My Sisters' Voices Teenage Girls of Color Speak Out

by Jacob, Iris

• ISBN13: 9780805068214
• ISBN10: 080506821X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-03
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

In the tradition of the bestselling Ophelia Speaks , a collection of provocative essays by teenage girls of color My Sisters' Voices is a passionate and poignant collection of writings from teenage girls of African American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and biracial backgrounds. With candor and grace, they speak out on topics that are relevant not only to themselves and their peers but to anyone who is raising, teaching, or nurturing young women of color. As adolescents, women, and minorities, these young authors represent a demographic that has had no voice of its own, a group often spoken for but rarely given the opportunity to be heard. Now these young women have a chance to stand up and be counted, to present their own unique perspectives in fresh and astonishing ways. Here you'll find a Native American girl writing about the bumps in her relationship with her best friend, who's white; a Korean American girl who wishes she could help her mother understand that it's okay to socialize with boys as well as girls; and a biracial girl who feels she must be the designated spokesperson for blacks when she's around whites, for whites when she's around blacks, and for biracial people around everyone. These personal and inspiring stories about family, friendship, sex, love, poverty, loss, and oppression make My Sisters' Voices essential reading for young women of all backgrounds.

Author Biography

Iris Jacob is an eighteen-year-old biracial female with a strong commitment to diversity issues. She has been a student facilitator at numerous diversity conferences, has started affinity groups for students of color and women at her high school, and codirected a youth leadership institute addressing topics of oppression, prejudice, and awareness.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xv
More Than Skin Deep	1	(57)
The Smoking Section	2	(5)
Simone Senior
The Black Sheep	7	(2)
Wendi Nevels
My First Love: Skratching	9	(3)
Brooke Wilson
A Culture of Our Own	12	(4)
Vannah Shaw
Standards of Beauty	16	(2)
Nzinga Moore
Fear	18	(2)
Nneka Nnaoke Ufere
The Twenty Words I Never Understood	20	(2)
Lynette Salik
You Are You But I Am Black	22	(1)
Jasmin Kolu Zazaboi
A Page From My Diary: Black And Beautiful	23	(3)
Lianne Labossiere
Racism	26	(2)
Lisbeth Pelayo
Complexion	28	(2)
Kazia T. Steele
The Color Line	30	(1)
Jasmin Kolu Zazaboi
The Color Line	31	(3)
Jade Pagkas-Bather
It's Hard	34	(2)
Faleesha Grady
Searching for a Little Respect	36	(1)
Elsie M. Giron
All-American Girl	37	(2)
Cecilia Nguyen
Chameleon	39	(3)
Anne Hoye
Untitled	42	(4)
Tara Bynum
Sick and Tired	46	(2)
Andrea Fariaz-Gallardo
Assimilation	48	(2)
Andrea Fariaz-Gallardo
Known as ``Other''	50	(4)
Alicia Mazzara
I Wish...I Wish...I Wish!!!	54	(1)
Akemie Cousin
Outbreak	55	(3)
Tara Bynum
Our Roots	58	(47)
The San Joaquin Valley	59	(5)
Andrea Friaz-Gallardo
Away from Home	64	(3)
Ashley Sng
Our Street	67	(4)
Sia J. Yobah
Indian Roots	71	(3)
Sneha Upadhyay
Is This Love?	74	(2)
Brittney West
Through Those Articulate Eyes	76	(3)
Sokonie S. Freeman
Ugat: My Village in India	79	(3)
Amisha Padhair
Dady's Girl and Life's Lessons	82	(4)
Taia Waltjen
Anonymous: My Family	86	(1)
Justice (for My Momma)	87	(7)
Tara Ashley Chaney
Silent Soldier	94	(3)
Shivani Agarwal
Millennium Woman	97	(1)
Monique Beacham
Abandoned	98	(2)
Cierra Goodloe
My Heartbeat	100	(2)
Tiana Phenix
Spades	102	(3)
Hilary Evans
Person To Person	105	(33)
Chanson d'amour	106	(2)
Shivani Agarwal
Lately Things	108	(2)
Blair Revay Bonds
Untitled	110	(2)
Uduak Onda
Vain Imaginings and Other Artifacts	112	(2)
Hyacinth Wallace-Blake
Friends	114	(2)
Sarah Richardson
Questions and Answers	116	(2)
Alicia Carrington
Her Dance	118	(2)
Jennifer Oda
I Put on a Mask	120	(1)
Jessica L. Farley
The Routine	121	(2)
Tayo Darrell
Untitled	123	(3)
Alicia Lea Haley
Battered Butterfly: A Story of an Abusive Relationship	126	(4)
Kristla Wingo
A Welcomed Identity	130	(2)
Itoro Akpan
Untitled	132	(2)
Tiana Phenix
Una Rosa en Mi Jardin	134	(4)
Maribel Lopez Guzman
Ourselves Inside and Out	138	(41)
I An a Female Skater	139	(1)
Shimere Etheridge
Horizontal Ups and Downs	140	(2)
Shawntai Genell Brown
The Child of Our Younger Years	142	(2)
Neftara O. Clark
Do The Feminist Thing	144	(4)
Meredith King
Maui Year 2001	148	(3)
Rebecca Guest
I am cara	151	(2)
Cara H. Sandberg
Untitled	153	(2)
Monica Sanchez
Sex	155	(2)
Samantha McKinney
Mortality	157	(2)
Ka'imi Crowell
I Chose Schooling	159	(4)
Jacqueling Nwaiwu
God vs. Creator	163	(2)
Leah Skjefte
Entry to Church	165	(3)
Jolynne Gonzalez
Behind the Wheel	168	(3)
Cecilia Nguyen
Plan C	171	(3)
Camille Hoosman
Untitled	174	(2)
Anonymous
Spirit Keeps Her	176	(3)
Rubi Vaughn
Sharing Our Sorrows	179	(34)
Death of a Grandmother, Loss of a Friend	180	(2)
Shatara Miller
The Death of a Loved One	182	(2)
Christina Carrillo
Untitled	184	(2)
Michelle Stevenson
The Other Day	186	(1)
Ada Samuel
Steve Said	187	(3)
Naeesa Aziz
Untitled	190	(2)
Christina Chon
Spring Breeze	192	(1)
Lisa Carter
Love Taps	193	(1)
Carlotta Smith
Being Deaf	194	(1)
Tallish Bell
Lately	195	(2)
Camiele D. Land
Depression	197	(2)
Yanica Ricketts
These Scars	199	(2)
Shimere Etheridge
Unwanted	201	(3)
Precious Angel
Anonymous: Untitled	204	(1)
Reflection	205	(1)
Nicole Pickering
Nonsense	206	(1)
Mary Standing Soldier
That Child	206	(2)
Sarah Cook
V. M.: Violence and Abuse	208	(1)
And We Were Gone	209	(3)
Mary Standing Soldier
Pain Street	212	(1)
Clarice Lewis
Reclaiming Our Voices	213	(30)
Don't Forget the Stars	214	(1)
Jasmin Kolu Zazaboi
My Hair	215	(2)
Shimere Etheridge
Me	217	(2)
Sandra Manzanares
Rhythmic Vibrations	219	(1)
Alicia Rodrigo
Brown Skin	220	(2)
Joycelyn Hubbard
Girl Who	222	(1)
Melanie Medina
The Girl I Knew	222	(2)
Leslie Neyland
Essence of Life	224	(2)
Neftara O. Clark
Chasing Ebony	226	(3)
Ebony L. Herron
Untitled	229	(2)
Diomara Chaparro
What Made Me Stronger	231	(2)
Deymis Baquero
Untitled	233	(2)
Candice J. Bingham
Daughter of Africa	235	(1)
Jeanette Asabere
Untitled	236	(1)
Sunny Rasmussen
The Struggle: Black, Light-Skinned, and Smart	237	(3)
Candice Fleming
For So Long	240	(1)
Janelle Camille Cates
Untitled	241	(2)
Kristin Soong
Acknowledgments	243