Startseite
Podcasts
It's Been a Minute Podcast
For author Julissa Arce, 'sounding white' isn't a compliment

For author Julissa Arce, 'sounding white' isn't a compliment

It's Been a Minute vor 3 Jahren

0:00

21:21

Julissa Arce used to think that the secret to fitting in was to
"sound white" — to speak English perfectly, with no accent. And for
years after her family came to the U.S. from Mexico, she did all
the things immigrants are "supposed" to do to assimilate: she went
to college, got a job at Goldman Sachs and became an American
citizen.

It wasn't enough. So Arce decided that the solution was to stop
trying to fit in, and instead embrace her whole identity. Her ideas
come to life in her book, You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for
Rejecting Assimilation.

In this encore episode from this past March, guest host Elise Hu
revisits her conversation with Arce about the book, and what it
means to celebrate your own culture and history.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenaMin and email us
ibam@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices:
podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy