Winona Guo - Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity

This is an exploration of race in America by two young women who are earnestly challenging their own assumptions and encouraging the rest of us to do the same. If youre a young person who wants to be part of our national conversation on race but dont know where to start, this book is an engaging launching point.

Cecilia Muoz,
former director of Intergovernmental Affairs under President Obama and senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS), the nations largest Hispanic policy and advocacy organization

This is a critical book for current times where we are seeing a resurgence of nationalism, racism, sexism, and authoritarianism globally. Better communication and understanding, particularly among the next generation, is the key to humanizing the unfamiliar and countering identity politics. Kudos, Priya and Winona, for your vision, your journey, and the honesty and respect with which you tackle diverse stories from across the country. The fact that you are teenagers makes me doubly hopeful! This book should be on top of our lists.

Yasmeen Hassan,
global executive director of Equality Now

While we know a lot about racial literacy, the work that Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi have accomplished in Tell Me Who You Are brings life to this concept. They are magical in weaving in the stories of everyday folks racial traumas and triumphs and force us to question the way we see the world. They encourage us to stop assuming we understand racial, gender, sexual, age and ability biases and open our eyes. They implore us to be more than spectators or witnesses, ignorant of the broken racial promises right in front of us and speak to that loss. This work is a call for not just talking about social justice but doing random acts of justice every day. Be careful. If you want your racial justice neatly packaged into the saying the right thing or avoiding the wrong thing to say, go elsewhere. But if you want to become fluid in how to keep the racial justice promises we make to people who are different in this society, read on.

Howard Stevenson, Ph.D.,
director of Forward Promise, Racial Empowerment Collaborative, and Constance E. Clayton Professor of Urban Education and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

From the moment these two remarkable young women took the TEDWomen stage as high school seniors to talk about their commitment to have a real conversation about race, I knew their work would be a game changer in the conversation about race in this country... and Tell Me Who You Are is just thatthe outcome of an extraordinary journey from the wealthiest neighborhoods to the poorest reservations and communities to find out more about who we all are.

Pat Mitchell,
former president of CNN Productions and the first woman president and CEO of PBS

In Tell Me Who You Are, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo do exactly thattell us who they are, how they have come to thinking so carefully, so deeply about race, and how they want to create change. This book is at once hopeful, raw, and brimming with curiosity, engagement, and youthful energy. Through the conversations these women have with people from all walks of life, we see that the key to any kind of progress begins with letting people tell us who they are. If you want to have richer, more fruitful discussions about race, gender, all the things that comprise our identities, this book will give you a necessary vocabulary. All you have to do is turn the page.

Roxane Gay,
New York Timesbestselling author of Bad Feminist and Difficult Women

Brave. Bold. Insightful. This book not only offers insight into how we think and do race, it is a testament to what this generation can do to fundamentally transform our world. The reader cant help but feel the energy, passion, and commitment of these two brilliant young women.

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.,
James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, and Chair, African American Studies, Princeton University

Im truly astonished by the vision, audacity, and leadership of Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi to compile these amazing stories from over 150 Americans. These girls are the antidote to the notion that this generation is apathetic. In fact, they are our thought leaders and have proven to be dynamic change-makers! It takes enormous courage to confront the cracks in our humanity and hold space for such diverse stories. Tell Me Who You Are is exactly what our country needs right now. In these divisive times, two young women have managed to create a tangible catalyst for compelling and necessary conversation, by doing something truly radical: Listening. Deeply.

Monique Coleman,
actress, global youth advocate, and CEO of Motivated Productions

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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Copyright 2019 by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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Photo credits: Keah Reid Beels on behalf of Affect Conf, Queen Esther taken by Lucy Johnston, and Monique Wes Klain. All other photos courtesy of the authors.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Guo, Winona, author. | Vulchi, Priya, author.

Title: Tell me who you are : sharing our stories of race, culture, & identity / Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi.

Description: New York : TarcherPerigee, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018050286| ISBN 9780525541127 (hardback) | ISBN 9780525541134 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Race discriminationUnited States. | United StatesRace relations. | Group identityUnited States. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations. | POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom & Security / Civil Rights. | EDUCATION / Students & Student Life.

Classification: LCC E184.A1 G945 2019 | DDC 305.800973dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018050286

Version_1

For our beloved parents, who (eventually) let us take a year off from school

In our traditional way of life, we believe that I dont tell you who you are. You tell me who you are, and that is who you are.

a Cherokee saying shared with us by Ahyoka from Tahlequah, Oklahoma