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“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.
What does an undocumented immigrant look like? What kind of family
must she come from? How could she get into this country? What is
the true price she must pay to remain in the United States? JULISSA
ARCE knows firsthand that the most common, preconceived answers to
those questions are sometimes far too simple-and often just plain
wrong. On the surface, Arce's story reads like a how-to manual for
achieving the American dream: growing up in an apartment on the
outskirts of San Antonio, she worked tirelessly, achieved academic
excellence, and landed a coveted job on Wall Street, complete with
a six-figure salary. The level of professional and financial
success that she achieved was the very definition of the American
dream. But in this brave new memoir, Arce digs deep to reveal the
physical, financial, and emotional costs of the stunning secret
that she, like many other high-achieving, successful individuals in
the United States, had been forced to keep not only from her
bosses, but even from her closest friends. From the time she was
brought to this country by her hardworking parents as a child,
Arce-the scholarship winner, the honors college graduate, the young
woman who climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman
Sachs-had secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant. In this
surprising, at times heart-wrenching, but always inspirational
personal story of struggle, grief, and ultimate redemption, Arce
takes readers deep into the little-understood world of a generation
of undocumented immigrants in the United States today- people who
live next door, sit in your classrooms, work in the same office,
and may very well be your boss. By opening up about the story of
her successes, her heartbreaks, and her long-fought journey to
emerge from the shadows and become an American citizen, Arce shows
us the true cost of achieving the American dream-from the
perspective of a woman who had to scale unseen and unimaginable
walls to get there.
Someone Like Me is the young readers edition of Julissa Arce's
adult memoir My (Underground) American Dream. Born in Taxco,
Mexico, Julissa Arce had to share her parents with America from the
age of three. Her parents made trips to different parts of the
United States to sell silver, often spending weeks and even months
away. That is until one day they decided to bring Julissa to Texas
to live with them. From then on, Julissa would be spend every day
gripped with fear as she secretly lived as an undocumented
immigrant. This surprising, at times heart-wrenching, but always
inspirational story takes readers deep into the little-understood
world of a new generation of undocumented immigrants in the United
States today--children who live next door, sit in your classrooms,
or may even be one of your best friends.
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 --Jose
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.
Someone Like Me is the young readers edition of Julissa Arce's
adult memoir My (Underground) American Dream. Born in Taxco,
Mexico, Julissa Arce had to share her parents with America from the
age of three. Her parents made trips to different parts of the
United States to sell silver, often spending weeks and even months
away. That is until one day they decided to bring Julissa to Texas
to live with them. From then on, Julissa would be spend every day
gripped with fear as she secretly lived as an undocumented
immigrant. This surprising, at times heart-wrenching, but always
inspirational story takes readers deep into the little-understood
world of a new generation of undocumented immigrants in the United
States today--children who live next door, sit in your classrooms,
or may even be one of your best friends.
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