My community is my identity

Every day when I walk out of my house, I can smell the fresh, new tortilla chips being made up the street. Many people are impacted by where they live and how they live. I, and everyone else in this community of East Los Angeles, is also impacted by their community.

Our streets shine with murals and paintings created by our people. These murals really show how our culture affects our community and especially affects us as humans and Latinos. There’s also always people out in the streets talking or partying in the weekends. Yeah it can be loud but it just shows how much we stick together. Our culture outshines any other culture.

My identity is my community. My community really influences me and many others. The Latino culture is really a special one. It shows how we live and act with strangers or with friends. The murals really show this. These murals cannot be found anywhere else in the world. They make our community special and colorful, which makes it welcoming for people of all ages and races.

I know if I was born and raised somewhere else other than East Los Angeles, I wouldn’t be the same person I am. This area has defined my character and made me who I am. I would never go back in time and change this. It’s part of who I am.

If I was asked to change something about my community I would say change nothing. Sure, you can fix the streets and homes around the area, but don’t change anything else. I would like to keep everything the same for generations to come so they can grow around their culture and let them soak it up like a sponge and really be influenced by it. Culture is something that really changes who a person is. No matter the color of their skin or content of their character.