You Sound Like a White Girl Audiobook Libro.fm

Description

This program is read by the author and includes a bonus conversation with the author and Paola Ramos a Vice News journalist MSNBC Contributor and author of Finding Latinx

A love letter to our peoplefull of fury and passion
Jos Olivarez awardwinning poet and author of Citizen Illegal

If you could take Rodolfo Gonzales epic poem I Am Joaquin and explain it through compelling personal narrative in twentyfirst century America You Sound Like A White Girl would be it
Joaquin Castro

Bestselling author Julissa Arce brings readers a powerful polemic against the myth that assimilation leads to happiness and belonging for immigrants in America Instead she calls for a celebration of our uniqueness our origins our heritage and the beauty of the differences that make us Americans

You sound like a white girl These were the words spoken to Julissa by a high school crush as she struggled to find her place in America As a brown immigrant from Mexico assimilation had been demanded of her since the moment she set foot in San Antonio Texas in 1994 Shed spent so much time getting rid of her accent so no one could tell English was her second language that in that moment she felt those wordsyou sound like a white girlwere a compliment As a child she didnt yet understand that assimilating to American culture really meant imitating white Americathat sounding like a white girl was a racist idea meant to tame her change her and make her small She ran the race completing each stage but never quite fit in until she stopped running altogether

In this dual polemic and manifesto Julissa dives into and tears apart the lie that assimilation leads to belonging She combs through history and her own story to break down this myth arguing that assimilation is a moving finish line designed to keep Black and brown Americans and immigrants chasing racist American ideals She talks about the Lie of Success the Lie of Legality the Lie of Whiteness and the Lie of Englisheach promising that if you obtain these things you will reach acceptance and wont be an outsider anymore Julissa deftly argues that these demands leave her and those like her in a purgatoryneither able to secure the power and belonging within whiteness nor find it in the community and cultures whiteness demands immigrants and people of color leave behind

In You Sound Like a White Girl Julissa offers a bold new promise Belonging only comes through celebrating yourself your history your culture and everything that makes you uniquely you Only in turning away from the white gaze can we truly make America beautiful An America where difference is celebrated heritage is shared and embraced and belonging is for everyone Through unearthing veiled history and reclaiming her own identity Julissa shows us how to do this