"They call me Prieta and they think it's an insult. Prieta color of the mud of my pots and my comales Prieta like chili tatted Prieta like the beans Prieta like the mole Prieta like the obsidian Prieta, like the fertile soil under my bare feet Prieta like my grandparents Prieta like the night they call me Prieta and think it is insult, they don't know that my color is my porte, that if my brown skin bothers them, it's because they have no identity or love for their land. I'm Prieta like Ix chel, like Ixtab, like Coyolxauhqui and Mictecacihuatl. Pretty Prieta, my father used to say, Prieta with her forehead up and my pride in the braid. Chichen Itza Castle, Yucatan 1968 Photo: Giorgio Lotti/GettyImages

















