“You’re so white.”

“You sound like a white girl.”

“You’re not Black enough.”

These are all phrases I have heard before. Ever since I was a young girl, I was told one of these key phrases that separated me from my race. These phrases made me feel like I didn’t belong.

So, when I stumbled across the book You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation by Julissa Acre, I believed I found a book that would address a viewpoint that I had myself. 

Summary of Book

Arce, who came to live in Texas from Mexico at age 11, shares the story of her assimilation to America, learning English, losing her culture, making money while undocumented and working on Wall Street, and the inevitable scars that came from pursuing an ever-moving goal post. She interweaves current political events and Latinx history into personal stories, covering topics including racism, cultural identity, money, friendships, and love. Arce’s goals are two-fold: by sharing her experiences she wants to encourage other people of color to recognize who they are is more than enough to be American, and she believes more visibility and representation of the Latinx experience will force people to recognize Hispanics as the Americans they are, rather than outsiders.

When I read the summary, I believed she would focus on people of color in general with specific examples from her heritage. However, as I began reading the first few chapters, I realized this was not the case.

Since the author immigrated to America from Mexico, her main focus was on the history of Hispanic and Latinx culture, as well as how those who come from those backgrounds should not be ashamed of their heritage.

She does this by discussing her background and combining it with facts and statistics. 

However, the initial phrase and title that drew me in was never fully addressed in the context that applied to me. 

When she discusses this line, it was from a white classmate who seemed to be complimenting her on how well she spoke English. While she was initially proud of this, she realized that it shouldn’t be a goal she aspired to.

However, when I heard this line, it always came from another person of color, usually Black, and I immediately knew to despise those words.

Ever since I was young, I always enjoyed different things from the majority of the kids in my area. I loved anime, staying inside watching soap operas, and reading fanfiction. It didn’t help that the street I lived on was mostly surrounded by older people, so I never really played with others my age during the weekends or summer.

I also took speech therapy for the first five or six years of school. Because of this, I began talking “proper” or “white.” However, that’s not how I viewed it. I took speech therapy because no one else could really communicate with me. I was just happy to be able to talk and have people understand me.

The most vivid memory I had of someone basically telling me that I wasn’t Black enough was when my aunt called the house.

When I heard the phone ring, I answered. There was a pause on the other end and then I heard the question: “Is this Dorothy Sanderson’s home?” I replied “yes,” and told her that it was me. She laughed and said, “Oh, I thought you were a white girl.”

At that moment, I learned to be self-conscious of my voice. I learned that I would never truly be Black.

This feeling of rejection followed me until I learned to not be ashamed of how my voice sounded or how I acted.

Why don’t you speak English? Why don’t you speak Spanish? Being Latino in America means the answer to both of these questions holds us to an impossible standard to prove we’re both sufficiently American and authentically Latino.

Julissa Acre

While Acre’s book wasn’t what I was looking for when it came to how race is applied to my life, it did give me the opportunity to learn some more history about how minorities are treated in America.

Her usage of statistics and historical events that are not always discussed allows for the reader to learn more about her perspective of race in America. 

She does make some overarching statements that at times contradict each other or speak for a whole culture that is extremely diverse. 

Also, there is the slight language barrier in that she includes Spanish naturally woven throughout her work. However, there is no translation easily provided, so people who do not speak the language will have to translate it to fully understand what is said. 

I do see this being a slight commentary on how her experience was when she had to assimilate to the English language. Although, I would have loved to have been able to read her experience in an uninterrupted way. 

Overall, I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars. While this book wasn’t what I expected or wanted, it provided insight to some cultures outside of my own. It even gave me resources I could use to further my knowledge.