Token Black Girl: A Memoir
Book by Danielle Prescod
DETAILS
Publisher : Little A (October 1, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 256 pages ISBN-10 : 1542035163 ISBN-13 : 978-1542035163 Item Weight : 13.4 ounces Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches Best Sellers Rank: #51,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #210 in Black & African American Biographies #482 in Women's Biographies #1,641 in Memoirs (Books) , Racial identity, pop culture, and delusions of perfection collide in an eye-opening and refreshingly frank memoir by fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod. Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity made more invisible by the whitewashed movies, television, magazines, and books she and her classmates voraciously consumed. Danielle took her cue from the world around her and aspired to shrink her identity into that box, setting increasingly poisonous goals. She started painful and damaging chemical hair treatments in elementary school, began depriving herself of food when puberty hit, and tried to control her image through the most unimpeachable, impeccable fashion choices. Those obsessions led her to relentlessly pursue a career in beauty and fashion―the eye of the racist and sexist beauty standard storm. Assimilating was hard, but she was practiced. And she was an asset. Their “Token Black Girl.” Toxic, sure. But Danielle was striving to achieve social cache and working her way up the ladder of coveted media jobs, and she looked great, right? So what if she had to endure executives’ questions like “What was it like to drive to school from the ghetto?” Or coworkers’ eager curiosity to know if her parents were on welfare. But after decades of burying her emotions, resentment, and true self, Danielle turned a critical eye inward and confronted the factors that motivated her self-destructive behaviors. Sharp witted and bracingly candid, Token Black Girl unpacks the adverse effects of insidious white supremacy in the media―both unconscious and strategic―to tell a personal story about recovery from damaging concepts of perfection, celebrating identity, and demolishing social conditioning. Read more
REVIEW
I’m solidly a white woman. I grew up near where the author grew up in the 80s. I’ve lived 30 years in the south. My girls danced and rode horses at one time and go to a school that has token black/POC. The last one has always been hard for me. I don’t like it that my girls don’t have POC in their small classes. However, for a number of reasons, it’s the right answer for our family academically. Where I couldn’t identify at all was with choosing the toxicity of the fashion industry though the author makes a good case as to why. I also believe it as it is something a close family member struggles similarly. But I don’t get it because I’m more of the mom in yoga pants eating chips on the couch. My struggle with my weight and appearance has on the whole to opt out. I have the opposite issue of not caring too much about what I ate or weigh. It also takes a toll on my body health and I know I should do better but I haven’t been able to get it together for some time. I do think we’re evolving. My girls are growing up better than we did in embracing variation but we do still have the conversations about weight and hair and maintaining appearances and the privilege of being able to buy the on clouds and have the cool accessories. All and all while I times I felt “ but this is every woman” I also acknowledge that it far far more so for women of color. I appreciate being made to recognize that further. Being made to think about it.
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