Johanna L. // Lives of Women

"I’m born and raised in East LA. I grew up with nothing, not even a toy - I never had a toy in my life.

Before I went to college I was like, ‘OK. I know I have a full ride scholarship.’ The leadership scholarship - they pay for everything. The school I went to was Grinnell College. From the first day that I landed in Grinnell, Iowa, I was the first Hispanic everyone had talked to in their life.

I always never really fit in and I understood what it meant to be an individual of color, but never did I think I was gonna be ‘the enemy.’

I was targeted various times. I can’t even wear my clothes because as soon as I put it in the washer, someone comes and throws it into the snow and that’s it. The hate crimes started getting worse and I knew that if I left, I would just prove what they thought. I came from scum, according to them.

I came in with literally nothing, and I realized that if I left, I would leave with nothing, so I could take that risk, and that was what kept me driving, and that’s what I did: I finished. I told myself, ‘If I can survive hell, which is right here, right now, then I can do anything in life." -- Johanna L., #LivesofWomen

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