White Girl

by Sylvia Olsen

"I never thought about being white. I didn't have to. I was transparent; no colour at all. I hung out, was a good enough student and no one paid any special attention to me at all. Then I became a white girl."

Until she was fourteen, Josie was pretty ordinary. Then her Mom meets Martin, "a real ponytail Indian," and before long, Josie finds herself living on a reserve outside town, with a new stepfather, a new stepbrother, and a new name; "Blondie." In town, white was the ambient noise, the no-colour background. On the reserve, she's White, and most seem to see her only for her blond hair and blue eyes. Her mother's no help. She never leaves the house, gripped by her fear of the "wild Indians" beyond Martin's doorstep. But Josie can't afford to hide out forever. She has to go to school, and she has to get herself a life, one way or another. So bit by bit, she finds a way through the minefields. She makes a friend, Rose, with whom she tries to bridge the chasms between out and in, white and Indian, town and reserve. She finds a family in Martin, Luke, and Grandma. And bit by bit, the place itself, the reserve; the run-down houses, the way the people live in them and around them, the forest and the sea; finds its way into her, like nothing else ever has, or ever will.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, American

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Sylvia Olsen is a writer and public speaker living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. She is the author of several picture books, a number of first readers and novels for young adults and one non fiction—so far. Most of all she is a mother and grandmother and aunty to dozens of nieces and nephews.

Sylvia has spent most of her life living in Tsartlip First Nation, where her children and grandchildren now live. Because Sylvia is non native and her children are of mixed heritage most of her stories are about the place—the time—the experience of where different sorts of people come together. That’s one of the things that interests her the most. It’s one of the things she knows the most about—and like many authors—Sylvia writes about what she knows.

Her newest books are: a historical fiction set in the Gulf Islands called Counting on Hope (Sono Nis, Fall 2009) and A Different Game (Orca Books, Spring 2010). She is currently working on an adult non fiction and dreaming up a new story for a Young Adult novel (making it up is her favourite part of the writing process).

Writing is Sylvia’s most important hobby. She also loves to draw, sew, knit and design clothing. Her ‘real’ job is in housing. Her career, her dedication and her passion are to make sure everyone has a healthy place to live.

Reviews

[Ariana Schnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash.

[Rants and Bants · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I knew I wasn’t going to like this book.

It’s a shame, because it could’ve very easily been a commentary on how racism towards white people is an actual THING (and this is the part where SJWs angrily wave their fists at me for daring to mention it), but who am I kidding? Of course it would just end up ignoring that and being the same old narrative of “whites are always the evil bad guys, and minorities are always the innocent victims.”



It started out okay enough—I could actually relate to the main character, Josie, quite a bit. Not only from how I’ve sometimes been treated being a white person in a mostly black/latino school system, but also with it always just being me and my mom and not knowing what a “real” family is. Also, I feel like I know what it’s like to get it from both sides—you’re too “privileged” for minorities, but too “white trash” for whites, so you’re looked down on no matter who it’s coming from. But then about halfway through the book, she becomes friends with two girls at her new school on the rez, named Rachel and Rose. Cool, right?

Except, sometimes they make racist remarks, and it’s never really criticized. It’s treated as though it’s normal. And this is a problem that occurs all too often. It’s like just because their friends with a white person, they can’t possibly be racist themselves, right? (Funny how no one hesitates to call this bullshit excuse out whenever it’s a white person making it). Even if they say flat-out offensive and WRONG things right in front of their white friend’s face. Rose bashes whites when she says, “They think they’re better than everybody”, which I honestly don’t even ever see. If anything I’ve noticed the opposite—whites are taught from a young age to hate themselves and to never disagree with anything a minority says, for fear of being called a “racist” (even though we already are anyway, just for breathing). And Rachel makes a comment along the lines of, “I’m not crazy about whites and how they act.” Um…have you SEEN how others act? If it makes you feel any better, I’m not crazy about how ignorant people like you act either.

There’s also a weird part where Rose gets mad at Josie because Josie doesn’t talk to anybody at her school—she says she thinks Josie’s being “stuck up”, which is a bizarre thing idiots in general assume about those of us who are quiet, which makes entirely no sense whatsoever. Josie is non-social, because well what do you know—she’s shy, she’s in a new place, but most importantly—people treat her like shit, for her race. And Rose KNOWS this, because she has already SEEN it herself. Yet she’s still unhappy to Josie’s reaction to it all, how she’s afraid, and how she’s not exactly enthusiastic about going up to people who treat her like shit. OMG You mean white people have feelings too?? Who knew?

When Josie gets bullied—which should’ve been a wake-up call for people who don’t believe whites can be abused, tormented, assaulted, put in danger, for BEING white—it is still ignored and made to be about other people. That’s probably the worst thing about racism towards whites—when it’s not being denied or ignored, it’s being derailed. Because even when someone sees with their own eyes a white person being the target of racism, they are just SO desperate to not acknowledge it as such, that they end up twisting it to make it seem like it’s about someone else entirely . So our own experiences are silenced and taken from us, and we can never be the main subjects of our own experiences. We're just there to serve as "amplifiers" for the other groups, isn't that all we're good for? Rose even flat-out says that she’s not standing up to the bullies for Josie, she’s doing it for herself. What a friend. This was supposed to be JOSIE’S story—but it isn’t, naturally.

I also didn’t understand the contradiction of “let’s tell everyone about them, and then everyone will know!” even though it was clear that everyone already did know…the bullying took place right in front of everyone’s faces, and it had been going on long before Josie ever arrived too. So…which one is it?

And then the grand finale…when Josie feels slightly suspicious about getting into a car with a guy that she just met, barely knows, and is known to have a ‘bad rep’ on the rez (that Rose keeps drilling into her head), Josie comes to the ghastly and ludicrous conclusion that she must be…racist.



Of course. Because don’t you know? A white girl is never, ever, EVER allowed to exercise caution towards someone they don’t know…if they’re a minority. A white girl is never EVER allowed to be uncomfortable or intimidated or confused about one’s intentions if they’re a minority. Which is why social activists tend to switch gears faster than a lightning bolt whenever the subjects of cat-calling or even sexual assault come up, if it’s about a minority doing it. Because in the hierarchy of social justice, race> gender, usually. So white ladies? You’re supposed to spare their feelings before your safety.

Luckily Zeb turned out to be a good guy, but the question is, what if he wasn’t? WHAT IF?

I literally about dropped the book when I came to that part. This book is really just one big lead-up to how yet another white person has been brainwashed to believe that they are inherently racist when they haven’t done one goddamn racist thing at all.

I don’t know what I expected. Was I expecting something that actually respected us and acknowledged us as human beings? Hardly. I can’t say I’m shocked, even though I’m disappointed. Obviously most people are just too afraid to write about it (especially in the YA genre) so I guess I’ll just have to do it myself (unless someone beats me to it).

The only reason it’s getting 2 stars instead of 1 is because I liked the characters of Luke, Martin, the grandma, and Zeb. And the story of Martin’s sister was so heartbreaking. I was EVEN slightly intrigued by Arnie, they never really went into detail about him at all. He was just sort of a clown. Josie telling him off at the end was quite stellar, though I thought it sort of came out of nowhere, kind of like those fake Tumblr stories.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josie is comfortable with her life. She knows what to expect from her friends, her mom and everything else. She likes her life the way it is. But when Josie's mom comes home one night and says that she has fallen in love with a real 'ponytail indian' named Martin, that comes as quite a surprise.
But her mom is happy and this is the first time she has really seen her mom smile so she figures this guy is good for her. But when they marry and Josie has to move to the reserve with her mom, she isn't too thrilled about the man in her mom's life.

When I read the first few pages I didn't really like it. I thought Josie was immature and even slightly racist, as was her family. But I kept reading and really began to like the book.
Josie, at times, could be immature and wasn't very understanding about her mom marrying Martin. When it came to that, Josie was really only worried about herself and how her life would change. But as the book went on, Josie's life changed and she changed too. She wasn't really a bad person, but just being like how we can all be at times.
On the reserve Josie came to notice her 'whiteness' as it was always pointed out to her and I really relate to that. I've never lived on a reserve or anything, but when I was a teenager it was always pointed out to me that my skin was white and my life was so good. So I could relate to Josie in that way.
Rose, Josie's friend, was a good character too. She and Josie had more in common than they thought. And there was Martin and his son Luke. I liked them both. Martin definitely had his share of issues, but it just made him real.
There was Grandma (Martin's mom). She was such a sweet character. She was so accepting of Josie, her mom and the marriage. I wish more people in real life could be like her and I wish I had a grandma like her.
And there was Josie's mom. Through out pretty much the whole book I didn't really like her. She didn't really seem like a mom, didn't like to make decisions and in some ways lived her life in fear. At the very end she starts to change a little and becomes more likeable.
And Jeb was just awesome. Loved his character.

This book was really wonderful. I'm half Native American myself and I thought it was interesting to see how things could be on a reserve in canada, how people there handle race issues. I think this book just really shows people are not so different from each other and maybe what we think about others is just a misunderstanding, that if we got to know one another we would see we're alike in so many ways.

But I have to say that I didn't want the book to end. I wanted it to keep going and know what happened after that first year at the reserve? What happened between Zeb and Josie? It was just such a good book that I want to know even more about the characters lives. Highly recommended.

[Kassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely hated this book. In the ending she leaves many questions and conflicts unanswered. Does she stay with Zeb? Does Arnie stop complaining about them living in Grandma's house? You won't know, she never says. Josie is not a believable 15 year old girl and I honestly think in her situation I would've dealt with the conflicts and problems a lot differently than Josie did.

[Noa Yehudayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical story about the Native Americans being discriminated but instead a stereotypical white person takes on this role. "White Girl" by Sylvia Olsen is a story about Josie Jessop and her life living on the reserve. Her single mother finally meets a man and wants to spend the rest of her life with him. Little did Josie know, that this man was Indian. The couple got married and Josie moved to the reserve outside of town with a new stepfather, new stepbrother and a nickname the people at the reserve like to call her, "Blondie." Trying to fit in whether it was at school or outside of school, gave no hope to Josie and no escape to leave. Luckily, Josie did meet some great friends like Rose and became closer to her family Martin, Luke, and Grandma. Josie notices a lot of things at the reserve that she has never experienced living with her mom at town such as silence and pauses between each words or the importance of family. "Silences were punctuation, like commas and periods and colons and question marks. Silence gave the words somewhere to hang." pg. 98. Along the way, Josie did experience bullying by these two mean girls named Christy and Mary Ann. Her best friend Rose helps Josie to stand up for herself because she isn't left out. "This is how I see it. The world is a mirror. When we look at other people, all we see is ourselves. Someone else may be standing right in our face, but we see ourselves, our problems, our stuff staring right back at us and then we put it all over them. Don't you wish it was a window instead of a mirror so we could look out there and see the other person instead of ourselves and our hang-ups?" pg. 112. In conclusion, the more Josie discovers about the people at the reserve and her new family, the more they become a real part of her life and she doesn't feel excluded.

[Justice Fisher · Rating 1 out of 5]

FAAAAAAAKE! :P

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

The protagonist Josie was kind of relatable for me. I know what it’s like to come from a broken family, but still be considered “privileged” by the racist cunts in our society. Actually, I literally had a “friend” torment me once when I was suicidal, and another “friend” lecture me 6 months after my mom died about how I was “privileged”. As well as other experiences of racism. Josie becomes friends with two girls named Rose and Rachel, who are both racist towards her, and she’s expected to just go along with it. They make remarks such as, “They think they’re better than everybody”, which is the entire opposite of how I’ve been trained to think my whole life. “I’m not crazy about whites and how they act.” Well sweetie, I’m not crazy about how people like you have acted towards ME. And all of this is just glossed over in the book, and treated as normal and acceptable, just like it is in real life.

Along with her racism towards whites, Rose is also potentially ableist, in that she attacks Josie for being a quiet person with social anxiety, who isn’t enthusiastic about talking to people at her new school.

Then, because Josie’s afraid to get in a car with a strange guy that she doesn’t know really well, she concludes that it must be because…she’s racist?



I’m going to quote another reviewer here, who put it brilliantly:

“Of course. Because don’t you know? A white girl is never, ever, EVER allowed to exercise caution towards someone they don’t know…if they’re a minority. A white girl is never EVER allowed to be uncomfortable or intimidated or confused about one’s intentions if they’re a minority. Which is why social activists tend to switch gears faster than a lightning bolt whenever the subjects of cat-calling or even sexual assault come up, if it’s about a minority doing it. (Or a trans person, nowadays). Because in the hierarchy of social justice, race trumps gender, every time. So white ladies? You’re supposed to spare their feelings before your safety. Your safety doesn’t matter.”

Luckily Zeb turned out to be a good guy, but the question is, what if he wasn’t? WHAT IF?

One of the most insidious things about racism towards whites (as well as sexism towards men) is that it is so manipulative in the way the narrative is controlled, that even during the incredibly rare times people kind of acknowledge it, it is still in the end framed to make it so that it’s about minorities being the primary and sole victims, and whites are still the “privileged” ones. This book was supposed to be Josie’s story—the white girl—but it’s not. It’s completely derailed and made to be about Rose and Rachel, and how they’re still the real victims. White people can literally never be the subject of their own stories. I can't say how many times others have attempted to silence me, when I dared to speak about my own experience. My assigned job is to be the "amplifier" for other people (especially those who've been more privileged than me), never to speak about my own story.

I will always continue to not bow to this garbage, and I’m glad that makes the right people uncomfortable.

[eRin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josie's life has just turned into the pits. Her mother, who has never been able to make a decision in her life, has suddenly decided to marry Martin, an Indian who lives on the reserve 40 minutes outside of town. And to make matters worse, her mother informs her that they are moving in with Martin and his son, Luke. Life on the reserve is pretty much horrible--no one keeps it a secret that they don't want her ("Blondie") there. Josie's life has gone from ordinary to outcast. Forced to go to school, Josie tries to make the best of her bad situation, but it doesn't help that people want to attack her. How will she ever survive? And how soon can she leave?

This novel was interesting. It wasn't fantastic, but it is a good look at White-Indian relations in Canada. Josie learns a lot throughout the year the novel covers--a lot about herself, a lot about other people, and a lot about the world. In my opinion I don't think she did quite enough self-examination, but then again, she's only fifteen. I like it overall.

[WillowBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! I'd recommend it to anyone, esp those living in states terriritories with Native American Indians or First Nation states. I learned alot about the culture and the ways modern young indians copeand see themselves. A great book about diversity, reverse racism, finding yourself and standing up for not only what you believe in, but what you want. Very Empowering, I would imagine for young girls and boys. Really dealls with some of the dangers young girls face today, incl bullying, and the fear of sexual assault. And how to deal with The Other, esp when it's you!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a good job of summing up what it is like to be white in America and not have to think much about race - and then be transplanted somewhere where you become the minority. A beautiful book with a highly relate-able main-character and a great message about perspective - not only how it changes based on culture, but based on life experiences and where you might currently find yourself!

[Nahlah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was totally awesome, and keeps you entertained till the very last page! The author has a great sense of humor, and knows exactly how to think like a teen.. who happens to be the only white girl on the Indian Reservation.

[Heather Poinsett Dunbar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...this book is stunning. The characters and the story are so well-drawn and truthful. You won't regret reading it. It's a wonderful story about acceptance and how an outsider becomes an integral part of her new family.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talk about a look through a different lens!

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really resonated with this story and thought it was well written and gently crafted. Local writer, too! :)

[Lisa the Tech · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunningly beautiful book about family, loss, identity, clash of culture, and hope for the future. I love it more each time I read it, and I've probably gone through it three times at least.

[Alec · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for anti bullying curriculum in high school, not only was it really REALLY boring but its also rather racist.

[Abby Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not realistic and uninteresting. Nothing happens!