"There Ain't No Accounting for What Folks See in Their Own Mirrors": Considering Colorism

within a Sharon Flake Narrative

Author(s): Wanda Brooks, Susan Browne and Gregory Hampton
Source: Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 51, No. 8 (May, 2008), pp. 660-669
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40012403 .
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ISfMJMf^MIMMM^^MMKWlWIW

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mirrors": Considering colorism

a Sharon
Flake
narrative

WandaBrooks,SusanBrowne,GregoryHampton

An after-schdolbonkclubenhancedcritical
thinkingskillsfor someadolescentgirls
whileleadingto insightsen
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Brooksteachesat Temple
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Pennsylvania,
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e-mail
Jersey,USA;
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inWashington,
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imcast.net. In this article,we shareresultsfrom a
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hamntri
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I- --. -

gender and race,

It's bad enough that I'm the darkest,

worse-dressed thing in school. I'm also
the tallest, skinniest thing you ever seen.
And people like John-John remind me of
it every chance they get. They don't say
nothing about the fact that I'm a math
whiz, and can outdo ninth graderswhen
it comes to figuring numbers. Or that I
got a good memory and never forget one single, solitary thing I read. They only see what they see, and
they don't seem to like what they see much. (Flake,
1998, p. 5)

MaleekaMadison,the protagonistof TheSkinVm

In (Flake,1998),painfullyacknowledgesthe narrowlensesthroughwhichher peerssee. Manyof
them considerskin color,clothes,and certain
physicaltraitsas socialstatusmarkers.Althougha
genuinerepresentationof life,Maleekais a
fictionalcharacterwho narratesher turbulent
seventh-grade
yearin SharonFlake'scontemporaryrealisticnovel.Thisyoung adultstoryrendersa
potentiallyvolatileperiodin a teenager'slife, one
heavilyshapedby particularitiesof livingas a
darkerskinnedAfricanAmericanfemaleat the
dawnof the 21st century.Among otheraccolades,

660

Flake'snarrativewon the JohnSteptoeAwardfor

New Talentsponsoredby the CorettaScottKing
TaskForceand was nameda best book for young
- "
1 adultsby the AmericanLibrary

JiUiiJtL

OF liOLESCEiT

Background
andmethodology
of the study

close readingof TheSkinVmIn augmentedby readerresponses.Wewereguidedby

the followingtwo researchquestions:
1. How does the novel portraycolorism
from an AfricanAmericanfemalepoint
of view?

2. What do participants'responsesto the

metanarrativeof colorismsuggestabout
how they identifiedwith the story?
We define colorismhere as inter- and intraracial
discriminationbased on skin color stratification
(Hunter,2005). Becausegenderand raceemerged
as centralthemes in the narrative,blackfeminist
thought (Collins,2000;hooks, 2000) undergirds
much of our discussion.Qualitativecontent
analysis(Miles & Huberman,1994) coupledwith
critics'reviews,scholarlyarticles,and published

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authorinterviewsall had a part in our close read

of the story.We triangulatethese datawith female
participantresponsesto the metanarrativeof
colorism.
The participants'datawerecollectedduring
an after-schoolbook club wherestudentsdiscussedand respondedin writingto severalrealistic and historicalfiction storiesabout a rangeof
culturalexperiences.All of the writtenresponses
occurredfollowingthe discussions.As such,both
individualand collectiveinfluencesshapedthe
results.The book club occurredin a middle
school locatedin a close suburbof a majorcity in
the southeasternUnited States.The suburbwas
predominatelyAfricanAmericanwith working
classor middle classfamiliesin the majority(only
32%qualifiedfor freeor reduced-costlunch).
Throughoutthe 2004-2005 year,10 African
Americanfemalesand 7 malesparticipatedweekly. Eighty-sixpercentof the participantswere
identifiedas on gradelevel for readingor above.
In keepingwith the spiritof blackfeminismand
its intellectualtradition,and becausethe voices of
workingclassor middle classAfricanAmerican
femalesshow up infrequentlyin the researchliterature,our focal studentsconsistedof the girls.

Theoretical lens
Collins (2000, 2004) and hooks (2000) are cultural criticsand scholarsat the forefrontof discussion aboutAfricanAmericanwomen and
feminism.Perhapsas evidencedby hooks'sauthoringof the picturebook Happyto Be Nappy,
an unavoidableassociationbetweenfeminist
thought and girlhoodexists.In hooks'sview,the
realityof blackgirls'lives,in its differentiated
nature,remainsunder-theorizedand largely
unnoticed.As literarytexts,for example,documentationof the everydayexperiencesof contemporaryAfricanAmericangirlsremains
remarkablyscantin school libraries,book stores,
and the householdsof youth from all ethnic
backgrounds.The girlhoodperiod,we argue,introducesfemaleAfricanAmericansto the "specializedknowledge"(Collins,2000, p. 22) and

JOURNAL OF AD0LESCE1T

experiencesthey relyon while negotiatingthe reality of a blackwoman'slife. BecauseAfrican

Americangirlsand women sharecommon encountersconnectedto being both blackand female in society,they collectivelyexperiencea
distinctiveand multiplicitousreality.
Severalcore themes makeup the framework
advancedby Collins (2000) in her definitivetext,
BlackFeministThought.To avoid essentializing,
Collinsrecognized,however,that dependingon
economic class,prior experiences,and sexualorientationblackwomen responddifferentlyto
these themes.For our purposes,one theme receivesemphasis:challengingnegativedepictions
of blackwomen as mammies,hot mommas,or
matriarchsas well as other controllingimages
(Collins,2000). We focus on controllingimages
and depictionsof a pervasiverealitywithin and
outside of the AfricanAmericancommunityas it
relatesto skin tone. Althoughidentifiedby numerous terms,we referto this constructas colorism. In Race, Gender,and the Politics of Skin

Tone,Hunter (2005) providedsome context:

Skincolorand featuresassociatedwithwhites,such
as lightskin,straightnoses,andlong, straighthair,
takeon the meaningsthattheyrepresent:civility,rationality,andbeauty.Similarly,skincolorsand featuresassociatedwith Africansor Indians,suchas
darkskin,broadnoses,andkinkyhair,representsavagery,irrationality,and ugliness.Thevaluesassociated with physicalfeaturesset the stagefor skincolor
stratification,(p. 3)
From a literary standpoint, Harris (1997)

arguedthat novelistshavedepictedcolorismwith
respectto dark-skinnedand light-skinned
women and girlsthroughouta long-standingtradition of AfricanAmericanwritingfor children
or young adults:
Buhlairein Plain City (Hamilton, 1993) stands out because of her fair skin coloring and carrotred dreadlocks. The ShimmershineQueens(Yarbrough,1989)
and ThankYouDr. Martin LutherKing,Jr!(Tate, 1990)
painfully chronicle the hurt endured by a significant
number of dark-skinnedgirls, (p. 38)

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Explainingthis recurringtheme in more depth,

Bishop (2007) wrote,
Racism by its very nature is so insidious that some
Black people have internalized negative attitudes, left
over from the days of slavery,toward themselves and
their appearance.Thus, lighter skin color and straight
hair have often been more highly valued even among
Black people than darkerskin and kinky hair. The tradition of using [AfricanAmerican children's] literature to counteract such negative self-images and
promote self-esteem among Black children has continued through the end of the twentieth century.

The skin Sharon Flake'scharactersare in goes far beyond the surface;they live in a particularskin of culture that gives them a distinct, recognizable language
and a wise, wary story of relating to others- friend,
foe, or cautious blend of the two. Moreover, Flake's
charactersdemonstrate a complex way of negotiating
values that doesn't depend on anything the dominant
culture might acknowledge as universal or divorced
from the real world situations in which these characters find themselves. In her work, black girl readers
can finally find a voice that speaks their world, without filters, translations, or accommodations for
outsiders, (n.p.)

(p. 231)

Hinton-Johnson(2005) applieda feministframework to contemporaryAfricanAmericanyoung

adolescentbooks to examineskin color and beauty aesthetics,arguingthat duringthe 1990sa
growingnumberof writersconstructedstoriesto
foregroundshiftingbeautystandardsfor African
Americangirls.
The issues addressedby Harris,Bishop,and
Hinton-Johnsonabove,althoughnot exclusiveto
the AfricanAmericancommunity,havebeen documented in historicalas well as culturalstudies
literaturefor some time. It is also perhapsimportant to mention here that as AfricanAmericans,
we can each recalla numberof experiencesderiving from skin color stratificationduringour adolescentyearsas well as more recently,as teachers
of elementary,middle school, and college
students.

Theconstructof story
identification
Priorresearchhas shown that, at times,African
Americangirlsdo gain self-affirmationfrom and
identifywith storiesabout otherswho look like
them raciallyand with respectto gender(Baye,
2005;Davis,2000;Sims, 1983).Accordingto
book criticKarenCoats (2004), TheSkinVmIn
offersmany possibilitiesfor identifyingthrough
personalstory connections:

662

With respectto identitydevelopment,Sutherland

(2005) recentlyapplieda feministframeworkto
examineblackadolescents'constructedidentities
within discussionsabout ToniMorrison'sThe
BluestEye.The "multilayered,relational,and in
flux"(Sutherland,2005, p. 365) identitiesof the
adolescentsmanifestedas they grappledwith "a
Eurocentricview of Beauty"and with feeling
bound by "others'assumptionsabout who they
are"(Sutherland,2005, p. 380).
Despite Flake'sskill at providingtrustworthy depictionsof AfricanAmericanteenagegirls,
our studyparticipantsrevealedthe complicated
and multifacetednatureof reader-textidentifications, partlybecauseof the shiftingidentitiesexamined in Sutherland'sresearch.Forinstance,
one of our studyparticipants,Evan(all names ar<
pseudonyms),consistentlyreadand sharedviews
on TheSkinVmIn with what appearedto be a
strongidentificationwith the protagonist'sattempts to overcomecolorism.We realizedthat
Evan'sgender,race,skin color,and academic
abilitymirroredthat of the main character,but
she differedin noteworthyways.Evan,unlike
the protagonistMaleeka,appearedvery selfconfident,was extremelywell groomed,earned
high grades,and seemed to be highlyregardedby
her peers.So, althoughEvanidentifiedwith the
protagonistto a certainextent,as a darker
skinnedadolescentEvan'sidentityand socialpositioningwere quite different.Did all of the female adolescentsin the book club,we wondered,

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identifyyet not identifywith this story in such

multilayeredways?

Textual
andresponse
categories
In this sectionwe drawon the followingthreekey
quotes (Erickson,1998),all excerptedfrom The
SkinVmIn,to metaphoricallyconveythe overlappingresultsof the text and readerresponse
analyses:
1."Idon't see no pretty,just a whole lotta
black!"(p. 3)
2. "Thereain'tno accountingfor what folks
see in their own mirrors."(p. 18)
3. "Peoplegonna see, I ain'twho I used to
be."(p. 42)
Eachquote comes from a seminalpart in the narrativein which a turningpoint for the protagonist occurs.

Key quote 1: "I don't see no pretty,

just a whole lotta black!"
I thinkthebookonpage16,it says,"Whatdoesyour
facesayto theworld?"
Andthena boysaidthat
Maleeka's
facesayssheneedsto stayoutof thesun,
andthat'sa reallynastyinsultandit makesherfeel
bad.
As Kim,a studyparticipant,captureshere,Flake
exposesher readersto the notions of self-esteem,
self-love,and the obstaclesthat accompanythe
life of an AfricanAmericanfemaleadolescentin
an urbanenvironment.Earlyin the novel, the
contextis set for depictingthe colorismphenomenon throughan adolescentworldviewwhere
childrenareteasedabout skin color.Simplystated
by a CooperativeChildren'sBook Centerreviewer,"No one has a problemwith Maleekabeing
Black;afterall, most of her classmatesareBlack,
too. But plenty of them havea problemwith
Maleekabeing too Black"(Horning,Kruse,&
Schliesman,1999).

Feelingdepressedabout the teasingshe experiencesfor being a darkerskinnedteenager

who wearsclothes sewn by her mother,Maleeka
spendsthe firstpart of the narrativetryingto
pleaseand be likedby her peers.Not unlikethe
concernsaddressedby blackfeministsregarding
contestedimagesof beautyand the long-standing
impact of colorismin the AfricanAmericancommunity (Collins,2000;Craig,2002;hooks, 2000;
Hunter2005), Flakesituatesthis narrativeto
stand in opposition to the colorismmetanarrative. In an interviewshe explainedhow worries
regardingher own daughterinfluencedthe story:
I havea beautifuldark-skinned
daughter,andwhen
shewaslittleI startedtellingherstoriesaboutincredible dark-skinned
girlswho did wonderfulthings.And,
as a blackwomanI knowthatif you'redarkin our
communities,peopledon'talwayssaynicethings
aboutyou, so I wantedto dealwiththatissue.So no,
it's not aboutmy daughter,who was7 whenI wrote
thisbook.That'swhy I wroteit, justto helppeople
learnto likethemselves,no matterwhatotherpeople
say.(Flake,2002,n.p.)

Callingher daughter"mysweetbrownbeauty"on
the novel'sdedicationpage,Flakeapparentlydesiredfor this narrativeto instill a sense of confidence in her femalereadershipby providingthem
with an identifiablecharacter.Similarto the findings reportedby Davis (2000), suggestingthat
AfricanAmericanmiddle school girls"madepositive connectionsto life as they readnovels in
which their life experienceswere reflected"(p.
259), earlyon in readingthe novel a seemingly
straightforwardidentificationwith Maleeka's
plight emergedfrom studyparticipantTiffany
(whose skin color closelymirroredthat of the
protagonist):
So farthis storyremindsme of myself.Thisstorytells
the wayI usedto be in elementaryschool.Whenthe
kidsusedto teaseme it did not makeme feelgood.I
understandthatmanypeople(mostlykids)teaseother kidsbecauseof theirskincolor,size,or religion.I
thinkit is not fairto teasesomeoneaboutthe way
theylook. Theyshouldget to knowthe personbefore
theyjudgethemin anyway.

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Anotherstudentshareda friend'sexperience,although in this examplelighterratherthan darker

skin becomesproblematic:
It'sthe samethingwith one of my friends,I am not
goingto sayno namesbut he likesto helpout and,
um, cleansstuff,right?Andhe, he wascleaningthe
bathroom,andsomekidswerepickingon him 'cause
theysaidyou arethe lightestthingin here,you might
as wellbe the lightbulbandstufflikethat.
Instead of inserting into the novel a historicized metanarrative that explicitly names raceand gender-based oppression as strong influences

on the continuationof stratificationbased on

skin color,Flakeopts for a subtlerapproach.
Participants'initialresponsesreflectedthis approachas they discussedissues of "teasing"and
"notfeelingaccepted."A decontextualizedportraitof colorismpermeatesthe story,and colorism'slinks to, for example,the sexualviolence
perpetratedby slaveownerson the Africanand
AfricanAmericanwomen they rapedwho then
bore childrendo not surface(Hunter,2005). In
fact,severalbook criticshighlightteasing,acceptance,and feelinglike an outsideras seminal
themes in the story (Del Negro, 1999;Rochman,
1998) ratherthan focusingon colorismor simply
Maleeka'sskin color.Yet,throughquestioningthe
intraracialdynamicsof colorism,studyparticipant Tia appearedon the vergeof linkingthis
phenomenon to a historicallegacyof discrimination betweenracesand acrossgenders:
I thoughtthatJohn-Johnshouldgetbeatup because
he wasmakingfun of Maleeka,but he'sall shortand
he black,too. I meanlikereallyblacklikeMaleeka,
andI thoughtthatmaybehe shouldgetbeatup becausehe wastryingto makefun of somebodyelse....
Nobody'spickingon him andhe'sblackandhe's
short.I'm sayingjustbecauseshe'sdarkskin,I mean,
theyallarethe sameracebut, like,maybeif another
personof anotherracehad saidsomethingabouther
skincolor,theymighthavegottenupset.
Tia may have benefited from a more comprehensive textual and historical framework in which to
locate the teasing between two individuals of the

same race.Perhapsin an attemptto avoidexplicit

moralizingor historicizing,Flake'scolorismdepiction only hinted at its deepercomplexity.

Key quote 2: "Thereain't no

accounting for what folks see in their
own mirrors."
As she growsthroughoutthe novel,Maleekabegins realizingher own inabilityto escapethe perceptionsof otherswho sustaincolorism;she
often judgesher peersand, thus, reifieswhat she
so dislikes.Describinga boy in her Englishclass,
Maleekathinksto herself,
Malcolm Moore raises his hand. Malcolm is fine. He's
got long, straighthair. Skin the color of a butterscotch
milkshake. Gray, sad eyes. He's half and half- got a
white dad and a black momma. He's lucky. He looks
more like his dad than his mom. (Flake, 1998, p. 17)

AlthoughMaleekaremainsless cognizantabout
the negativeviews she holds about her peers,she
does begin to questionher own self-image.
Maleekaeventuallyacknowledgesthat she must
playa decisiverole,not in what her peerssee
when they look at her but in what she does.
About threechaptersinto the narrative,a personal makeoverbegins,and Maleekastartsgathering
the strengthto get beyond the teasing.
Our second key quote was excerptedfrom a
chapterhighlightingMaleeka'sinitialtransformation- a transformationinstigatedby a teacherat
her school.AlthoughMaleekaexistsin an adolescent worldwherethe exteriorof a person is often
valuedmore than the interior,we arguethat the
most overtlesson of the narrativestems from realizinghow a person'sinteriormattersmost.
Maleekahas yet to realizethis when she meets
Ms. Saunders,a new Englishteacherwith a large
birthmarkon her face:
The first time I seen her, I got a bad feeling inside. Not
like I was in danger or nothing. Just like she was
somebody I should stay clear of. To tell the truth, she
was a freaklike me. (Flake, 1998, p. 1)

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^W^MRWBTOW^^

The phrase"freaklike me"that Maleekauses to

describethe new teacherprovidesthe reader
some insighton the protagonist'sown selfidentity.The bad feelingMaleekaexperiences,
however,is not the omen she believesit to be, becauseMs. Saundersbecomesher liberator.A
birthmarkon this teacher'sface does not define
her as marginalizedin the same way Maleekaperceivesherselfto be becauseof her darkskin tone.
Ms. Saunderssees herselfquite differentlyand becomes a substitutefor Maleeka'sdead father.Ms.
Saundersalso reinforcesthe motivationof
Maleeka'semotionallyspent widowedmother.As
a substituteparent,Ms. Saundersbegins to teach
Maleekahow to love herselfas she did. "Liking
myselfdidn'tcome overnight,"she says,"Itook a
lot of wrong turnsto find out who I reallywas.
Youwill too" (Flake,1998,p. 19). It is Ms.
Saunders'srole to teachMaleekahow to look in a
mirrorand see herselfthroughher own eyes,even
duringMs. Saunders'sown quiet struggleto feel
good about herself.While answeringquestions
abouther birthmark,Ms. Saundersexplainsthat
it takesworkto look beyond the narrativesof
birthmarks,complexions,and clothing.She tells
Maleeka,"Yourskin is pretty.Likea blue-black
sky afterit's rainedand rained"(Flake,1998,p. 3).
LikeMs. Saunders,the studyparticipants
identifiedother traitsof the main characteras
worthyof attention,ones she failedto notice herself.Referringto Maleeka'sclassmates,Odessaexplained,"Theyonly look at her skin color,but
they don't reallyget to know her and get to know
what she'sabout,what she'slike and stuff like
that."Anotherparticipantfelt strongly:
I think many people feel the same way about their
skin as Maleeka does. But I think, instead of looking at
herself in a negative way, she should look at herself in
a positive way. Instead of feeling she is half empty, she
should feel half full.

WhatMaleekadoes not understand,but that likely standsout for readerslike our studyparticipants,is that the problemsher primaryfoes in
the story,John-Johnand Charlese,havearenot

reallyabout Maleekabut about themselves.The

characterCalebstandsout as an exception.
Maleeka'steenagecrushis Caleb,a popular
and levelheadedboy who consistentlymarvelsat
her appearanceand attitude.Calebchallengesand
reenvisionscharacteristicsof beautyin the novel,
but despitehis admirationMaleeka'sinitialimage
of herselfand her self-worth areverymuch connectedto his approval.Arguingthat one goal of
the earlyfeministmovementwas to challengethis
type of thinking,hooks (2000) pointed out,
Before women's liberation all females young and old
were socialized by sexist thinking to believe that our
value rested solely on appearanceand whether or not
we were perceived to be good looking, especially by
men...feminist thinkers went directly to the heart of
the matter, (p. 31)

Certainlythe protagonisthas yet to liberateherself from desiringexternalacceptance,but at

points in the narrativeshe does acknowledgehow
"vain"and "foolish"(Flake,1998,p. 26) she is for
wantingCaleb'spraise.The authorwrites Caleb
as a characterbeyond his yearsin maturity.He
thinks independentlyand, on the whole, does not
appearsusceptibleto the wants of his peers.But
even he succumbsto the pressureand turnshis
backon Maleekawhen classmatesbegin teasing
her on a field trip.Despite Caleb'sbetrayal,study
participantNadiawonderedwhy Maleekadid not
responddifferentlyto Calebafterhe apologized:
I would have never let people walk all over me. I
would have not let it get to me. Yeah I'd be annoyed.
Sometimes I may even get a little sad if that happened.
But come on, who cares what other people think
about you? As long as you feel good about yourself.
That was one of the first problems, Maleeka'slow selfesteem. If she can't feel good about her how can anyone else?Take for instance Caleb. He tried to be a
friend to Maleeka. But no. She won't forgive him. He
made one little mistake. So what? He's human.
Besides Maleeka probably would have done the same
thing if she was in that situation. When he offered his
friendship again she should have accepted. I mean
come on, isn't that what she wants anyway?A friend,

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someone to talk to, Sweats barely listens, so what's

wrong with another friend?

Above,the seamlesslife-text identificationmentioned earliergaveway to this studyparticipant's

distancingherselffrom Maleeka'stroubles.
Interestingly,Nadiais much lighterin skin tone
than the protagonist,perhapsexplainingsome of
her response.She challengesMaleeka'sdecision to
deny Caleb'sfriendshipratherthan displayempathy and confrontsthe main characterabout her
own self-denial.Viewingcolorismthroughan
adolescentlens, one less historicizedand more focused on self-esteemand how to overcometeasing, Nadiarecognizesyet does not identifywith
the protagonist'sactions.Rather,she prefersthat
Maleeka,like the high school adolescentsstudied
by Sutherland(2005), ascribeto herselfthe identity she so desires.Still,as Flake(n.d.) has said
duringan interviewabout the novel,knowing
one's self-worth and actingon this knowledgeare
quite different:
Well it takes a while to grow strong inside. She's
[Maleeka] not reallyweak at all, only she doesn't realize that until the book is just about over. When you
see yourself as small inside, you act like it, even when
you might be as strong as a tiger, (n.p.)

Key quote 3: "People gonna see,

I ain't who I used to be. "
An importantmoment of awakeningfor Maleeka
occurswhen she decidesto cut her hair,thus the
selectionof our thirdkey quote. In the chapter
describingthis event,Flakereenvisionsthe
Eurocentricbeautyaestheticundergirdingthe
novel'sfocus on colorism.This particularevent
resemblesthe literatureexaminedin HintonJohnson'sstudy (2005), wheremainstreamviews
were resistedby characterswho reenvisioned
beautystandardsbeyond limitationsof skin color.While Maleekais gettingher hair cut in a style
found in a magazine,the AfricanAmericanstylist
in the salon conveysa bit of the specialized
knowledgeemphasizedby Collins (2000):

666

"This is one of those hairdos you strut your stuff in.

Sisterswearing these know they're sharp,"Ronnie
says, taking out the clippers and going at my hairline
again.... "Give me some attitude," Ronnie says, taking
off my cape.... "Attitude,girl,"she says, switching her
butt around, dipping and turning like a fashion model. (Flake, 1998, pp. 44-45)

Althoughit is unclearwhetherthe magazineimage inspiringthe haircutconveysindividualization, Maleeka'sfriendconvincesher to see a

professionalstylistin hopes of coming closerto
the haircutin the photograph.Womenin the salon tenderlyembracethis decision.When the
stylistcompletesthe haircut,Maleekaproudly
and stronglysees the beautyin herselfand asserts,"I'mlooking in the mirror,and I can'tbelieve my eyes.I likewhat I see"(Flake,1998,p. 44,
italicsin the original).With encouragementfrom
otherAfricanAmericanwomen, the haircutsignifies a changingself-perception.
A seminalliteracyeventdepictedin the stoschool-basedwritingassignmentgiva
creative
ry,
en by Ms. Saunders,also assistsMaleekawith
breakingthroughthe negativeviews she holds of
herself.Designedto enhancestudents'considerations of what it would be like"tolive in somebody
else'sskin,"Maleeka'sdiaryentriesfrom the perspectiveof an imaginedpersonbegin to revealher
manytalents.Maleekacovertlywelcomesthis opportunityas a wayto ascribea new identityfor
herselfthroughwritingin the voice of Akeelma
(roughlyMaleekaspelledbackward).Below,a
book club participantnamedMariahrecognizes
the shifttakingplaceand the emerging
literacy-identityrelationship:
Maybe what she [Maleeka'sbest friend] means is that
when Maleeka is in school, she tries to put up this
whole other person so that people think that she's
tough or whatever, but when she writes in her diary
and she's Akeelma, you know, she's this intellectual
person with a lot of deep feeling. She doesn't want to
do things that they're [her classmates] not doing, and
show them that she loves to read and write and stuff
like that.

The diaryof Akeelmadepictsa kidnapped

Africangirl in the belly of a slaveship headedfor

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the new world.Akeelma'sdiarytells of her experiences in the bottom of a slaveship and her love
for a fellowcaptive,Kinjari.Althoughnot an attempt to historicizecolorism,the issue of black
women'sresilienceand struggleagainstintersecting oppressionscomes throughin the diaryentries rootedin the lives of Africansbeing taken
into captivity(Collins,2000). It is within the context of writingthe diarythat Flake'sprotagonist
finds love and ultimatelyself-loveby describing
Akeelma(and thus herself) as "somethingso
beautifulhe can'thelp but stare"(Flake,1998,p.
26). Throughthe lives and from the skins of
Akeelmaand Kinjari,Maleekaanalyzesher own
situationin life and is similarlymoved along by
the enslavedAfricans'experiencesof survival.
Afterdiscussingthe influenceof the diary,several
studyparticipantswere also moved to compose
the followingpoem:
Maleeka, Maleekawho lives in the dark,
Who lives in the world that is thrown apart,
You write your thoughts in a diary- anonymousand to yourself,
Then pray and pray that no one reads,
You need to come out, you need to come out,
Maleeka, Maleeka, as dark as you are, why are you so
scared?

Using the word darkin the last line unexpectedly,

the studentstalkedabout how they yearnedto
shareadvicewith and instill some confidencein
the protagonist.
Maleeka'sengagementwith her diarystands
out in the text partlybecauseit suggeststhat the
act of writingcan be therapeuticfor the African
Americanadolescent.In factthe book concludes
when Maleekawins a literarycontestfor her diary.It is also throughthis vehiclethat she rewrites
and thus reenvisionsan image,a vernacular,and
a life-storyof an imaginedblackfemaleadolescent with whom she identified,eventuallysaying
to her tormentors,"Callme by my name!...I am
MaleekaMadison,and,yeah,I'm black,real
black,and if you don'tlike me, too bad 'cause
blackis the skin I'm in!"(Flake,1998,p. 176).

Once againconnectingto this reenvisioningof

self,Nilah says,
She [Maleeka] can do anything she reallywants. Like
when I joined this book club, everybody was like,
"Oh, you're a nerd" and they think all you do is just
sit around and read, but it's more than that.... So if
your friends want to do it with you then good; she
[Maleeka] needs to get friends who like what she likes.
So I'm in the book club.

Ultimately,like our participants,the protagonist's

darkskin does not define her inner beautyor
worth;she eventuallyunderstandsthat no matter
how good she looks or feels therewill alwaysbe
someone dissatisfied:'Youknow,Maleeka,'I hear
myselfsay,youcan glue on some hair,paint
yourselfwhite, come to school wearinga leather
coat down to your toes and somebodywill still
say somethingmean to hurt your feelings'(Flake,
1998,p. 48).

Discussion
The resultsof this study can be situatedin a larger discussionthat concernsitself with possibilities
of introducingand deliberatelydisruptinggenderand race-basedsocial inequitiesthroughliterature.This discussion,however,includesparadoxical considerations.
hooks (2000) has suggestedthat although
feminismhas made greatstrides,a massiveeducation movementis needed to help educatetoday'sgirlsand teenagers,removedfrom the
strugglesof the 1960sand 1970s,about intersecting oppressions.And, becauseour participant
responsesneverveeredtowarda highlysophisticateddiscussionof colorism and its antecedents,
hooks'scall appearsappropriate.In other words,
afterconsideringour resultswe wonderedabout
the following:Wasit enough for the participants
to recognizethe teasingand self-esteemissues
embeddedin the narrative,but to not deeply
grapplewith a redefinedbeautyaestheticfor
AfricanAmericangirls?Whatwould it havetaken
for the participantsto locate Maleekabeyond her

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667

individualpsychologyand to repositionher as a
genderedand racializedparticipantin a largersocial structure?Did Flakemiss an opportunityto
historicizeand complicatecolorismto meet the
presumedneeds of her publishersor adolescent
audiencewho likelyexpecteda contemporary
story?Might particularcontemporarystoriesrequirea culturalor historicalstartingpoint that
some readers,even as membersof the African
Americancommunity,fail to possess?
On the otherhand,we arereluctantto underestimateor misinterpretthe readerresponses
without consideringthe largerculturaland social
milieu in which Flake'sstorywas writtenand read.
As Collins(2004) suggestedin BlackSexual
Politics,we currentlyexist in an erathat defies
of AfricanAmerican
simplisticcharacterizations
and
women.
So
girls
althoughcolorismremains
rampant,"thecontradictionsof Westernperceptions of Africanbodies and of Blackwomen's
agencyconcerningthe use of theirbodies"
(Collins,2004, p. 26) are,we contend,on the rise.
Despitestudyparticipants'readingof a largelydehistoricizedand uncomplicatedportrayalof colorism,manyof the adolescentspersonallyresisted
and defiedlargersystemsof exploitationand oppression.Severalgirlsin the book club,for example, werehonor roll students,otherswerestarson
theirschool'sbasketballteam,and a few werewell
versedin AfricanAmericanhistory.Thesevaried
activitiesseem to suggestthat the readerresponses
representa smallportion of the meaningthey
constructedwith the text and the waysin which
they position themselves(and arepositioned)as
readersand actorsin largersocietalcontexts.

for teaching
Implications
andresearch
Studyparticipantswerewilling and clearlyable to
engagein literaturediscussionsabout the sensitive topic of colorism.ForAfricanAmericanfemale readers,issues of body image,status,and
identityremainpowerfultopics to explore.
Educationalpractitionersshould be encouraged

668

to thoughtfullychoose contemporaryrealistic
novels touchingon these areasfor their classroom
librariesand literacycurriculum.However,it is
expectedthat exploringa novel such as this invites a certaindegreeof uncertaintyand perhaps
uneasinesson the partof a teacher,especially
with a multiethnicstudentpopulation.Electing
these types of novels may requirethat some practitioners,unknowledgeableabout or uncomfortablewith a topic like colorism,familiarize
themselveswith relatedculturaland historicalissues beforereadingabout and discussingsuch an
issue with students.
When using Flake'stext or otherswith similar subjectmattereducatorscan considermodeling interpretivestrategiesin which thereexistsa
deliberatefocus on a synthesisof ideasfrom the
text with a reader'sown knowledge,experiences,
and identity.We suggesthere that identitiesof
readersbe thought of as fluid and multifaceted.
Waysof identifyingwith stories- even when stories reflectone's own ethnic background- will
likelyvaryacrossa continuumas protagonists
and eventsin storieschange,revealcomplexities,
or evolve.Also, it will be importantto facilitate
discussionsand learningthat encouragea process
of makingjudgmentsabout storiesand defending
positionswhile keepingin mind one'sown genderedand racializedpositioning.Anotherconsideration,even for contemporarystories,consistsof
teacherstakinginto accountand sharingthe culturaland historicalbackgroundinformationrequiredby readersto more deeplyengagewith and
critiquestoriesfrom both individualand societal
framesof reference.
Finally,for researchers,a need still existsfor
groundedtheories- emanatingfrom the waysin
which readersof color interpretbooks about
themselvesas well as others- to come forth.Such
researchhas the potentialto yield furtherdata
that includereaderdiscussionsof self-image,
identity,and positioningin which historicalremnants and contemporaryrealitiesof a racialized
society often convergeand playout duringthe interpretiveprocessin expectedand unexpected

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CTTuffilmiMlTfit?!?^^

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ways.As in this study,these investigationswill

likelyrequireoverlappingtextual,reader,and
even contextual-basedanalyses,if richer,complicated,and more nuancedtheorizationsof African
Americanreaders(acrossvariousgenders,classes,
abilities,and regions)and novels areto emerge.

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Coats,K. (2004). Risingstar:SharonFlake.TheBulletinof
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Collins,P.H. (2000). Blackfeministthought:Knowledge,consciousness,and thepoliticsof empowerment(2nd ed.).
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LITERATURE
CITED
Flake,S. (1998). TheskinI'm in. New York:HyperionBooks
for Children.

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669