Being a minority in the U.S. is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life. Growing up, everything from my cultural values to my appearance seemed to be at odds with the dominant culture. Anyone can have anxiety around not belonging, but being a person of color in America makes that anxiety inescapable. When I was younger, I thought about my race all the time, because people around me were constantly pointing it out. I was the “Asian kid” or the “Mexican kid” (depending on how people perceived my race), and before I entered any room in my predominantly white Texas school, my first thought would always be: I hope they’ve seen people like me before.
“Being the representative of one’s race or ethnicity is a lot of pressure and causes stress,” Dior Vargas, a mental health activist who provides education and resources to communities of color, tells me. “It makes sense that people of color would move where they feel more supported because psychological safety is extremely important to one’s quality of life.”
