When high school senior Asha Jamison gets called a "towel head" at a pool party, the racist insult gives Asha and her best friend Carey a great money-making idea for a post-graduation trip. They'll sell T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students.
Seemingly overnight, their "cause" goes viral and the T-shirts become a nationwide fad. As new chapters spring up from coast to coast, Asha realizes that her simple marketing plan has taken on a life of its own-and it's starting to ruin hers. Asha's once-stellar grades begin to slip, threatening her Ivy League dreams, and her friendship with Carey is hanging by a thread. And when the peaceful underground movement turns militant, Asha's school launches a disciplinary hearing.Facing expulsion, Asha must decide how much she's willing to risk for something she truly believes in.
What I learned: I loved the premise of this story. I've thought more and more over the past couple of years about the fact that the world is turning more shades of brown than it is staying distinctly black and white. Almost everyone I know is a mutt of some kind, even if they look just white or just black. I'm white, but I'm 1/4 Swedish, 1/4 German, 1/4 French and 1/4 English (and I'm definitely closer to the color of a latte than I am to milk from March to October). When I was teaching and administering standardized tests I often had students confused as to which box they should check when it came to identifying their race. I had lots of students who had an African-American parent and a Hispanic parent so they couldn't just choose whichever box they felt was predominant. I hated that I didn't have a good answer for them when they asked me which box to check. I loved that Asha brought that up in this book. No one should have to choose which race, identity or culture they identify with most when faced with those little boxes. They're American.
I also loved how realistically frustrating it was for Asha when things got out of hand and misconstrued. I got so frustrated with the misunderstandings of the school administration and her parents and I can totally see it all happening in real life. One of my favorite things about the book was that Asha and Carey originally just set out to make money. They weren't pushing anything except their t-shirts so they could go on an awesome post-graduation trip. It only turned into something more after other people adopted the Latte Rebellion as a cause championing brown people. I loved how just like teenage girls that was.
I learned that needing to categorize people based on their ethnicity is completely unnecessary and sometimes wrong. Yes, some people identify with their ethnicity and culture very much and by knowing what their heritage is, you can learn a lot about them. But there are lots of people who identify with being an American and their ethnicity is just one thing that affects their definition of American. I'll admit that I like knowing people's ethnicity. I think it makes me more comfortable to be able to label them and put them in a box but I know that's wrong. Just because someone is part (or even all) Japanese, for example, doesn't mean that they follow any particular stereotypes. I'm part Swedish, but I don't have super blonde hair and blue eyes (I do have blonde hair but it's not 100% natural :)) and eat Swedish meatballs. I don't think I've ever had any Swedish meatballs, whatever they are. The fact that my mom is half German has no effect on my cultural life. I don't know why people assume that because people have slightly - or even much - darker skin that they are completely different from people with lighter skin. I know I need to work on my stereotyping and putting people in boxes. This was a great book and I'm really glad I read it.
If you've read The Latte Rebellion, what did you learn from it? Will anyone else admit to sometimes putting people in boxes?
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