Quality Rating: 5 out of 5
"After forever, I shut off the water. See my hands. My black hands. My feet. My black feet. Black and dirty. Filthy. I hate it! Then I see it-- there in the corner, a jug of bleach--." (Williams 197)
Summary:
Genesis is a 13 year old girl learning how to overcome self-loathing within a social dynamic that perpetuates self-hatred, particularly due to her own skin color. Through this novel, we see how she deals with developing friendships, a verbally abusive and alcoholic father, and racist relatives. On top of this, a list of all the reasons Genesis hates herself continues to grow. The journey is filled with the twists and turns of her mind as Genesis navigates a new understanding of herself, others, and the world around her.
Stereotypes/Biases identified:
Girls are socialized from a young age to believe that they have to do certain things and behave a certain way for boys (and especially society as a whole) to be considered beautiful. Like it or not, the portrayal of light-skinned, perfectly styled hair, flawless, and fashionable women overload children's concepts of beauty before we even consider it detrimental to their self-love and self-worth. That is why Genesis purposely tries to bleach her skin and why she performs "white face" with her mom's makeup. Black girls are often taught that being of a darker skin tone is unfavorable and that its even "dirty". There is nothing wrong with a little extra melanin pigmentation! Williams undoubtedly had to learn this throughout her own childhood as well as instill this message of self-acceptance in her own daughter.
2. People of different races can’t be friends.
Genesis and Sophia prove this bias wrong with their friendship throughout the novel. It is up to society to teach our children that the differences among individuals should be accepted, not discriminated against. Genesis and Sophia are excited to learn about each other and all of the small details of their lives that make them unique. Williams used this as a narrative to express that there is nothing wrong with being friends of a different race or ethnicity. Encouraging cross-cultural friendships will promote a sense of acceptance, understanding, and unity among a population. As a society, we have a long way to go before this concept of acceptance and understanding can be achieved, but if we continue to instill the mindset in our children today, tomorrow will look a bit more promising.
3. All adults can be racists, but kids aren’t.
Kids follow in their parent’s footsteps and mimic their behaviors. If we want our children and students to be better at being accepting of others, we must show them ourselves. Actions speak louder than words in this regard. If we tell youth to think and behave a certain way around others but practice something other than what we preach, they will forget what was said and copy our actions. Genesis caught herself thinking in a negative way about a girl based on her hairstyle, a thought that was constructed through her interactions with her parents. She quickly recognized how judgmental she was being and altered her thinking. Williams noted that children have the authority to alter their thinking and perceptions of others. Just imagine how this would impact society if all children were taught to regulate what they're thinking and become more accepting of others!
Misconceptions I realized I was carrying:
1. All families shares stories from their past with their children.
Some families might feel ashamed of their pasts. Others might have negative feelings associated with a person/event and choose not to talk about the past. And yet some others might be so proud of their past that families can't help but fill their kids' heads with stories. Whatever each family is comfortable with and willing to talk about is not up to educators, but impacts how we conduct our classrooms. As educators, we can’t assume that every child knows all about their past; instead, we should seek to provide background on a variety of cultures, ethnicities, regions of the world, (and more) to paint a full picture of the world around the students. Educators walk a delicate line-- we don’t want to overstep what a family wants to share with their children, but we want them to be informed of their own cultures and feel validated. Communication between the parents and teachers is important to identify what topics should be addressed and/or avoided. Hopefully, conversations within the classroom will spark interest in the students as they learn about themselves, and maybe create dialogue at home to obtain more stories from their families.
2. Bullying because of race doesn’t happen that often.
Institutionalized racism, systemic racism, and how our parents talk about race influence our kids. If they see adults discriminating against other races, they will follow because they think that practice is okay. Classmates bullied Genesis about her skin color by calling her names like charcoal and eggplant. I never experienced bullying because of race growing up (my home-town community is just now starting to become more diverse), so I wasn't aware that it was something that happened quite often. Awareness brings about a change in thinking and action.
I am planning on reading this book for my Newberry project in class and reading this post made me even more excited to read it! I am planning on focusing on racism and bullying, and it seems like this book is based on these concepts. Something that I was wondering while picking out this book is what age group would most likely read this book? I also wondered how a young, Black girl would feel after reading this book. Would she feel empowered? Proud of her skin color and culture? Angry at the world for their hateful stereotypes? I am hoping to get a better understanding after reading the book. I think it is important that we are addressing these…
@bloemp, Getting people to read is definitely an important step to bringing awareness, I agree. However, if we wait to have these conversations until people pick up a book, I fear very little will be accomplished. Thinking from an educator’s perspective, if we can get children involved in these social matters early on and provide them with a platform to have these conversations, they will be more willing to do so later in life. Actively instilling that children have a voice and can speak up against the injustices, stereotypes, and biases they see within society will bring change much sooner.
Yes, awareness! How do we help each other become more aware? My best answer is to get people to read. But honestly, how many how many GVSU students would pick up Genesis and read it, if they weren't assigned it? How many people read?(My lament....)