gotten comments saying
06:23that it's not right for me to make this kind of videos because I don't have a certain hair texture
06:29I got a few comments saying like pretty much like why is she making these kind of videos her hair
06:34texture she can't relate to like the struggles of having natural hair and that kind of thing
06:37it's a bit frustrating because it's like yeah my hair texture is different but I still have my own
06:41little struggles and whatnot I hope you know you don't take that to heart you know it makes me not
06:47want to do natural hair videos which is why I don't do them on my channel come on but you
06:51can't do
06:52that because there's so many people who have the same texture of hair as you but also ties to my
06:57skin tone as well because I feel like on social media a lot of times I've gotten comments saying
07:01that like I'm too light to do like natural hair videos like I've literally seen articles of people
07:07saying that like why are light skins trying to be a part of this movement when it's something you
07:11know for darker skinned women so it kind of makes me feel comfortable doing those kind of videos
07:14because I also don't want to intrude on a movement that's not meant for me so like I've gotten people
07:20tell me that I don't understand what it's like to be black because I'm lighter so I haven't met the
07:24same issues and I get that like I understand that but like it doesn't make me any less black in
07:29my
07:30opinion it builds a hatred within our own race to hate someone else I noticed that a lot of people
07:39feel
07:40like okay well if you're like half of something like if you're if you're half of something and
07:44then the other part of you is black everyone feels like okay well you're just black yep no
07:48you're both and there's nothing wrong with identifying with both there's nothing wrong with that I just
07:54want everyone 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
08:04to be able to like be a part of two different cultures I think it's great throughout this
08:10experience it's really made me excited because I finally feel like comfortable enough to embrace
08:16both sides of my culture without being scared to be attacked for it or judged or questioned about it
08:22oh good you should feel comfortable doing anything that you want to do I and I commend you on that
08:30embracing both sides of my heritage has never been easy and I could still tell I have so much
08:34to learn about myself and my cultures but I don't have to pick between two sides of one hole
08:41because they are both crucial parts of who I am and who I want to become
