You Sound Like a White Girl
The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
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4.2 • 34 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
AN INDIE BESTSELLER
Most Anticipated by ELLE • Bustle • Bloomberg • Kirkus • HipLatina • SheReads • BookPage • The Millions • The Mujerista • Ms. Magazine • and more
“Unflinching” —Ms. Magazine • “Phenomenal” —BookRiot • "An essential read" —Kirkus, starred review • "Necessary" —Library Journal • "Powerful" —Joaquin Castro • "Illuminating" —Reyna Grande • "A love letter to our people" —José Olivarez • "I have been waiting for this book all my life" —Paul Ortiz
Bestselling author Julissa Arce calls for a celebration of our uniqueness, our origins, our heritage, and the beauty of the differences that make us Americans in this powerful polemic against the myth that assimilation leads to happiness and belonging for immigrants.
“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. She’d 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 words—you sound like a white girl?—were a compliment. As a child, she didn’t yet understand that assimilating to “American” culture really meant imitating “white” America—that 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 English—each promising that if you obtain these things, you will reach acceptance and won’t be an outsider anymore. Julissa deftly argues that these demands leave her and those like her in a purgatory—neither 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Julissa Arce’s piercing book of cultural commentary reminds us that for many Americans, people exist in one of two categories: white and “other.” Arce documents her personal journey from being an undocumented teen in 1990s San Antonio to gaining both business success and citizenship, mixing powerful personal stories with pivotal aspects of Mexican and American history. At the core of it all is the idea that non-white people in America are often pushed into a lose/lose situation where they must either abandon their identities to fit in, or suffer the even worse consequences. Along the way, Arce shows how language, culture, economics, and politics all play into the structural racism that plagues the U.S. Get ready for a new outlook on what being American really means.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this persuasive polemic, journalist Arce (Someone Like Me) draws on her experiences as an undocumented Mexican immigrant to encourage Latinx people to "dismantl the lie of assimilation to reclaim the most essential and beautiful parts of ourselves, our history, and our culture." Noting that she used "fake papers" to obtain a job at Goldman Sachs and became a citizen 20 years after she first arrived in the U.S., Arce contends that "assimilating to ‘American' culture really mean imitating white America," and that "even after I learned English, became a citizen, got my coins, I still wasn't welcomed." She cites many historical examples of discrimination against Mexican Americans, including the segregation of Latinx students in public schools, the banning of bilingual education programs, and the denial of birth certificates to the children of undocumented parents. Arce also contends that the blame for the decline in blue-collar jobs in America lies not with undocumented workers but with "corporate greed," and details the lack of Latinx representation in U.S. politics and popular culture. She urges Latinx people to promote their own culture, history, and identities as fully American, and to support other communities of color in the fight for equality. This impassioned call for change rings true.
Customer Reviews
A must read.
The author shares bits of her journey while also sharing important Latino history that was disregarded.
I’m thankful for Arce’s powerful piece.
I could have never put these feelings into words.
I have never felt more understood reading a book.
Thank you!
Gracias.