#rico hates racism

[andivmg]

My experience with Luke (Punz)

CW: toxic relationship, racism, dubious consent

I know in the past i said that i would no longer speak about him publicly, and when talking about my experiences with abuse and emotional mistreatment i begged to keep it anonymous but after reflecting on this for a week and seeing so many incredibly smart and strong women tell their stories. they have given me the strength to say his name.

this is really scary to talk about because of the copious levels of harassment i have received from his fans in the past so if this spreads or gets out of hand i will simply log off.

If you read my last post, i nicknamed him 1.

So aside from everything i said there, there were a lot of things i didn’t include because they would’ve made it obvious that it was him and it could potentially backfire on me so, i’m very afraid to post this. but i’m going to do it scared anyway, because it’s not fair that he gets to just go and live his life worry-free as if he didn’t practically ruin mine.

Because I already made a very lengthy post about him, i won’t include everything i said last time to avoid being redundant but if i repeat myself, please bear with me.

In our year long relationship i had to endure emotional neglect, gaslighting, verbal abuse, one instance where there was dubious consent, and much more.

Starting off at the beginning of our relationship, that’s when i was getting copious amounts of hate and harassment from his fan base (warranted or not), he decided that our relationship must be kept private. he said it was to “protect” me from his fanbase when in reality it was to protect himself. it was so he wouldn’t get all the backlash i was getting. this is funny because one of the things i got called out for was saying the B slur (derogatory term used against mexicans/latinos). I won’t get into the nuances of if i could say it or not as a puertorican because that’s discourse that does not pertain to this specific situation. But you know who definitely can’t say it? A white boy from Massachusetts. When i was getting cancelled for this and getting thousands of tweets calling me names, he decided that was the perfect time to say “I mean you are a b***** aren’t you? my little b*****.” Now, he said this completely unprompted. I was in the process of writing my apology and he just said that. I tell you this because i immediately shut him down and told him that there was no universe in which it was okay for him to say that word and especially not one where he could just call me that. While i was reprimanding him, he was smiling and laughing. he apparently found it amusing to call me a slur. regardless, he gave me a half-assed apology and said he wouldn’t do it again. and he didn’t. but this wasn’t the only time he was weirdly racist to me. this was my first time being in an interracial relationship so i was led to believe that this was normal by all the white people around me at the time. But, sometimes my spanish accent would come out and he would make fun of me and the way i pronounced some words. He also refused to visit me in Puerto Rico when i lived there or come meet my family when i really wanted him to because he “didn’t like the heat” or “it’s dangerous there isn’t it?”. Once, while we were watching season 2 of Bridgerton, he implied that the Sharma sisters were “too dark” for him to be attracted to them. This hurt me because they are brown skinned girls. I am a brown skinned girl. Then this, combined with the fact that he told me once he wasn’t attracted to me made me feel like my skin color was unattractive. These are only a few examples i can think of at the moment, but i’m sure there were more. Our relationship ended in 2022 so some of my memory is a bit hazy. But, I do remember feeling inferior to him throughout the relationship because he was white and I was not. I chalk that up to all the micro aggressions i had to deal with because i had never felt that way around white people before.

Another thing i had to endure was him constantly making me feel like he was embarrassed to be with me. Because i was cancelled, he didn’t want to associate with me too much. He did defend me on multiple occasions, I’ll give him that. But, he only did it because his name was getting dragged in the mud along with mine. Excusing my actions made him look better for being around me. In reality he didn’t really care. Because he was such a big content creator and someone i looked up to professionally, I took his advice as law. He told me to tone down my personality, to keep a low profile, to change things about myself to be more palatable to his audience. The same audience that spoke about me like “The pussy can’t be that good punz please stop defending her”. So i changed a lot of things about myself and my content to better suit what his audience liked. He made me feel like if his audience liked me, he would be public about our relationship and stop hiding it. He told me the reason why he wanted to keep our relationship a secret was because he didn’t want to get hate for it. But this wasn’t true. On my 20th birthday he went to Las Vegas for a twitch rivals event. That night i asked to facetime him to say goodnight and he refused because he was at a hotel room with his friends and he didn’t want them to know that we were together. It was as if my mere presence or the utterance of my name was a source of embarrassment for him. And he didn’t let me forget it. It wasn’t just a public thing at that point. He didn’t want people to know we were together, period. This was devastating to me because I would talk to all my friends about him. I was so proud to be with him and I was just one more problem to him. He made me feel so small and insignificant just because his fans didn’t like me.

He would berate me a lot. Not just due to getting heat online, although he did do that a lot. But in general whenever we would get into an argument or a disagreement he would always call me names like annoying or weird or stupid. He would raise his voice at me if i did something he didn’t like and call me an idiot. And that really hurt, i felt like i couldn’t bring up anything or do anything without getting insulted. If I hadn’t seen him in a few days because he was too busy streaming and i asked to hang out he would call me needy, clingy, and annoying. Granted, he might not have been wrong, but that is not something you say to someone you claim to love. He also insulted me when i was in depressive episodes. I have BPD and at the time i was not being treated properly for it. So, I was all over the place emotionally and he was what i clung to for validation, reassurance, and love. I talked to him when we first started dating about my disorder and told him that if it seemed like something he couldn’t handle that he could opt out of the relationship. I guess he didn’t think it was that bad or something idk because whenever i had really bad depressive episodes, he would tell me I was too sad to hang out with. He said that my sadness was a burden to him. Which would be fair. But, once my mother had a conversation with him about me. She told him that i am someone who needs a lot of love and caring. She said that if he wasn’t willing to put in that kind of effort into a relationship to just leave me alone. He reassured her that he would be there for me no matter what. He told my mother that he would protect me and my heart. He did not. He took all the warnings I gave him and ignored them and then made me feel like I was the problem. And even worse, he would say that i was pretending to be sad to get his attention when he would neglect for days at a time.

There were also some smaller things like the fact that he made me feel really guilty whenever he would spend money on me. Also, he would be really mean about my eating habits. For context, i used to suffer from an eating disorder. I was anorexic and had a really unhealthy relationship with food during high school and my first year of uni. This relationship began when i was recovering from my ED. For me, eating was really hard. So i had certain comfort foods that, while sometimes unhealthy, at least it was something to eat when i didn’t feel like eating anything. He knew this. Yet, whenever i would crave some of these foods he would call me fat. Constantly told me I’d gain weight from eating all that junk food. Saying that to someone with an eating disorder is crazy. Other smaller things were that whenever I would post tiktoks where i was lip syncing or just looking good he would yell at me and say i was looking for attention. Same with Instagram or Twitter whenever i would post photos where I looked hot. He never planned out a single date for us. I would beg him to get me flowers and he did maybe once but i’ll get into that in a bit. He would make fun of me in front of his friends to make himself look better. He let his friends say really degrading things about me in his presence. For example, once when i was showering, i overheard him on a discord call with George and Sapnap and i heard George say “if you don’t go in the shower and have sex with Andi, i will”. Once, when i was really struggling with my legs (for those of you who don’t know, i have arthritis and it’s very painful. at the time i wasn’t diagnosed but i was in a lot of pain) I literally could not walk. I had to beg him to take me to the ER because i didn’t know what was wrong with me. He didn’t want to take me but eventually i convinced him, and while we were there all he did was complain about how long it was taking and that he would have rather been at home streaming. Whenever I would talk about my interests that i was excited about like shows or books he would be incredibly uninterested and say that those things were stupid and he didn’t want to hear about them. I know all of these seem very silly or superficial but cumulatively it was awful.

Now for arguably the most serious thing i’m going to talk about. I want to preface this by saying i am just telling my side of what happened. You can come to your own conclusions about this.

On April 25, 2022 it was our one year anniversary, and i had made a dinner reservation for us. I expected him to plan something throughout the day for us to do. He told me he was going to spend the whole day playing Valorant so I got upset and cancelled the reservation. After a very heated argument, we calmed down and i asked him to come over. He came over about an hour later with flowers and drinks (I was 20 at the time so I couldn’t buy the drinks myself). He brought Smirnoffs and Trulys. For context, I am a lightweight. I always have been. I literally get tipsy on half a cocktail. And that day, I hadn’t eaten anything because i was in distress over our argument. So we get to talking and drinking. I blacked out after my second Smirnoff. Apparently I drank 3 but I genuinely cannot remember anything after finishing the second one. The next morning i woke up naked in my bed. I woke him up and asked him “Luke, why am I naked?” and he said “Because you didn’t want to put your clothes back on.” When I clarified to him that that was not what I meant, he got defensive and said that he didn’t realize how drunk I was. He proceeded to tell me that I initiated sex with him and that i was very enthusiastic about it. He said he didn’t know i could black out on three smirnoffs. He made fun of me for being a lightweight and continued to make light of the situation. Then he mentioned that i fell off the bed at some point in the night and that it was funny how drunk I was. I then questioned him. Because if he thought that me tripping and falling off the bed because i was so drunk was funny, how did he not know that i was too drunk? He responded by saying that i fell off the bed only after we were done. That day I broke up with him. I’m still really confused about what happened that night. I don’t remember anything and all I have to go on is what he said to me. We were in a relationship at the time and he says he didn’t know how drunk I was so I’m not sure what to call what happened. A while after that day, his friend that hmu while we were broken up and I started talking again and i confided in him about that night. He told me to be careful saying things like that because they could get me into trouble. I spoke to some of our other friends about it and they told me it was no big deal and that it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t know how drunk I really was. Because I don’t remember, I have been led to believe that this is not a serious matter. You can think what you want, come to whatever conclusions you want. That is just my side of the story.

I want to add that I’m not proud of how I acted after the relationship ended. I felt really angry at all the shit he put me through and I guess a part of me wanted him to hurt even a quarter of how I did. So I started talking to his friend and got involved with him. This backfired on me because his friend ended up really hurting me too so ig i got my karma. But the thing that hurt the most is that because of what I did, some of our friends took his side in the break up. I was told that I did something terrible by getting involved with his friend that he was already insecure about and that he didn’t deserve that. These are the same friends who were witness to the dumpster fire of a relationship we had and all the things he did to me. They turned their backs on me because of this one thing I did. But stood by and watched as he treated me like garbage for over a year.

I will conclude this by saying that while this relationship has been “over and done with” for almost two years now, I carry a lot of trauma from it still. I still talk about him in therapy and have had to put in a lot of work to heal from what he did and i still cannot say that i am okay. I am very blessed to now have a patient and understanding partner who has helped me heal from that trauma and i just want to quickly thank him for that. Nobody deserves to go through what I did. While yes, it was a toxic relationship, and I had a part in that, it does not excuse all the awful things he said and did to me. This is my truth, thank you for taking the time to read it.

#sorry if the formatting is all over the place

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

I'm not white

You are not white. No really no one is "white". And I'm sick of this bullshit of people saying, "White" this and "Black" that and "Brown" this. Just stop. Judging people by skin pigment is something that we should not be doing at any point. And yet, the people that are "the most against racism" as it were, are insistent we continue to use these terms and so much so that if you are pale AT ALL you "should be considered white". Meanwhile you actually make it easier for people to be racist when you do this.

And you make the spreading of hate that much easier. "Boo hoo wyte pepo so bad they evil with no soul and something something melanin gives empathy". Shut the ever loving fuck up.

Frankly, it pisses me off more than anything to hear that kind of bullshit. AND YES that is a real thing people have said. We need to get away from labeling people as white, black, brown, etc, etc. Why? Easy, because if we are being honest here, it's kinda ignorant. I'm of French/Irish descent and I was born and raised in the US. Simple. And the same way I can say that. A "Black" man could be of Jamaican descent and also be born and raised in the US. Hell, he could be from Haiti and be a 3rd generation US citizen who's parents did REALLY well for themselves. You don't know. And that's the point.

You CAN'T know. It's just, "Oh this person LOOKS pale. We will just label him white, say he's never suffered oppression or discrimination at ALL and say that he is privileged." It's disgusting.

I've seen someone say that to a friend of mine, who's family barely survived the Holodomor, that he was just a "privileged little white boy". Excuse the fuck out of me but WHAT?! Kindly LTG.

Fact is in the US funny enough, those of Asian descent do better than almost ANY demographic in the US at all. People from India, Japan, China, South Korean, Taiwan, Philippines, etc, etc. Not "White". Which funny enough. Calling someone "White" and then saying, "White people have no culture" is some of the most racist and xenophobic shit I hear in my life. Why? Well let's look shall we. Where are can you find "White" people?

Russia

Brazil

Ukraine

South Africa

Spain

Mexico

Puerto Rico

Chile

Poland

England

Czech Republic

Switzerland

Canada

France

Germany

Ireland

Scotland

Finland

United States

And the list goes on. So you are going to tell me that NONE of the people from these countries have a culture. That they are just one with the "White Conglomerate" as it were? If you think as such then YOU are the racist. And also Xenophobic as well. We need to find a way to stop this "skin tone classification" bullshit. Especially since we seem to be EXPORTING IT to every other country in the world. Which, newsflash, is making things in the world THAT MUCH WORSE. And what's better? It's "well to do liberals" doing it. Congrats. You are making the world a worse place because you can't stop being racist little shits.

Am I blaming all liberals? No. Many? Absolutely.

We need to put a stop to this. And it needed to stop AGES ago.

#discussion #discourse

[super-hero-confessions]

I love Samuel L. Jackson and his version of Nick Fury. I know he was originally white in the comics but I don't care, Samuel L. Jackson is a legend, so I bought black Nick Fury, I'm keeping black Nick Fury, this version is simply superior. What I think tho is that people complain about other race swaps because characters are most of the time race swapped to be black and now historical figures too, not because these studios believe black people deserve genuine representation, but because of white guilt. And white guilt is exclusively a thing of the USA.

What do I mean by that? I mean black people were treated horribly (and still do nowadays) in the US, the slavery was insane, the segregation was insane. There, Native Americans were considered savages but black people weren't even considered people. White guilt, white shame, it's all an American thing. In other countries of course there can be racism against black people but it's not as deeply rooted as it is in the US. For example, the continent Latin America. The conquest was also horrible and cruel, but the people of today, they do not resent the Spaniards of today for what their ancestors did because most Spaniard conquerors chose to stay in Latin America. Most Latin Americans carry the blood of those Spaniard colonizers. White guilt would be stupid because you would be asking almost all latinos to hate a part of themselves. We choose to see each other as brothers and sisters because there is enough division in the world already. Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Puerto Rico, Chile, Canarias, Colombia, etc... we're ALL brothers and sisters! We don't go "your ancestors did x y and z" because your ancestors are also my ancestors! And even though Namor was race swapped, he showed actual representation, the beauty of songs in Spanish, etc, he wasn't the same Namor but latino. Race swap was done well!

So when race swaps are very clearly motivated by white guilt, of course other countries where this isn't a thing are gonna be confused af. Because we haven't wronged black people the way USAmericans have done in the past. And before you say this is a racist take, don't. We hispanics are the most diverse group, with all kinds of ancestry, Portuguese, Spaniards, the Muslims who inhabited Spain for 700 years, the large diasporas of Italians that came to Argentina between 1880-1930, Africans, Japanese, Lebanese. We are the most diverse people in the world. We aren't racist.

All we ask is that American studios keep in mind white guilt isn't for everyone. They race swap accordingly to white guilt, and expect everyone else to understand that, when a black Latino will see it and go "what kind of pendejada es esa" and a black Egyptian will see it and go "dear Ra what is this". Because those race swaps are for black Americans, born out of white guilt. As I said, we don't do white guilt, but people of the US think their problems are universal and they think if this is how their country works, then this is how other countries work as well and NO! I do agree that black people have been through hell in the US so there's a lot to compensate for. But please don't push your social mess to the world. Our countries don't function like the USA.

#confession #nick fury

[plethoraworldatlas]

I'm really over all this weird hate Lin Manuel Miranda has started getting. Like, he's not perfect, some of his work is very phoned in just for a paycheck or part of a contract, and yeah he should be criticized for the times he's fumbled or worse about racism, but a lot of the criticism this website is throwing at him is just off the mark. Like, you absolutely cannot deny the impact he's had on theater, Pop Culture, recent music, etc.; Of course, people do try and minimize or flat out deny any impact he's had, and they flat out have to lie or misrepresent reality to do it. Hamilton, while obviously worthy of its criticism, definitively made an impact with race blind casting and emphasizing diversity; It's not fully his fault Disney remakes saw people liked race-blind casting once and decided all their remakes have it now regardless of the legitimate criticisms he got from it. Speaking of remakes, a lot of Tumblr people hating on him hard-core right now are specifically hating on him in relation to the Little Mermaid remake, and... I hate to defend it, but Tumblr should really understand by now that not everyone is hating on an admittedly bad remake for the same reason, and in this case a lot of them are hating on it for very obviously racist reasons, and yet because they share a hate for LMM, people just reblog without looking, and now tons of Leftist or Progressive Tumblrs are regularly reblogging Lite to big time racist/fascist Tumblrs. Like, come on, isn't this website the one where everyone was all smug about not falling for "obvious" Right Wing Pipelines? Look, they guy is earnest and imperfect, and I've never really cared about him before now, simply because I recognized the flagrantly stupid "He WaS nEvEr GoOd" takes and recognized the pipeline that was coming because of Little Mermaid. He's just a guy who made it big and kinda gets used a lot, and who works a lot because he likes music and really doesn't want to do anything that could mess up his dream projects; So he takes on some subpar projects for cash or because he's contractually obligated to, so many actors and artists do that, at least he still tries to make it fun. And, in regards to a lot of common criticism, he seems to genuinely be learning and actually trying to better himself and better showcase diversity and darker skinned characters in his work, he's trying which is a whole lot more than honestly most; He seemed to genuinely think the policies he supported for Puerto Rico would help but now he shows regret for supporting things that hurt it. Honestly, he's handling going from "hero of diverse storytelling and music who tries to help more diverse creativies" to "literally as bad as a fascist while also justifying people being racist towards him and calling it progressive" better than most would.

#lin manuel miranda #lin manuel appreciation post #I've had a feeling a lot of Tumblr funnymen were gonna waterslide down a right wing pipeline soon yall are too smug #Even on post talking about how literally anyone can fall into conspiracy theories or a right wing pipeline #The same people saying don't be smug you could fall for it too are like actively sharing memes less than 4 degrees away from fash accounts #First people try defending LMM and they get blown away and the OP gets a high on it then they invite the drama for that high #I predict at least 3-4 currently Progressive or Leftist Tumblr Funnymen will end up libertarians to lite fash by December #And if they ever get out of that fash again they'll have to live with the fact that the thing that got them fash was a damn rapping seagull

[terristarstrike]

Sprite De La Rosa

Character Lore:

Sprite De La Rosa is a vivacious, pint-sized 17-year-old Mertilian born of Dominican and Haitian descent. She was born within the Caribbean Sea near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but her family swam to the Pacific Ocean near Westshore when she was 10 years old.

She enjoys being a hairstylist for her friends, especially Terrina. She loves to moisturize Terri’s curls and she loves to give her ponytails and afro puffs.

Sprite speaks with an American accent, and her Spanish has Dominican dialect.

Sprite has scales on her back that give her the ability to breathe underwater in her human form.

As a Mertilian, she transforms into a human when she's out of the water, and back into a mermaid when her entire body is submerged in water.

Alongside Bailynn Lo-Shanta, she often participates in social justice activism to help improve her community. She speaks out against issues like racism, genocide and slavery.

She is surprisingly knowledgable in human history. She knows about the Taino genocide in the 15th century and enslaved Africans being imported to the Caribbean in the 17th century.

Sprite is fluent in English and Spanish and she doesn't play when it comes to speaking Spanish. Having spent her life near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, she knows that Dominican Spanish isn't the same as Mexican Spanish, or Castillian Spanish.

“Deja que fluya” is her major moral, it means “go with the flow” in English.

Sprite and Izzy are the ultimate tag team, they love to sass their enemies and throw comebacks at them.

Her parents named her Sprite because she reminded them of fairy figures from the surface world’s fairytale books.

Her favorite books are romantic fiction and fantasy.

Mertilians are free to roam the ocean on their own once they turn 13. Her parents are deeply protective of her safety, but they’re trying to let their daughter enjoy life in Westshore.

She LOVES to dance when she's on legs, mostly to salsa, boogaloo and hip hop.

Sprite can talk to sea creatures like dolphins, whales and fish, but she can't talk to land animals.

She has a special Siren Song that hyptonizes those who hear her singing voice. She rarely uses it at all, but she only uses it for when she needs to save her friends.

Sprite is skilled in playing the guitar and the harp. If the Terrestrial Kids were a band, she would play the bass guitar.

She is fascinated with the concept of peanut butter, and she loves to spread peanut butter on everything she eats.

Sprite is the biggest cheerleader to her team. She loves to encourage her friends to prove their worth even when they’re faced with impossible challenges or foes.

Terrina has a huge fishbowl for Sprite to swim in for when she brings her to El-Doe.

Her favorite treats are Dulce de Coco (Coconut Sweets) and plantains.

Her body constantly smells like the ocean. It's mostly a pleasant smell of coconut and sunscreen. She often "stinks like seaweed" after swimming in the ocean in mermaid form, but she covers it up with perfume.

One of her favorite places to visit are the islands of Puerto Rico, Haiti and the beaches of Florida.

She hates the bitter cold of winter on the surface land. Sure, she can handle cold waters, but not cold air. Expect her to wear a huge puffy coat in the wintertime.

Mertilians have different concepts than humans: When a Mertilian dies, their bodies evaporate into seafoam. Their bodies are strong enough to withstand the pressure of the underwater trenches, and they're even stronger than humans when they're on land.

Sprite has a crush for Izzy, but she doesn't know how to express her feelings for them. The two are currently in a situationship in which they are crushing on each other, but not interested in a serious romantic relationship.

Sprite yearns for independence from her parents to spend her life in Westshore, but she is learning to hold a job so that she can be able to financially support herself as a human.

#terri starstrike #character: sprite de la rosa #my ocs #original character #oc biography

[msclaritea]

So all of you people who are a "hard no on Biden" need to understand that means you're OK with:

-Trump, his racism, stupidity & chaos

-Voter Suppression

-A nationwide abortion ban

-NO shot at college debt reduction

-The end of marriage equality

-More tax cuts for the rich

- unfettered hostile foreign power access to U.S. security

-someone who wanted to nuke a hurricane in charge of the nuclear stockpile

- ANOTHER botched public health response killing EVEN MORE people

-Another botched disaster response like Puerto Rico

-MORE election tampering

-re-electing someone facing 91 RICO charges

-a U.S. President bowing to North Korea

-More emolument violations enriching a con-man with tax payer dollars

-MORE LIFETIME appointed right wing federal judges taking away hard-won rights

-Pacificaation of Nazis in Charlottesville

-Books banned & history hidden

-A free press bending the knee for "access"

-& a commander-in-chief who thought Frederick Douglass was STILL ALIVE.

OR you can choose to stop this.

These are the choices.

Don't act like you didn't know.

The biggest response to this thread was that some of these actions happened under Biden, but they were started under Trump. I'm especially pissed that so many black youth are falling for this. You guys actually think that the billionaires behind all of this will let any of you hold power, once they achieve their goals? Look at what the same groups did to Argentina. They genocided every black native down there. It's an entire anti-black nation that numerous celebrities absolutely love and can't stop talking about. Why? No black people and all of the rest of the people native to the region are poor as fuck!

Christofascists are also counting on you throwing away your Democracy like brainwashed idiots. Those people hate Muslims but also deliberately see every black person as a Muslim, even when we don't practice it. Every black person.

#Marxism #Socialism #Poisonous #Biden #Trump #Israel

[dragoninatrenchcoat]

Part of the reason people hate LMM is the racism of Hami/ton and the other part is that he did do some sketchy shit at The University of Puerto Rico (Id recommend looking up an article its complicated and theres a lot of needed context) The hate against him is absolutely overblown due to the pedestal thing you mentioned but I do understand why its there

Not to step in discourse for the first time in years, but from any rational angle, it is absolutely impossible for me to read racism into Hamilton. The characters are mostly slaveowners, and even the ones who aren’t are probably racist, but that has nothing to do with the themes or messaging of the show

I’m not ignoring the rest of what you said, I just know nothing about it so I have zero commentary. The Hamilton thing just threw me for an entire loop though

#I’m one of those people who is great at reading symbolism regardless of author intent #always used to ace the random essays where we had to bullshit that kind of thing #sorry but the racism take just isn’t there except for like #the absence of black characters in the text #but that is such a milquetoast quibble compared to the strides that he made in mainstream public thought against racism #Anyway soon I will retreat back into my cavern and reestablish my avoidance of discourse

[socialjusticefail]

Anon who submitted the link to this included this commentary:

For those not wanting to login/sign up yet wishing to avoid the Tumblr "classified" pop-up: https://archive.ph/I333w

Anyway, content: 

I love Samuel L. Jackson and his version of Nick Fury. I know he was originally white in the comics but I don't care, Samuel L. Jackson is a legend, so I bought black Nick Fury, I'm keeping black Nick Fury, this version is simply superior. What I think tho is that people complain about other race swaps because characters are most of the time race swapped to be black and now historical figures too, not because these studios believe black people deserve genuine representation, but because of white guilt. And white guilt is exclusively a thing of the USA. What do I mean by that? I mean black people were treated horribly (and still do nowadays) in the US, the slavery was insane, the segregation was insane. There, Native Americans were considered savages but black people weren't even considered people. White guilt, white shame, it's all an American thing. In other countries of course there can be racism against black people but it's not as deeply rooted as it is in the US. For example, the continent Latin America. The conquest was also horrible and cruel, but the people of today, they do not resent the Spaniards of today for what their ancestors did because most Spaniard conquerors chose to stay in Latin America. Most Latin Americans carry the blood of those Spaniard colonizers. White guilt would be stupid because you would be asking almost all latinos to hate a part of themselves. We choose to see each other as brothers and sisters because there is enough division in the world already. Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Puerto Rico, Chile, Canarias, Colombia, etc... we're ALL brothers and sisters! We don't go "your ancestors did x y and z" because your ancestors are also my ancestors! And even though Namor was race swapped, he showed actual representation, the beauty of songs in Spanish, etc, he wasn't the same Namor but latino. Race swap was done well! So when race swaps are very clearly motivated by white guilt, of course other countries where this isn't a thing are gonna be confused af. Because we haven't wronged black people the way USAmericans have done in the past. And before you say this is a racist take, don't. We hispanics are the most diverse group, with all kinds of ancestry, Portuguese, Spaniards, the Muslims who inhabited Spain for 700 years, the large diasporas of Italians that came to Argentina between 1880-1930, Africans, Japanese, Lebanese. We are the most diverse people in the world. We aren't racist. All we ask is that American studios keep in mind white guilt isn't for everyone. They race swap accordingly to white guilt, and expect everyone else to understand that, when a black Latino will see it and go "what kind of pendejada es esa" and a black Egyptian will see it and go "dear Ra what is this". Because those race swaps are for black Americans, born out of white guilt. As I said, we don't do white guilt, but people of the US think their problems are universal and they think if this is how their country works, then this is how other countries work as well and NO! I do agree that black people have been through hell in the US so there's a lot to compensate for. But please don't push your social mess to the world. Our countries don't function like the USA.

That person does have a point.

#anon submission

[treadmilltreats]

My united nations of friends

With all of this racial unrest going on in this country and the world, I still can't grasp why people are like this.

I can't understand racism because I have a rainbow of color in my life. I can't understand war because no one wins, just so many innocent people are killed.

I looked back at the times of my life, and I saw the United Nations of my friends. I have friends from Cuba, from Puerto Rico, I have friends from Nicaragua, Black friends, Chinese friends, who are all from different backgrounds, different religions, different sexual orientations and yea, even from different political parties yet we are all friends.

This mixed group is here for one another. We all love each other. They are there for one another through thick and thin, and we always help each other out.

These are the friends I choose for my family, and I know that they are with me through thick and thin, through good times and bad times. They are there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on, when I needed groceries for my kids, when times are hard, these are the people that I know will be there for me, and they know I will be there for them.

I have Caribbean friends and friends from Antigua, St. Thomas, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Haiti, and Columbian friends. I have black, brown, yellow and white friends. I have friends who are gay or straight. I have LGBT friends and drag queen friends. I have Christian, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, and even Atheist friends.

I have friends who are democrats, republican, independent, and people from the we don't give a shit party. It does not matter to me. They are all the people I choose to invite into my life. The ones who love me for me and that I love for their heart and soul.

So what I don't get is why it is so hard for others to get this? There are good and bad in all, in police, in blacks, in whites, in Christians, in Muslims, in all, there are good and bad but to hate one race, one culture, or one religion on what a few bad apples have done, well that is just horrible.

I say in my blogs all the time, to be compassionate towards others, to love one another, to step out of your box and meet new people who aren't like you.

So many people don't even know another person of another race or they may have the one "token" black friend but know nothing about others.

I am here to tell you that you are missing out, as I have learned such culture from these different groups. I learned to enjoy different foods, music, and religions, but most of all, I have learned to be open enough to learn from them and their ideas and their heritage.

Did you get that message? Let me repeat it for those in the back!

I am open enough to learn from people who are different from me.

Because when you are open enough to learn, you will learn that we are all not so different after all. We all love our children and our families. We want a better life for them than we had. We all want to be loved and respected. We all want to have equal rights. We all want to be seen for what we have on the inside.

Common HUMAN rights. Not religious or race or political goals, just common human decency.

So today my friends, I invite you to open up your mind, to step out of your box, to embrace others different from you, because it will be amazing what you will learn if you do.

And to my incredible bunch of United Nations of friends, thank you for being my friend, for allowing me into your world and your hearts, and I am truly humbled to know and love you all.

"Be the change you want to see,"

@TreadmillTreats"Be the change you want to see"

@Treadmilltreats

"And just when the caterpillar thought his life over...he turned into a beautiful butterfly"

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[whatib]

Big Brother are racist bullies

So I was just told that last year a group of people with black hair formed a secret alliance and they swore not to allow any blonde haired people to win and it worked. But this year a blonde haired guy incorrectly assumed that it might be happening again and warned other blonde haired people of what he thought he saw. And now the black haired people and blonde haired people are upset at him? That sounds kind of like bullying to me. A bit unfair. His conclusion was perfectly valid considering what the black haired people did in the previous season. In my mind that's where the racist aspect of America showed it's true colors and it was very ugly to watch. And based upon what happened, I myself thought Big Brother was scarred forever, and the game would never be played fairly again. Survivor was steering towards the same segregation but thankfully it didn't fully rear it's ugly head, and in the end the winner won because she played a great game and she is an awesome person. Kyle is a good man and being bullied for making an assumption based on valid evidence. He never said a derogatory word or racial slur to any single person in house the entire time he was there. America is in far worse shape than I thought, and do not see any recovery ahead. Especially being racism has existed in every country in the world since year 1, and nobody has been able to fix it to this day. Racism is strong in Japan, China, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Russia, France, Spain, England, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Australia and Canada and many others. The only difference in America is that there's a group of Americans that thrive off of calling other people racists and it makes them happy. They need therapy...and they need to learn how to hug people and stop spreading hate. But like I said, I'm sure that my last 30yrs or so on this planet will only see things get worse. America is at a dead end and the only option ahead is a fork in the road...sometimes you have to break up to save the company. God bless America, help these people and show them the way, they're lost

[roymustbang]

i hate this

#i wish anti white racism was a thing just so that i could participate in it (even though im also yt) #i fucking hate this #and how open these fucking assholes are about their colonialist practices #im tired of gringos owning this place and thinking they can do whatever they want with our people and land #im tired of ‘progressive’ gringos not giving a shit #no matter how ‘anti-imperialist’ and ‘anti-colonialist’ they claim to be #also i dont know what the fuck to do #like i feel so fucking powerless #and it fucking sucks #we’ll keep getting displaced and exploited and idk #puerto rico

[intelligentchristianlady]

He said Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.

Puerto Ricans are US citizens. What’s next, New York?

Also,

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore....”

#45 #Puerto Rico #Greenland #bigotry #racism #45 hates brown people #unAmerican

[luwritesomething]

Hi! “I’m right here” anon again. Just had an idea. So I’m half white and half Latina. I had this scenario where Maria’s cousin walks in on Riff and Bernardo planning the rumble and just GOES OFF scolding them, especially Bernardo, for being short-sighted and pointing out how stupid the conflict is and how their different backgrounds actually have a lot of similarities. Bernardo believes she’s right and decides it isn’t worth his time. Then Riff being left feeling conflicted and… impressed? Before having that “come to Jesus” moment Mike talks about. Maybe he ends up respecting the reader and watching out for her (secretly) before realizing that he’s sweet on her because she stood up to him and Bernardo simultaneously.

Whew. That was really long and detailed. Anyway, I’m just a sucker for a decent redemption arch. Would you like to write something with that sort of dynamic between the characters? I totally get it if it’s too much. I just really like your writing! Thanks

Riff x Latina!Reader: She knows.

Words: 7665

Reader's pronouns: she/her

Warnings: period sexism and racism, light 2022 vision of the world, reader ahead of her time, riff, non-canon riff, elimination of the original plot, slurs, everything west side story had, really.

edited: no, unedited.

Author's note: HI SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG. thank you for requesting, this request was great and so fun to make. as you can see i really went off with it, but i think ut's worth it because i really tried make it as close as the real riff as the request allowed me. all the dialogues in spanish can be found translated on the comments, were i'll put the translation. also also this is divided in three chapter, under the cut!

( Chapter 1 - Fearless)

You twirled around the gym's floor, smiling wildly as you switched constantly from dancing with your date, that Alberto boy your cousin Bernardo had gotten you for that night, to spinning on your own surrounded by the girls you had either met that very morning or knew already from when you all were in the same neighborhood back in Puerto Rico. The lights, the colors, the music… Everything seemed brighter, jollier. If that was New York, if that was what America truly was, you wanted to stay forever and never leave.

Astonished didn't even bring justice to how you were after walking through your new neighborhood for the very first time. It was all so beautiful, even better than in your dreams! You got to live next to your two cousins, Maria and Bernardo, and you were meeting kind and fun people, surrounded by a pretty view if you ignored those buildings that were being demolished.

Anita had noticed how excited you truly were, the kind of excitement she had suffered back when she had come there for the first time. The kind of excitement she had lost because of the gangs, the violence, the hate, but still the one she, from time to time, had again so she could fight against Bernardo's cruel pessimism against America and americans.

That's why Anita had tried to warn you. Lightly, so it would scare you off because that would be the last thing she would want to do, but Anita had quickly told you about the Sharks and the Jets. She had told you to stay away from the americanos, because they only cause harm, mi niña, and so you did, because you were no one to disobey the friend who was just trying to keep you safe. You were still determined to make sure nothing would ruin New York for you, even though the little fight the Jets had against the Sharks right when you had entered the gym almost made you wonder if something was really going to ruin it. But as the fight evolved into an inoffensive dance off, you relaxed… until now. 

The sound of Bernardo's shouting didn't trigger any alarms in your senses, you knew your cousin well enough to know he was keen on raising his voice too often about the littlest things. But as the noise grew bigger and bigger, and some friends of yours stopped dancing, you did as well and approached Anita, who was watching carefully what was happening. 

"Ya, tranquilo," was saying Anita to Bernardo, resting her hand on his shoulder and making him step away from a boy you recognized as a gringo, one of those Jets. Bernardo looked mad ", que no pasó nada"

You grabbed Luz's arm next to you, leaning closely to her so you could whisper "¿Qué pasó?" 

"Maria," Luz said softly, her eyes glancing at your cousin ", Maria was behind the bleachers with that Jet…"

"And why is that a problem?" you asked as softly as you could, brows frowning, but Luz never got to answer.

A blond boy, tall and slim, another Jet boy, rushed to walk to the other Jet and pat him on the chest to keep him from making a mess. Another blond someone, this time this girl that looked really mad, followed the blond boy. 

You shot a glance at Maria, next to Chino but staring at the brunette Jet boy who Bernardo was killing with his glance. You felt Alberto behind you, his hand on your waist, and you shifted uncomfortably. He never took his hand off of you, though.

"I wanna dance, goddamit!" said the blonde girl, directly talking to the blond boy, who looked at her with a raised brow, somewhat between amused and thinking she was going feral for a little thing. You saw a police officer getting closer to where all of you were "Goddamit, Riff! You swore to me you wasn't startin' nothin', you promised we could dance first and then you was only gonna challenge 'em peaceable to a…"

"I'm here to dance, girly girl," interrupted that Riff boy, lazy smile on his lips, hands all over the girl to convince her to calm down ", ain't that what we been do—"

"Challenge who to what?" The police cut him off, hands on his own waist and brows raised suspiciously, staring at the girl, who noticed she had talked too much. 

The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes. You decided to keep your attention in the Jets rather than in Maria, Chino and the other boy "Like I know? Like he tells me anything? Like I give a…"

Your attention then switched to the boy and Maria. He was the one talking "Sure, I mean, thank you for the dance and for…"

From the corner of your eye, you saw Bernardo ready to jump onto the boy again. Using your good reflexes, you put an arm on his chest when he tried to go past you. You were surprised the blonde, handsome Jet boy had reacted as fast as you, standing in front of the other boy to protect him from Bernardo. The other girl was working wonders with the officer, distracting him from the boys. 

"Bernardo, Jesús, stop this" you asked, unable to keep your eyes off of Riff, who grinned at you, noticing. 

"Yeah, Bernardo, Jesús listen to the señorita" mocked Riff, making you narrow your eyes at him. Then he looked at Bernardo, forgetting you even existed "What say… what say we visit the head? A little pow-pow, friendly-like? You, me, and…" his eyes went up and down your body as he paused, his arm sliding behind the other boy's shoulders. Bernardo tensed at the look he gave you "... my trouble-making friend?"

Your arm fell from your cousin's chest, once you were sure he wouldn't bite them. Bernardo nodded to the Jets and then looked around for Quique and Braulio. As they all dissolved like nothing had happened, Anita forcing Maria to walk away from there, you decided to again approach Luz with the confusion written in your face, also taking advantage of the situation for escaping Alberto, who was nice but you did not like as much as he liked you. Last thing you needed right now, after coming to New York, was men.

Luz almost laughed at you when she saw your confused expression, and she took your hands as she twirled you around her, making your red dress's skirt make beautiful circles. You forced her to stop dancing, glancing at the door where Bernardo and Riff had left. Your heart pounded against your chest. 

"¿A dónde se fueron?" You asked, squeezing her hands. 

Luz shrugged "To the bathroom, creo. They'll be back soon, no te preocupes, boba"

"But," again glancing at the door, you licked your lips ", what are they going to do?"

"No te metas, Y/N" warned you Luz, catching where you were going with those questions, knowing you too well for you to act like you were just curious. 

"Luz, answer"

She sighed "I don't know for sure, but that rubia tonta implied they will plan a rumble" she muttered, giving in. Worry washed her face slowly. 

You frowned "A rumble?"

"A pelea, niña"

"That's dangerous"

"That's the point" Luz watched alarmed how you let go of her hands, a serious shadow on your face "Y/N, ¡ni se te ocurra!"

"I'll be right back, Luz, I promise" you said, too worried to look at her so she could make sure you were telling the truth "You just distract Alberto, okay?"

"Fine! But if Bernardo gets mad don't tell him I helped you"

Nodding, you headed to the doors. You knew how those rumbles were and overall, you knew how Bernardo was. Wild, angry, furious… Eager to find someone to blame, someone who he could use as a way of letting his anger against the world come out. You knew how that rumble was going to go. Probably, your kin will get harmed. And the Sharks were the closest thing to family you had now, you couldn't lose any of them, especially not Bernardo. Your bright future in New York wasn't going to be ruined, not if you could stop it. You had to stop that. It was almost an anxious obligation.

Without thinking it twice, you opened the boys' bathroom door and stepped inside, making the six boys—Riff and another two Jets more, Bernardo, Quique and Braulio—interrupt their conversation in a blunt way. 

All of them stared at you and you felt tiny under their glances, but you still straightened your back and moved slightly, to avoid the Jets and join the Sharks. 

"Get out, ahora mismo, Y/N" ordered Bernardo, rage through his body, as soon as he was able to react. None of them expected a girl, a Shark girl, to walk on them planning the rumble. 

"No, you all listen to me, pendejos," you snapped back, your chin going up in dignity, your index finger pointing first at the Sharks and then at the surprised Jets. The Jets raised their brows at how stupid you were for not being like the others and just stay out of it. Riff, though, did not think you were stupid. Reckless? Yeah, maybe. But stupid? Not at all ", ustedes son idiotas si piensan que van a arreglar algo con peleas estúpidas"

Riff scoffed contemptuously, directly at you, putting his hands on his hips "Hey, muchacha? I don't speak fucking cucaracha, so yer better—"

"Stupid fights won't solve things if you don't see the stupid problem" you cut him off, practically barking back at him, crossing your arms. In the end, you weren't as fearless as Riff thought you were, but he didn't have to know that. You did feel kind of intimidated by all of them, even the ones that were your friends. But what it mattered was how confident you looked "And none of you pendejos know the fucking problem, now, do you?"

"Y/N," Bernardo's fingers wrapped tightly against the skin of your arm. If it had been tighter, it would have led to a mark ", leave. No voy a repetírtelo, no tienes ni idea de lo que te estás metiendo…"

"No, Nardo! You're so short-sighted, por Dios, there are other ways of fixing this!" you moved away from him, to keep his fingers off of you, accidentally getting closer to the Jets, so close your shoulder brushed Riff. He smiled at you, dangerously, and you then got away from him, feeling like an idiot. You were losing confidence, and their attention "You listen now. Why can't you see you're fighting for something stupid? Streets aren't property of no one—"

"This street is ours!" exclaimed one of the Jet boys, almost jumping. 

Riff snapped his fingers, his smile growing bigger "Action's right, señorita"

"Let me finish, you gringo," you scoffed, rolling your eyes at him. Both Action and Ice were surprised he didn't slap you for talking back to him ", what I mean is that is pointless. This street is being sold to richer people. The problem isn't us— or you. It's the rich people. They are taking our homes away from us"

"Last time I checked your ugly island wasn't fucking here" bickered Ice, making you sigh. 

"Tu madre sí que es ugly" said Braulio, a shit-eating grin on his face.

You shook your head "You don't get it! You're all so dumb you don't see how they are trying to make us kill each other so they don't have to kill us"

"They?" muttered Bernardo, his attention to you talking growing bigger. Little did he know Riff was feeling the same way. He was even watching you with shiny eyes. 

"Sí, them, Nardo" you relaxed when you realized someone was actually listening to you "The rich people. The cops. That cop out there, the one who stopped me today on my way to work—"

"Lieutenant Schrank" spat Quique, and you nodded. 

You turned to face the other boys, the ones that weren't convinced by what you were saying "I don't know you, and I'm not sure I want to know any of you," you said sincerely, which made Ice straighten his back and take a step closer. Riff made him stop ", but it's obvious we are more similar than what we can see at first"

"How's that, girly?" asked Riff, his mocking voice still on. 

"Isn't this street the only home you have? Isn't it the place where you have all the people you love? Don't you want it to stop from being sold to richer people, from becoming a luxury complex for super rich people?" 

The silence allowed you to take a deep breath, trying to remain calm. You were doing good. They were thinking, they were all thinking about what you were saying. Bernardo was looking at you like he had never imagined you could talk like that, Riff was staring at you like he wanted to figure you out. 

"They are not our enemy," you continued after that short break, turning your head to look at your friends. You then turned to Riff ", and we are not your enemy"

"Oh, yeah?" said Riff, that smile sliding into his lips, one corner of his lips raising more than the other. Danger. He took a step closer to you, but you didn't move, even though you were intimidated by how tall he was compared to you "And who is our enemy then, bonita?"

Bernatdo tried to get closer to protect you, to make him back down, but you stopped him with a gesture of your hand. The weird thing is he obliged, and only then you realized the power you had over both men in that very moment. That's what made your head lift up, facing Riff like you weren't doubting about taking a step back or not, the tiniest smile sliding into your own lips. 

Riff was, to put it bluntly, impressed. Even though you didn't know him or what he had done, you weren't scared of him, and if you were you were hiding it pretty well. You were fearless, and that was worthy of his admiral. After all, you were just some girl, some girl who had had the balls to talk to all of them like that, to try to open their eyes. 

"The same ours is," you said, taking your time to reply. Bernardo was impressed as well ", them. The cops and the rich people. Those should be our objectives"

Action scoffed, taking a step closer to you. Riff didn't stop him "You're just some dumb broad! Why should we listen to you?" 

"You already are. And because you know I'm right, cariño" you glanced at Action and then at Riff "Am I right? You both know they are who fomented your hate against us, and they are who forced us into hard ways of living, and then hating y'all back for what you do to us"

Braulio grabbed your arm and pulled you closer to them, not liking the way Action was getting close to you "So what, you think we're all gonna be amigos just because you say so?"

"There's no need to fight" you insisted, a shot of hopelessness sliding in your tongue and your eyes. Nobody noticed, except for Bernardo a Riff "Nardo— don't fight. Piensa en mí y en Maria, y por Dios, en Anita. Fighting is unnecessary, the alliance, or at least peace, is necessary"

Bernardo crossed his arms. He glanced at Riff, finding he was already looking at him "Y/N…"

"If you were real men you will solve this the right way, Nardo. Not with stupid fights" 

Braulio let go of your arm and Quique shook his head, sighing. Quique would be lying if he said he didn't agree with you "I think you should leave, Y/N. Now we have to talk"

You desperately looked at Bernardo, asking him with your eyes to stop that. To make him think about everything you had said. You looked for the last time at Riff, longer than what you had expected. You couldn't quite figure out what was going through his head at that very moment, and his eyes were so cold it got hard to breathe for you. And then, in silence, you left the bathroom, praying in all the languages you knew for the rumble to not be a thing and for the gangs to stop doing all those awful things to each other so you could all live in peace.

"Some wildflower, uh?" chuckled Riff as soon as the door closed behind you "Maybe you should teach your girlfriends to mind their business. We americans don't like people messing with our things, our deals… you Sharks make like the rats and skedaddle, no wonder why—" 

"You wouldn't stop running your mouth even if they paid you, would you, pendejo?" snapped Bernardo, still with his arms crossed. His muscles's bulges were visible through his jacket "My cousin is right"

"What?" said Ice, breathlessly. 

"Don't you know English now, gringo?" laughed Braulio, a grin on his face.

"Well, I'm sorry, your mouth is just so full of shit that your stupid, ugly accent is practically little understandable" 

Quique stopped Braulio from trying to lunge into Ice, and so did Action with his friend. Meanwhile, Riff and Bernardo were holding a staring contest, or that's what it looked like. 

For Bernardo, it was evident Riff was conflicted. He understood it, what were they both supposed to do now? They had been so busy fighting and hating and throwing punches they had never tried to see beyond them, to see what Y/N had been able to see in her first day there. And now they had the solution, right there. 

"So no rumble?" insisted Bernardo, knowing Riff wouldn't say anything first, and deciding to take that matter into his own hands. 

Riff felt how Ice's and Action's eyes burned a hole to the back of his neck, waiting for an answer "Really?" 

"It's not worth my time chase stupid Jets around," Bernardo clicked his tongue, impatiently ", and my boys don't have the time either. We have jobs, you know. And a future. No rumble?" Bernardo held his hand out for Riff to shake. He stared at his hand, standing still "Yes alliance?" 

And then, Riff decided "Fine" 

( Chapter 2 - Sweet )

It had worked. You weren't completely sure if it had been your speech or God, but there was no rumble and things and attacks between the two gangs had stopped. For people unaware of what had happened at the bathroom, it was almost like a Bible miracle, a Christmas sign of magic, or just an strategy for them all to keep fightning after some calm time. Cops believed the last one, they were completely puzzled. 

Bernardo hadn't explicitly told you there was some sort of a peace treaty going on, he hadn't explicitly told that to anyone at all except for Anita, but it was more than evident. Jets' sabotages against Puerto Ricans and their properties had stopped and the reign of terror had stopped. 

The Sharks weren't friends with the Jets, but when Officer Krupke and Lieutenant Schrank had tried to blame some innocent Jets for breaking a traffic sign, the Sharks had surprisingly stepped in and protected them like they were part of their crew, like they had been friends for forever. Everything was obviously getting better and you couldn't be more happy about it. Violence on your street had decreased, Anita wasn't that worried about you coming back late to home after work, and Maria was seeing that Tony boy she had met at the dance at the gym. You were finally achieving that dreamed life of yours, even though there was still a long path to walk. Because being a waitress at a bar, at a pub, was not certainly your dream job. 

The bell on the door that indicated someone had entered through the pub's door sounded while you were cleaning one of the tables at the back, all disgustingly sticky and stained by drunk men who couldn't drink a beer without spilling it. They had all left the pub just some minutes ago, so maybe that one wasn't exactly a customer but a man who had forgot something. 

You turned around to look at the customer, probably the last of the night because the closing time was approaching, and you kind of froze when your eyes met Riff's. Your brain instantly told you to get out of there, Riff was dangerous, he was the leader of the Jets and he only caused trouble. But, then you remembered you had no reason to fear him, because he had no reason to harm you. 

First, the peace treaty, as far as you knew, was still something. Which meant he couldn't—more like shouldn't—harm you. And second, you knew he had been watching you. Not in a creepy, scary way but more like a protective way. When you were crossing the road, your hands full of groceries bags, he watched you cross. One night you were walking home after work when you crossed paths with him. He crossed the road to not be on the sidewalk you were on, but he still walked towards wherever you were walking to, and when you found some creepy guys that weren't Jets nor Sharks, he entertained them and you got home safe. His actions weren't something you could easily ignore, especially because he hadn't tried to hide it either. So, whatever his reasons were to kind of look after you, he did have no reason to hurt you, right?

Riff at first couldn't comprehend those stupid things he was doing for you. He didn't like the way he had spent a whole noght thinking about how your name sounded, or the way he couldn't take his eyes off of you when he saw you, or how he was able to recognize you by the way you wore your hair or by your dresses. 

He didn't care for you, did he? No, that was nuts. Then why was he looking out for you? That was a mystery he was sure he wouldn't figure out in a million years. It actually took a bottle of tequila and one of those soft, heart-warming talks to Tony for him to figure it out—he was being nice to you because you had stopped the suffering. You, on your own way, had tried to protect both Bernardo and Riff from killing each other. After the way you had scolded them, trying to open their eyes, Riff felt like a scared child. And after all, he was a scared child who had done awfully wrong things out of a pure hatred he didn't feel anymore—he wasn't able to see the point of it now. Riff had entered the biggest crisis of his life after the peace treaty, realizing how many things he had done, so terribly wrong, so many he hadn't even tried to start making things up for it, because how could he? Riff had been a terrible person, he couldn't be forgiven and because of that he sometimes wanted the rage to come back, so he could know what to do. Now, he was just lost. 

"You're not gonna to take my order or what?" Riff forced himself to snap out of his own reality and his haunting thoughts, those who made him so anxious, by grinning and teasing you.��

Your brow raised, like you didn't believe his rough boy act "You're not old enough to drink, and in here there is only alcohol, Jet boy" still, you took your place behind the counter. 

"You're not old enough to serve drinks either, señorita" he shot back, mimicking your brow's position cruelly. 

"Well," you shrugged, "a job is a job. And men like a pretty girl, am I right?" you knew that was the reason why you had been admitted into the job. 

The pub owner was this Spaniard man in his late forties that liked practicing his Spanish with you and who had actually told you he was hiring you because every good man likes to see a pretty, young face while they drink. The customers came either for you or for the alcohol. You didn't like it, but it brought needed money to your pocket and nothing inappropriate had happened, and that was what it mattered. 

"Where's that pretty girl, uh?" chuckled Riff, his light laugh telling you he was just joking. 

You played with the pockets on your aprons, holding a smile back "Hum. American humor. Very funny"

"How's Puerto Rican humor?" he grinned at you. 

"In Spanish" you deadpanned, your brows twitching slightly when he pointed a beer bottle behind you with his sharp chin. You sighed, but still turned around to get it "You're going to have to pay for that, espero que lo tengas claro"

"I've already told you I don't understand… Spanish" Riff said, cautiously, his hand wrapping around the bottle as you took off the beer's cap. You hummed slightly, noticing how he had taken his time to say something other than cucaracha, or one of those insults they had reserved for your culture. 

"I didn't say anything important, really" you assured, leaning back against the cupboard behind you, as you watched how Riff took a long sip out of his beer "Can I ask you a question?"

He scoffed, like he was suddenly annoyed by your presence there, like he hadn't walk in there on his own feet on the first place. Riff eyed you out of the corner of his eyes "Aren't ye already?"

"What are you doing here?" you asked anyway, not caring about his permission, your arms slowly crossing above your chest.

Riff clicked his tongue "I didn't know I couldn't enter a fucking pu—"

"What are you doing around me?" you interrupted him, deciding to rephrase your question, because it really wasn't concrete enough, especially for someone who rambled as much as he did.

You noticed the way his eyes shone as he stared at you, a dangerous glimmer appearing for some short seconds on them. You didn't flicker, nor did you looked away when he took another sip, without looking away from you.

"What, you think I have some special interest in you, uh?" he bitterly asked back, now that making you look away. That was exactly what I thought. Riff almost laughed at himself when he realized he did had an special interest for you "I think you think I'm more sweet than what I really am"

"Oh, believe me, you have no idea about what I think about you," you bickered, as bitterly as he did first, again meeting his gaze ", and you don't want to know"

Riff raised his eyebrow at you "Talk dirty to me, señorita," he dared you to speak, showing you his teeth ", tell me all those pretty things you think I am"

"You're an asshole" you snapped, without realizing that was what he wanted. Riff wanted to push your buttons, and he was getting what he wanted, like he always did. But most of all, Riff wanted you to shut him out of your life, to not give him the opportunity to enter. Because he certainly, for some reasons that escaped him, didn't trust himself around you "You think you're so cool and witty, carajo, te piensas que eres el mejor y que nadie puede tocarte" 

"Love it, darlin', tell me more" he encouraged with a loving voice, without stopping from taking occasional sips from the beer. 

Riff was getting what he wanted. Oh, no, you couldn't allow that "But…" he watched surprisingly how you let your words linger, like you had fallen into a mixed feelings thought. It was certainly a thought you had about him, and mixed as well "... there needs to be something more to you, ¿sabes? You are sweet, especially if you want to, aren't you, Jet boy? You're a tragedy… you are good, you have to be"

An unsatisfied laugh came out of his mouth as his face slowly grew more serious, letting you know you had turned the tables and you were now the one in control again. Riff looked away to escape from your heated glance, and you ended up looking at your shoes, uncomfortable with the silence. Why did he always have to be an asshole? You hated talking to anyone like that, even if it was him. 

"You're wrong," he said when he was able to form his words. 

"Am I?"

"Yeah, especially with something you said the other day," slowly, his grin came back to his face. It made you raise your brow, his mood switch had been to fast for you to answer ", you see, you said some things that made sense, but there's this thing— I don't know, girly, I think you're wrong because…" 

"Jesus, you never shut up, do you?" you murmured, knowing he was still talking for you to interrupt him. Riff grinned at you "What thing are you talking about?"

Riff tilted his head, staring at you with hungry eyes "You see, you said you didn't want to get to know me"

You shook your head "Don't you have a girlfriend to bother instead of me?"

"Not anymore"

"Well. I'm still sure I didn't say that specifically about you—"

"There's nothing better you could do other than doing me," Riff continued, cutting you off ", I don't think you will ever regret it" 

"Oh, yeah?" it was easy for you to mimic the way he had talked to you back in the bathroom, when he was facing you. You even took a step closer, pressing yourself against the counter, leaning in "And why is that, Jet boy?"

"I mean, what's better than an Americano?" said Riff, smirking at you. You didn't flinch when his eyes stared at your lips "It's the best you could ever have, especially better than—"

You shook your head, stopped leaning in and took some steps back from the counter, rolling your eyes "You were doing so good, Riff, but you just screwed the whole thing up"

Riff didn't understand what you were talking about. Then he realized his choice of words hadn't been the best, in fact, they had been pretty unfortunate. He was referring to PRs. He was so used to talking like that, he hadn't even thought the whole thing twice.  

"No, wait, fuck—I didn't mean it that way" he said, like he could make you lean against the counter again. 

You shook your head again "Yeah, whatever. I'm tired and I'm closing this thing up. Leave, vale?" 

"C'mon, don't be like that, señorita," he whined, narrowing his eyes, a smile that tried to ease you on his lips. It didn't fully work. "We were doing so good, weren't we?"

"Out. Ahora"

Riff scoffed at you, like an angry child who couldn't get more cookies. He took the bottle with him, not leaving the money that it cost on the counter, slamming the door shut behind him and really not allowing you to go after him to confront him about the money, which made you sigh. 

"Pendejo" you muttered to yourself, trying to bury those conflicted, mixed feelings on the back of your head. Riff was plain evil, that was it. But it didn't mind how much you repeated that to yourself, you didn't believe it. 

( Chapter 3 - Trust )

Even though things had changed for all of you, Anita wasn't still allowing Maria to go alone to some specific places—she was too young—, and that's when she didn't even know about her and Tony and how they saw each other on the fire escape suits outside her bedroom. 

What was important was what Anita knew, and Anita knew Maria wanted to go to the dance organized at the gym—Glad Hand had been encouraged to organize another dance just a week later because of how the Jets and the Sharks had grown closer in the last week—, and that she wouldn't forgive her if she didn't allow her to go. Letting her go alone was a big no, and she herself didn't want to go because Bernardo and her had activities already organized for that specific night, and she was pretty quick convincing Luz and you to go with Maria to the dance.

Luz was, ironically, full of light and energy and the need to dance—and she also had a partner who she could dance with. You, on the other hand, were pretty tired, had no date because you had refused Alberto's offer to go with you, and if you were there it was because Luz had practically dragged you out of your flat so you could have some fun. You deserve it, mi niña, she has said, but now you were sweating on the bleacher, elbows on your thighs, head on your hands, dressed with that red dress you had already worn, because you didn't have as many dresses as the others had. 

You watched how the girls spinned in their skirts, how Maria laughed with Tony, in the center of the gym, dancing slower than what the music indicated, all the other couples dancing at the right rhythm. The girls smiled as they danced with their boys, and when you saw Luz's smile, you couldn't help but smile. 

Maybe you shouldn't have turned Alberto down—he was a good man, and he liked you. But you didn't like him one bit, yes, he was a friend and one of yours, but that didn't mean you were romantically attracted to him, and he certainly liked you too much for your dry liking of his. You didn't want him to think you were interested in him. 

Luz had laughed at you when you had answered with all that to her question about why you didn't accept the boy's company, and she had told you something about boys and girls that you hadn't quite understood.

Riff watched from one side of the gym how you got up from the bleachers, and the fear of you leaving appeared on his whole being like a tight pressure on his chest he wasn't able to get rid off, even if he wanted. His body reacted faster than his mind, and before he knew, he was reaching out for you in a fast pace. 

You were heading towards the tables that had those little water glasses when Rifd appeared from your left and stood in front of you. He looked as confused as you as he stared at you, not quite knowing what he was supposed to do now. You decided to help him start the conversation. 

"Jet boy" you greeted, softly smiling at him. 

Riff snapped out of his confusion "Hey, señorita," he smirked, tilting his head, taking a look at you from your head to your shoes, not missing one bit ", ya look kinda bored"

"And you're here to change that?" you teased, and eyebrow raised while you dodge him and continued your way to the drinks table.

"Maybe, if you wanted," he said, following you closely, and you had to turn your head a bit to look at him ", you know. You could teach me some of that mambo"

You shook your head, chuckling "This is salsa, chico"

"Isn't it the same?"

"You're being dumb again" you warned, taking one of the water glasses from the table. 

Riff was fast to take the glass out of your hand, drinking it all fast in a quick sip that had you between annoyed, surprised and amused "Thank yer for that, sweetheart, I was so thirsty"

"You're unbelievable, Riff"

"Oh, so you do know my name?" Riff's brow shot upwards, staring at you. 

"Why wouldn't I know your name?" you asked, taking another glass and this time drinking it yourself. 

"Dunno," he smiled. It was a smile, a sweet smile, not his teasing grin ", since you always call me Jet boy?" 

You shrugged "You always call me señorita"

"Not the same"

"Why wouldn't it—"

"So," Riff cut you off abruptly, looking around him like he was searching for someone ", did you come here with a date?"

You looked away when he stared back at you "Why do you care?" 

"I don't, really," he said, chuckling. You looked at him, every second understanding him less and less "Just wanna know if I'll get my ass beat if I ask you for a dance"

You definitely understood him less and less with every second passing. However, his words made you smile softly, forcing you to look down at your shoes to try and hide that dumb smile. 

When you looked up at him again he was still staring at you, smiling down at you with that sweet, new smile you had been able to discover. 

"I don't think someone beating your ass will ever stop you from doing things" you said, not answering his initial question, which he noticed.

He stared at you with an intensity that didn't exactly make you uncomfortable, but rather awkward. And then, he frowned "Wait, so you do have no date? I ain't believing that! No way!"

He wasn't insulting you but you felt like he was by the way he was saying it. Your smile dropped and disappeared from your face, getting all defensive "Fuck off, que te den" you started walking away from him. 

"Hey, hey— Wait, Y/N!" Riff rushed again to follow you, but you did not stop when he reached you. He had to grab your arm to get you to stop walking "I wasn't laughing at you, really. I just find it hard to believe you have no date, that's all"

You stared at him, now feeling dumb for misunderstanding his words, and eased by his new ones "So you do know my name" 

"What?" 

"You just said my name," you said, a corner of your lips rising in a sided smile ", I thought you didn't know it"

Riff smirked "So. Am I gettin' that dance or not?" 

He held out his hand for you to take, letting go of your arm. You stared at his white hand, waiting for yours, and then glanced back at his eyes. Riff was looking at you softly, like he didn't want to scare you off. He really didn't want to. 

You were starting to raise your hand so you could take his when Luz appeared by your right side, twirling, and grabbed that hand you were already raising, then shout ¡Baila, Y/N! before dragging you away from Riff, making you spin with her and leading you to the center of the gym with the other girls, so you could dance to the new, more energetic and familiar as in latin-like music. 

Even though at first he felt completely pissed off by that girl interrupting you two, Riff watched how you started dancing with your friends, forgetting about him and deciding to have a good time for once, and it almost made him smile. 

He watched how that girl made you dance with her like you were a couple, and how you later made Maria join you all, making all the other girls laugh as they danced. Maria made Tony dance with them, and slowly the girls started to force their dates to dance with them back again. Some brave Shark girls dared to invite Jet boys to dance with them—and thanks to the treaty, they accepted. Riff grinned when he saw you coming for him, a wide smile on your lips. 

"What are ya doin'?" he asked you, almost giggling, when you slide your hands into his, dragging him back to the center of the gym. 

"Baila, Jet boy!" 

And boy did he dance. He was better at it than what you would have imagined, his hands on your body felt like something that just belonged there, on your waist, on your hand, on your hip, sometimes maybe even on your leg when you two got too bold with the kiks and the turns, and the getting too close to each other. 

You found yourself unable to stop smiling during the whole dance, and Riff found himself enjoying the way your face lit up every time your smile covered your face. He made it his personal goal to make you smile through the whole dance, bonus points if he could get you to laugh. 

Neither of you had realized how passionately and energetically you had danced until, when the music slowed down, letting a romantic, slow piece for the couples in love, and you leaned against his chest, resting your head on his chest. Riff leaned you even closer, his hands resting on your waist as your head brushed his cheek. You two breathed against each other, trying to get your normal heart rates back. 

You felt Riff's heart pound against his chest, and only then you realized you were almost over him, like all the other romantic couples were dancing. That made you nervous. 

"I think I need some air," you muttered, taking a step back and leaving his shoulder naked without your forearms there. 

Riff nodded, realizing the image you two should be giving for the people looking at you "We can go outside, if you want?" 

"Sí" 

You didn't move when he took one of your hands on one of his, and you two went outside like that, you not quite figuring out why would he ever want to hold you hand. You couldn't already try to think a reason for why he would ever want to dance with you, you, a Puerto Rican, someone he had hated and chased. 

You two leaned against the brick walls outside the gym, letting the cold air hit against your faces, him on your left, silence between you, a silence that wasn't awkward but wasn't comfortable either. 

You shivered when Riff turned his face to you, his fingers catching your chin. His eyes shone softly, warmly. You didn't have time to react, his grip pulled you closer and way sooner than later, his lips were kissing yours, way softer than you would have imagined his lips to be. Wonderful, that's how his kisses were. It took you some seconds and all of your mental strength, but you were finally able to react, putting your hands on his chests and gently pushing him away. 

"No, Riff" you whispered, shaking your head. 

He grimaced, not liking your reaction, but keeping his distances "Right, fair enough" 

"I just don't understand you" You sighed, frustrated, avoiding his look "Not even a week ago you were willing to kill us and now—"

"Hey, I ain't killing nobody, not now not yesterday" he snapped, staring at you coldly, unlike how he had looked at you before.

You shook your head "Don't play indignant with me, chico, you knew what I meant" 

Riff shook his head, and then sighed. You hadn't realized how exhausted he looked until now. The wrinkles under his eyes were big, almost as big as Bernardo's were. How much pressure had a gang leader on his shoulders? You didn't exactly know, but it was probably too much…

You would never know either that Riff had spent days arguing with the most rebellious Jets, those who didn't understand his decision of stopping to chase the PRs. He was forced to shout, curse and slam his fists against tables and walls, to make them listen to him. Who would have told anyone peace was so complicated? 

"Look, ye already said it, girly," he said, rolling his eyes, making you look at him ", we've only known this street. Y'all started coming and coming…"

"You had no right to do anything you did," you interrupted, that fearless look in your eyes. He opened his mouth to talk back, but you didn't allow him to ", don't do the whole speech, Riff, 'cause I won't buy it. I know better. We've had it rough too, vale? It's no excuse" 

Riff clicked his tongue, not taking his eyes off of you "Then what the fuck do you want me to do? Uh? I ain't good, and I'm not being forgiven, and I can't go to the past"

"Tell me the truth, then" 

The way you faced him almost made him lose his breath. Your eyes shone in a softer bright, one different from your fearless look. It almost made him soft. 

"What truth?" he whispered, intensely tearing back into your eyes. 

You blinked "The truth. If you could go back, would you change what you did?"

Riff raised an eyebrow at you "And how do you know I ain't lying to ya?" 

"You want me to trust you or not, bobo?" 

Riff stared at you, not understanding you or the shine in your eyes, which encouraged him to trust you, encouraged him to open up like he never had, a shine that was absolutely driving him crazy. 

You were already thinking he wasn't going to answer, that you would have to go back into the gym realizing you were wrong about him, when he slightly smirked. 

"I would," Riff cleared his throat, his voice suddenly hoarse and lower than usual, looking away ", yeah. I would change things"

Your gaze softened at his words "For real?" 

"Yeah" he said, nodding "For real. I guess"

You searched for his hand, locking your fingers together, feeling how rough and calloused they were against you. Is not like yours were exactly velvet but still. 

His fingers brushed gently against yours and your head tilted back so you could look up to him, your lips pursing together as slowly as they could. 

"Te creo" you murmured, not taking your eyes off of his. 

"Does that mean kiss me in spanish?" he asked, slightly grinning, taking a step closer to you. 

You felt his hand going to your waist, and you grinned back "Try me"

-----------------

tagged;; @hellomikefaist

#riff #riff west side story #riff wss #wss riff #west side story riff #west side story #wss #wss 2021 #west side story 2021 #riff x reader #riff lorton #riff x latina reader #writing #my writing

[solitaryfossil]

It’s not every day that a CIA guy and I agree.

#donald trump #racism #puerto rico #cia director #john brennan #usa #politics #not my president #republicans #gop #i hate the gop #we're so doomed #united states of crazy #dummy nation

[bernardolovesanita]

PSA

Oh, look another common sense PSA that I shouldn’t have to post, but here we are. Again, this is aimed at the new young West Side Story fans. But there are also some other ignoramuses who should see this.

Riff was killed, Bernardo was killed. Tony was killed. Yes, they are fictional characters. But they represent so much, you don’t even know.

Their deaths were because of hate.

Sure the racism towards Puerto Ricans in the United States is not as well-documented as the racism towards African Americans, but that doesn’t mean it never happened.

Nothing about their deaths is funny.

My grandmother moved from Puerto Rico to New York when she was ten. She is going to be 70 next September and she has never been able to proudly fly a Puerto Rican flag in 60 years out of fear. She was ten years old, having to learn English and being told that she was dirty. People called her a cockroach. Not for any valid reason. Just because she came from the island.

My own mother had to deal with racism in the 70s. She grew up in a mostly Italian neighborhood. The apartment building she grew up in was the ONLY minorities in the area and they were all Puerto Rican. My mom has memories of being in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL and being threatened by teenagers. Why? Because she occasionally spoke Spanish to her family. That’s why to this day my mom isn’t as loud and proud about being Puerto Rican.

It is the 2020s, and YET we still deal with racism towards Puerto Ricans. Just in 2018, we had a man verbally attack a woman JUST for wearing a Puerto Rican flag shirt. Just this past July, a couple was murdered after attending a Puerto Rican day parade.

Yes, West Side Story is a beautiful piece of media that tells a beautiful story, but please remember that it is based in history. It is based in a very real struggle of people who left their beloved island for a better life.

[bussynurse]

Am I Anglo yet?

#i'm going to get hate for this #twitter #black twitter #funny #blackface #whiteface #black lives matter #Donald trump #puerto rico #make america great again #funny gif #memes #blackout #twitter meme #Taylor swift #halloween #it's caturday #hugh heffner #spring #racism