How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I want to show the beauty of our people, that we are not all banditos like they show on TV, munching cuchfritos and sipping beer through chipped teeth. I will paint los niños scooping up laughter in the sunshine and splashing in the temporary pool of a fire hydrant. I will paint my cousins, turning the sidewalk into a dance floor when salsa or la bamba spills from the third-floor window. (9.15)
Raul's a little bit like Wesley. He sees the way Latino folks are portrayed on TV—as stereotypes—and he doesn't like it. He knows there's more to his people and that's what he wants to show the world.
Quote #5
What could I possibly have in common with these kids? I must've asked myself that question a million times a day when I moved here. I'm white, they're Black and Hispanic. I grew up in Westchester County. They grew up in New York City. I like Sheryl Crow, they like Lauryn Hill. Except for Raynard and Devon, who are into jazz. It's like we come from two different planets. (26.2)
Leslie is white, so she doesn't think she has much in common with the black and Latino kids in her class. She also grew up mostly around other white people and never really felt like she stood out before. Now, though, everything about her seems a little different—even the music she likes. She may feel like she comes from a different planet, but that doesn't mean she can't bridge the gap somehow. We're all the same on the inside, right?
Quote #6
It was the best I could do on my own. And it looked better than that time I washed it in detergent to kink it up so I could have an Afro like my cousins[…]
I'd walked past a group of would-be girlfriends who sucked their teeth at me and said my name like it was curdled milk they couldn't wait to spit out. "Here come Miss High-Yella, thinkin' she's all that, with her so-called 'good hair,' " said one. "Far's I'm concerned, she ain't nothin'," said another. "Less than nothin'," said a third. I shook off the memory.
"Look, Mom," I said. "You don't understand." But she wasn't listening.
"Most girls you know would kill to have your hair," she said.
"That's just it, Mom. They hate me for it and they hate my skin. I can't do anything about my skin, okay, but my hair I can fix." (38.4, 5-9)
Tanisha is black… but not black enough for some people. Lots of kids think her light skin and "good" hair are pretty, but other girls don't care for it much and claim she's a little bit too "white" to fit in. Tanisha's caught between two extremes and it's not easy.