my sister helped my parents damage my skin with an unsafe whitening cream, so I cut ties with all of them. two years later, she came back in fear, begging for help

My family are the most colorist people I have ever met. Growing up in a Hispanic household, the shade of your skin was, in my mother’s eyes, the ultimate measure of your worth. Every summer, when my older sister Elena and I would play outside, my mother would count the number of times we stepped out of the shade. Each infraction was equal to one hard slap across the face when we got home.