Token Black Girl

Books, movies, magazines and social media actively cultivate cravings for acceptance, and have particularly negative effects on Black girls and women as they are routinely excluded and underrepresented. The recent months of 2020 have revealed a renewed interest in the ways that covert racism functions as a byproduct of white supremacy. This book dissects the insidious impact of popular culture by examining Danielle’s interpersonal journey in coming to terms with her racial identity when she fails to find herself represented in a way that is seen as aspirational to her white peers. She goes from media junkie to media puppet after laboriously pursuing physical perfection to become a fashion and beauty editor at some of the industry’s top magazines. Consumption of messaging that establishes beauty hierarchies can be incredibly damaging in both the immediate and the long term. Danielle is so influenced by media’s suggestive nature that she becomes obsessed with optimizing her own appearan