u/NocturnalSprite

I just shared my own thoughts on how Latin America's history isn't taught in schools or in their textbooks. Everything the indigenous people had to go through, and how people of indigenous descent didn't have the same opportunities afforded to those who weren't indigenous. How my grandfather had to lie to join the US Army and start a new life in the USA. How he had to deny being Hispanic and claim to be Italian just to get an education and become a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

After I poured my heart out, some idiot commented, "You're not andean, nor latinameican, you were born and raised in the US, and joining the US military is not something to be proud of." As if she could just erase my heritage, my ancestors.

I flew mad, started crying, and responded with, "I have it in my DNA. I am Andean. My grandfather was Andean. You obviously don't know how mixed heritage works, do you? I will fight for my heritage if I have to because it's mine and I am proud of it. You do not get to tell me what I am or what I'm not when it's in my literal DNA.

You are just like the other people who those of mixed race have to stand up against. "Pick a side. You're not this, or you're not that. You're too much this to be that." Well, I celebrate all of who I am, and nothing your bigoted self can say will change that."

Was I wrong to say that? I'm just so tired of having to defend my identity as a mixed person. My white maternal grandparents don't get it. I bring up that I'm Hispanic, and they reply that "everyone is mixed with something." And then this woman says that I'm not Andean or Latin American when I know my heritage, I know my history. I'm Hispanic. But just because I'm white passing, it feels like that part of me is invisible. How do others cope with this, because all I'm doing is bawling my eyes out right now.

I am honestly beyond annoyed. Tonight I’ve been deep diving into my own heritage and the history of the Andean people. My paternal grandfather is from Ecuador with indigenous Ecuadorian heritage. We’re Andean. I’ve actually learned the truth about what my people went through and it’s frustrating that it’s not even a blip in the history books!

The Andeans were treated like slaves. Actually, they were slaves in everything but name. Though the Spanish king called them “free vassals,” and they couldn’t be sold off to other people or shipped out of their own countries, they were forced into brutal textile sweatshops and mines for fourteen hours a day. They were trapped in endless cycles of forced debt and violently whipped and beaten if they didn’t meet quotas or tried to escape. Sound familiar? 

Their children were born into the same trap. One that they couldn’t escape. It was structural, multi-generational de facto slavery, and it didn’t truly end in Ecuador until the agrarian reforms in 1964! That’s 98 years after slavery was abolished in the United States! This isn’t exactly ancient history.

This erasure isn’t just in the history books. It directly affected my own family. Because he was indigenous, my grandfather didn’t get the basic rights that non-indigenous individuals often got. He literally had to lie about his own heritage and claim he was Italian just to be allowed to go to school and get an education. 

He did something incredible with his life. He joined the USA military, furthered his education and became a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. But the trauma of what he went through, that never really left him. Every time my Uncle Keith brought up the fact that we’re Hispanic or Andean, my grandfather would snap at him and insist that, “No, we’re Italian.” He had to bury his identity so deep just to protect himself and his kids. 

So yeah, I’m angry about the total erasure of what happened to the indigenous and Andean people. We don’t ever learn about what happened in the history books, not even in world history. Why? Why is our pain completely left out of the school curriculum? The Black community has fought hard and rightfully gotten their history and their suffering recognized in textbooks, but ours? It’s just forgotten and left in the dust. It shouldn’t be that way. There’s room enough to care about more than one group’s trauma! 

I’m so tired of pretending that our pain isn’t as great, or that centuries of whips, stolen lives, and forced survival that my family endured doesn’t deserve to be recognized as well. Our stories deserve to be heard. Our voices deserve to be heard! What the system did to my grandfather and our people matters!

I am honestly beyond annoyed. Tonight I’ve been deep diving into my own heritage and the history of the Andean people. My paternal grandfather is from Ecuador with indigenous Ecuadorian heritage. We’re Andean. I’ve actually learned the truth about what my people went through and it’s frustrating that it’s not even a blip in the history books!

The Andeans were treated like slaves. Actually, they were slaves in everything but name. Though the Spanish king called them “free vassals,” and they couldn’t be sold off to other people or shipped out of their own countries, they were forced into brutal textile sweatshops and mines for fourteen hours a day. They were trapped in endless cycles of forced debt and violently whipped and beaten if they didn’t meet quotas or tried to escape. Sound familiar? 

Their children were born into the same trap. One that they couldn’t escape. It was structural, multi-generational de facto slavery, and it didn’t truly end in Ecuador until the agrarian reforms in 1964! That’s 98 years after slavery was abolished in the United States! This isn’t exactly ancient history.

This erasure isn’t just in the history books. It directly affected my own family. Because he was indigenous, my grandfather didn’t get the basic rights that non-indigenous individuals often got. He literally had to lie about his own heritage and claim he was Italian just to be allowed to go to school and get an education. 

He did something incredible with his life. He joined the USA military, furthered his education and became a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. But the trauma of what he went through, that never really left him. Every time my Uncle Keith brought up the fact that we’re Hispanic or Andean, my grandfather would snap at him and insist that, “No, we’re Italian.” He had to bury his identity so deep just to protect himself and his kids. 

So yeah, I’m angry about the total erasure of what happened to the indigenous and Andean people. We don’t ever learn about what happened in the history books, not even in world history. Why? Why is our pain completely left out of the school curriculum? The Black community has fought hard and rightfully gotten their history and their suffering recognized in textbooks, but ours? It’s just forgotten and left in the dust. It shouldn’t be that way. There’s room enough to care about more than one group’s trauma! 

I’m so tired of pretending that our pain isn’t as great, or that centuries of whips, stolen lives, and forced survival that my family endured doesn’t deserve to be recognized as well. Our stories deserve to be heard. Our voices deserve to be heard! What the system did to my grandfather and our people matters!

I am honestly beyond annoyed. Tonight I’ve been deep diving into my own heritage and the history of the Andean people. My paternal grandfather is from Ecuador with indigenous Ecuadorian heritage. We’re Andean. I’ve actually learned the truth about what my people went through and it’s frustrating that it’s not even a blip in the history books!

The Andeans were treated like slaves. Actually, they were slaves in everything but name. Though the Spanish king called them “free vassals,” and they couldn’t be sold off to other people or shipped out of their own countries, they were forced into brutal textile sweatshops and mines for fourteen hours a day. They were trapped in endless cycles of forced debt and violently whipped and beaten if they didn’t meet quotas or tried to escape. Sound familiar? 

Their children were born into the same trap. One that they couldn’t escape. It was structural, multi-generational de facto slavery, and it didn’t truly end in Ecuador until the agrarian reforms in 1964! That’s 98 years after slavery was abolished in the United States! This isn’t exactly ancient history.

This erasure isn’t just in the history books. It directly affected my own family. Because he was indigenous, my grandfather didn’t get the basic rights that non-indigenous individuals often got. He literally had to lie about his own heritage and claim he was Italian just to be allowed to go to school and get an education. 

He did something incredible with his life. He joined the USA military, furthered his education and became a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. But the trauma of what he went through, that never really left him. Every time my Uncle Keith brought up the fact that we’re Hispanic or Andean, my grandfather would snap at him and insist that, “No, we’re Italian.” He had to bury his identity so deep just to protect himself and his kids. 

So yeah, I’m angry about the total erasure of what happened to the indigenous and Andean people. We don’t ever learn about what happened in the history books, not even in world history. Why? Why is our pain completely left out of the school curriculum? The Black community has fought hard and rightfully gotten their history and their suffering recognized in textbooks, but ours? It’s just forgotten and left in the dust. It shouldn’t be that way. There’s room enough to care about more than one group’s trauma! 

I’m so tired of pretending that our pain isn’t as great, or that centuries of whips, stolen lives, and forced survival that my family endured doesn’t deserve to be recognized as well. Our stories deserve to be heard. Our voices deserve to be heard! What the system did to my grandfather and our people matters!

I am honestly beyond annoyed. Tonight I’ve been deep diving into my own heritage and the history of the Andean people. My paternal grandfather is from Ecuador with indigenous Ecuadorian heritage. We’re Andean. I’ve actually learned the truth about what my people went through and it’s frustrating that it’s not even a blip in the history books!

The Andeans were treated like slaves. Actually, they were slaves in everything but name. Though the Spanish king called them “free vassals,” and they couldn’t be sold off to other people or shipped out of their own countries, they were forced into brutal textile sweatshops and mines for fourteen hours a day. They were trapped in endless cycles of forced debt and violently whipped and beaten if they didn’t meet quotas or tried to escape. Sound familiar? 

Their children were born into the same trap. One that they couldn’t escape. It was structural, multi-generational de facto slavery, and it didn’t truly end in Ecuador until the agrarian reforms in 1964! That’s 98 years after slavery was abolished in the United States! This isn’t exactly ancient history.

This erasure isn’t just in the history books. It directly affected my own family. Because he was indigenous, my grandfather didn’t get the basic rights that non-indigenous individuals often got. He literally had to lie about his own heritage and claim he was Italian just to be allowed to go to school and get an education. 

He did something incredible with his life. He joined the USA military, furthered his education and became a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. But the trauma of what he went through, that never really left him. Every time my Uncle Keith brought up the fact that we’re Hispanic or Andean, my grandfather would snap at him and insist that, “No, we’re Italian.” He had to bury his identity so deep just to protect himself and his kids. 

So yeah, I’m angry about the total erasure of what happened to the indigenous and Andean people. We don’t ever learn about what happened in the history books, not even in world history. Why? Why is our pain completely left out of the school curriculum? The Black community has fought hard and rightfully gotten their history and their suffering recognized in textbooks, but ours? It’s just forgotten and left in the dust. It shouldn’t be that way. There’s room enough to care about more than one group’s trauma! 

I’m so tired of pretending that our pain isn’t as great, or that centuries of whips, stolen lives, and forced survival that my family endured doesn’t deserve to be recognized as well. Our stories deserve to be heard. Our voices deserve to be heard! What the system did to my grandfather and our people matters!

I need to vent because I am honestly getting annoyed. Tonight I’ve been diving deep into my own heritage. My paternal grandfather is from Ecuador. I have Andean ancestry, and I've learned the unvarnished truth about what our ancestors actually went through under Spanish rule.

And let me tell you, they were SLAVES in everything but name.

The history books love to skip past this or dress it up in fancy legal terms like the "mita" draft or "haciendas" or "concertaje." The Spanish king technically called them "free vassals," so they couldn't be bought or sold on a literal auction block. But on the ground? It meant absolutely nothing. They were forced into brutal textile sweatshops and mines for 14 hours a day. They were trapped in endless cycles of forced debt. And yes, they were violently whipped and beaten if they didn't meet quotas or tried to escape. Their children were born into the same trap. It was structural, multi-generational de facto slavery, and it didn't truly end in Ecuador until the agrarian reforms in the 1960s! This isn't ancient history!

And this erasure didn't just stay in the history books—it directly traumatized my own family. Because he was Indigenous, my grandfather didn't get the basic rights that non-Indigenous people took for granted. He literally had to lie about his own heritage and claim he was Italian just to be allowed to go to school and get an education.

He fought like hell and did something incredible with his life—he joined the US military and eventually became a plastic surgeon at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. But the trauma of what he had to go through to get there never left him. To his dying day, he was terrified of the truth. Every single time my uncle brought up the fact that we are Hispanic or Andean, my grandfather would snap at him and fiercely insist, "No, we're Italian." He had to bury his identity so deep just to protect himself and his kids.

What makes me so angry is the total narrative erasure of all of this. Why don't we ever learn about it? Why is our pain completely left out of the school curriculum? The Black community has fought hard and rightfully gotten their history and their suffering recognized in textbooks, but it feels like the system treats history like a zero-sum game where there's only enough room to care about one group's trauma.

I am tired of pretending that our pain isn't as great, or that the centuries of whips, stolen lives, and forced survival my family endured doesn't deserve to be shouted from the rooftops. Our stories deserve to be heard. Our voices deserve to be heard. What the system did to my grandfather and his people matters, and I am done staying silent about it.

What annoys me is that a life has been taken, and it seems like the whole world is taking the side of Karmelo Anthony. He took a life.

From the footage that has been released and the eyewitnesses, it never needed to come to that. "He put his hands on me," Karmelo stated in one released video. Okay. Yeah. Austin Metcalf put his hands on him, but did Austin have a weapon? No. Did he have an intention to kill or permanently maim Carmelo? Also, no. From the stated case, it was a push.

During a severe rainstorm and thunderstorm delay at the track meet, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony went into a bleacher tent belonging to a rival school (Memorial High School) to escape the downpour, where he was initially chatting with a friend.

Because it was a rival school's ten, multiple students, including Austin Metcalf's twin brother, Hunter, confronted Anthony and asked him to leave. Witnesses testified that Anthony was asked to move out of the tent as many as fifteen times over a two-minute period, but he refused.

As the argument grew heated, Anthony reached his hand into his backpack, opened it, and told Austin Metcalf, "Touch me and see what happens."

Believing Anthony was bluffing about having a weapon, Austin replied, "You don't have anything in that backpack," and stepped forward to push, shove, or grab Anthony to physically force him out of the tent.

The moment Austin made physical contact, Anthony immediately pulled a concealed knife out of the bag and plunged it once into Austin's chest before fleeing the scene.

You can find all of this information on: Wikipedia, Capital B News, and CBS News.

Given all of this, what Karmelo did wasn't self-defense. He could have de-escalated the situation, walked away, or defended himself without lethal means. Despite what a lot of people are saying, race has nothing to do with it. If roles had been reversed and Karmelo had been killed by Austin, Austin would have went to jail with a 35-year-long, if not longer, sentence.

And if Karmelo had to defend himself physically, he has hands, doesn't he? A good punch wouldn't have gotten him locked up or taken the life of another student.

I take no sides politically on this case. That's not what this is, so let's leave politics completely out of it. What annoys me is that a life has been taken, and it seems like the whole world is taking the side of Karmelo Anthony. He took a life.

From the footage that has been released and the eyewitnesses, it never needed to come to that. "He put his hands on me," Karmelo stated in one released video. Okay. Yeah. Austin Metcalf put his hands on him, but did Austin have a weapon? No. Did he have an intention to kill or permanently maim Karmelo? Also, no. From the stated case, it was a push.

During a severe rainstorm and thunderstorm delay at the track meet, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony went into a bleacher tent belonging to a rival school (Memorial High School) to escape the downpour, where he was initially chatting with a friend.

Because it was a rival school's ten, multiple students, including Austin Metcalf's twin brother, Hunter, confronted Anthony and asked him to leave. Witnesses testified that Anthony was asked to move out of the tent as many as fifteen times over a two-minute period, but he refused.

As the argument grew heated, Anthony reached his hand into his backpack, opened it, and told Austin Metcalf, "Touch me and see what happens."

Believing Anthony was bluffing about having a weapon, Austin replied, "You don't have anything in that backpack," and stepped forward to push, shove, or grab Anthony to physically force him out of the tent.

The moment Austin made physical contact, Anthony immediately pulled a concealed knife out of the bag and plunged it once into Austin's chest before fleeing the scene.

You can find all of this information on: Wikipedia, Capital B News, and CBS News.

Given all of this, what Karmelo did wasn't self-defense. He could have de-escalated the situation, walked away, or defended himself without lethal means. Despite what a lot of people are saying, race has nothing to do with it. If roles had been reversed and Karmelo had been killed by Austin, Austin would have went to jail with a 35-year-long, if not longer, sentence.

And if Karmelo had to defend himself physically, he has hands, doesn't he? A good punch wouldn't have gotten him locked up or taken the life of another student.

Edit: I've just been informed that a Caucasian kid would be given a lighter sentence of 25 years. That's what we should be fighting for. Not his release, but an equal amount of time that a white kid would receive.

I originally made a minority flag to represent unity, resilience, and interconnectedness. I went based on colors suggested by AI, but honestly that wasn’t the best approach. It gave me colors that could be seen as problematic now that I’m looking back at it. I have ADHD, so that kind of flew over my head.

Now, I’m thinking that I should have asked people from those communities. What colors are important to your culture and why?

BaakCoi suggested Jade for Asia. 
What about the black community?
The indigenous community?
The Hispanic community. As someone of Hispanic mixed heritage, I thought red but I’m open to suggestions!
And of course, our community. The mixed community. We need representation too as we’re often left out.
Also am I missing anyone?

I wasn't satisfied with the inclusion of a few additional colors of to represent minorities on a LGBTQA+ flag. As I'm part of both communities, mixed Hispanic on my dad's side, I decided to create an image that represented the minorities.

Black is for the black community - Black is widely used to represent the people of the African diaspora. It serves as a strong, foundational representation of the Black community.

Red is for the Hispanic community - In many national flags throughout Latin America, red is the primary color used to honor the blood shed by those who fought for independence and justice. It is a bold symbol of valor, revolution, and the high cost of freedom.

White is for the indigenous community - White is frequently used to honor Indigenous and Native peoples. In the context of the four-quadrant design, it aligns with colors often found in traditional symbolic representations like the medicine wheel, which reflects a deep connection to history and cultural balance.

Yellow is for the Asian community - Yellow serves as a powerful tribute to the vast, multifaceted cultures of Asia. It represents centrality, enlightenment, and wisdom in many Asian philosophies.

The Witch's Knot (The Symbol): "The symbol serves as a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of all things and the strength found in unity and resilience."

I thought I’d share!

Hi! Sorry to bug everyone. I’m still finding myself musically as a goth, but based on my listed bands and song choices, what are some other darkwave bands or songs that you think I’d enjoy?

Duran Duran - Danse Macabre
Darkwave Hex - Don’t Play With a Witch
Blackbook - Wait Until Midnight
Blackbook - Stay Strange
Dark Corridor - The End Is The Beginning Is The End
Agnis - Incantation
Blutengl - Vampire
Darren Strange - Sex Daisy
Diva Destruction - The Broken Ones
London After Midnight - Let Me Break You
Darkwave Witch - Spooky Season
Agatha Is Dead - Courtroom Drama
Drab Majesty - Too Soon To Tell
Bragolin - Into These Woods
Bagolin - Not All Are Real
Agnis, White Ritual - Incantation (Yes, I like both versions)
White Ritual - Ritual Lust
Hexmouth - Fused to Mine
Dollwave - Moonburn
Darkwave Hex - Ancient Dark
Faith and the Muse - Running Up That Hill
The Cruxshadows - Uncertainity
Collide - Comfortably Numb
The Birthday Massacre - Enter
The Birthday Massacre - I Think We’re Alone Now
The Birthday Massacre - The Neverending Story
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
Type O Negative - Be My Druidess
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
Switchblade Symphony - Clown
Switchblade Symphony - Gutter Glitter
Switchblade Symphony - Dissolve
Switchblade Symphony - Witches
Switchblade Symphony - Dollhouse
Switchblade Symphony - Sweet
Switchblade Symphony - Mine Eyes
Switchblade Symphony - Wrecking Yard
Collide - The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum
Deine Lakaien - Over and Done

I know it’s a take on Club Kids, but I don’t really remember the movement or know anything about it. I was born after it or was too young to participate.