Separate is Never Equal & Can I Touch Your Hair
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation is a children's book about the Mendez family and their fight to desegregate schools in Westminster, California. The Mendez family relocate from Santa Ana to Westminster, and when they try to register their children to go to school, they are told they must attend the Mexican school. This surprises the family because their children are American-born, speak perfect English, and are clean and from a good home. Their cousins, who have lighter skin, are allowed to go to the white school, but the Mendez children must go to the Mexican school. Their family fights for the right of their children to get a better education through a court case that takes place five years before Brown v. Board of Education and sparks the desegregation movement for public schools.
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship is the story of two very different students, Irene and Charles, and their poetry project. When the two are forced to be partners, they struggle with what to write. They begin writing about the same topics and end up with completely different poems, allowing them to get to know each other. This book is all about the unlikely friendship that is formed once two children take the time to get to know and understand one another.
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation
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Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is entangled, woven in, and is a part of our everyday society. Elizabeth Marshall writes in her article, Counter-Storytelling through Graphic Life Writing, that critical race theorists believe "that racism is mundane and everywhere rather than aberrant and sporadic" (Marshall, 2016). In the book, Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation, Duncan Tonatiuh, author and illustrator, is able to depict aspects of critical race theories through his illustrations.
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In Figure 1, I have included a spread from Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation where Mr. Marcus, the Mendez family's lawyer, is seen at a segregated pool. Before taking on the Mendez family's case, Mr. Marcus was able to file a lawsuit on behalf of the people in San Bernardino to help them integrate the public pools. I found this illustration striking. I never thought of segregated public places as ones that restricted access to anyone other than African-Americans. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I grew up in the South and this was the only racism I was "accustomed to" and taught in school, but I found this alarming. How could someone create a sign that says "NO DOGS OR MEXICANS ALLOWED"? How could someone group a person with an animal when restricting access to a "public space"? Duncan Tonatiuh is able to capture the disgust on Mr. Marcus' face as he sees the sign at the public pool. He is also able to capture the ignorant bliss on the faces of the white children inside the pool. Outside of the pool, three Mexican children stand with their hands on bars, as if they were in prison, with frowns on their faces and heads bowed.
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In Figure 2, I have included a spread where the Mendez family begins to refute and fight back against the racism they are facing in Westminster. In these pictures, the Mendez family is out talking with fellow families, neighbors, coworkers, friends, and other parents about the discrimination that is occurring with the public schools. Mr. Mendez is seeking out new members for his organization, Parents' Association of Mexican-American Children. He took his family with him to find signatures for his petitions, but it was difficult to get families to agree. No one wanted to get in trouble, but they also wanted their children to be in schools that would give them equal opportunities as white children. In this picture, we see the Mendez family united and holding hands, trying to collect signatures. The parents on the opposite side of the spread are shown sort of brushing the Mendez family off while appearing to be thinking about what they just said. The children, however, are shown turned towards the Mendez family, as if they want to sign the petition themselves and fight for their right to be in a better school.
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
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Not only was Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship an informative read as I got to know two separate characters through their personal poetry, but it was also informative as I got to know their internal struggles that dealt with their races. I chose two specific passages from Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship below that I want to dive into deeper. The first, Figure 1, is a spread of Charles at the beach as he approaches a group of white boys. He says that "each of them has hair woven into cornrows or twisted into dreadlocks. Some of their lips jut out like puffer fish" (Latham & Waters, 2018). Charles gives the impression that these boys want to look like him, but when he waves and tries to play with them, they laugh and ignore him. He goes on to say "I'm confused: why do people who want to look like me hate me so much?" (Latham & Waters, 2018). We see this appropriation of sorts everywhere, especially at the beach. People act "black" every day, and children appropriate other cultures and races because they have seen people around them do the same. Charles gives a voice to the frustrated, enraged, confused, and terribly sad feeling these children must have when they are rejected, simply due to the color of their skin.
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In the second spread I included, it shows Charles shaking the hand of a fellow classmate, Ghost, or Paul as he tells Charles to call him because "only his friends can call him Ghost". It's surprising to see the two interacting kindly because only a few pages before, Ghost wanted nothing to do with Charles because, in Charles's words, he was "a few shades too dark to be allowed to call him by his nickname" (Latham & Waters, 2018). Now, Ghost has come up to apologize to Charles, even after asking him, "why do you always have to act like us?" (Latham & Waters, 2018). Isn't that a funny statement? If a child of color uses his manners, wants to be friends with someone, or plays nicely, they are "acting white"? Is that what Ghost and his fellow classmates really think? Because Charles gets good grades, does his homework, doesn't play video games, and uses the correct grammar, he's "acting like them"? Ghost goes on to say that he's apologizing because a group of African-American boys asked him the same question. I can't help but wonder who taught these classmates that this was something only white children were allowed to do. Who at home is teaching this? Who at school isn't correcting these thoughts? Putting these questions aside, it makes me happy to see two children reconciling after one apologizes and realizes he is wrong. Children, like adults, are capable of apologizing for and fixing their mistakes.
Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers.
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Latham, I., & Waters, C. (2018). Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
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Marshall, E. (2016, November). Counter-Storytelling through Graphic Life Writing. Language Arts, 94(2).
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