I Earned This

I earned this, I earned this, I earned this. These were the words that I bounced around in my head after I received the acceptance letter from Georgetown University. It wasn’t that I had started out with doubts, it wasn’t that I had parents who told me I couldn’t go or didn’t deserve it. My doubts were birthed by a comment made by a teacher who said, “You got into Georgetown? They must not have met their quota for Puerto Ricans.” When he made this statement, I thought it was the worst thing a teacher had ever said or done to me, and I reacted by convincing myself I had earned my acceptance, promising myself to do well, and return with a degree that I could shove in his face. This incident, while pushing me, was one that really brought to light in the most glaring way the expectations and beliefs that some of those who were teaching me had of me and of the other Black, Brown, and poor children they were working with.