Makena: See Me, Hear Me, Know Me

Washington D.C. – 2021
Author Denise Lewis Patrick
Illustrator Courtney Lovett, Flávia Conley
Originally Published © 2021 American Girl
ISBN 9781683371847
 

Back in Style

Makena, her sister Amari, and her mom and Auntie Bling are busy shopping for clothes for the start of school. Both Makena and Amari are excited to be picking out new clothes, since they hadn’t gotten new clothes since the start of the pandemic. Although Makena has been working to constantly put new outfits together to post Instagram each morning, what she calls her OOTD.

As Makena and Amari head to check out, they notice two White girls who try to budge ahead of them. When Amari confronts them, they act like they didn’t even realize the concept of a line, and it takes further encouragement from others in line to convince them to step to the back.

 

Together Again

For the first time in over a year, Makena gets together with all of her family! There’s her immediate family, including Auntie Bling who lives in California, Uncle Alex who’s a chef and owns a food truck, and Makena’s grandparents who owned Cook’s Kitchen in Anacostia.

Auntie Bling reminds everybody that clothes make a statement, and what you wear determines how you will be seen.

 

Bringing My Shine

On the first day of school, Makena picks out a new outfit to wear for the first day of seventh grade. She posts it on Instagram before heading out the door. On the way to the metro station, she passes her neighbors, Jerome and Stella, a mixed-race couple that lives across the street.

In the metro, she reunites with her friend Najee, who spent some time in Brooklyn while his mother recovered from COVID. But now, he’s back and ready to go to Aspire Academy with Makena.

Upon arriving at Aspire, Makena is introduced to Adeline, who is also Black. She follows Makena on Instagram, and so she recognized her. They realize they have some of the same classes, and decide to make their way to class together.

Makena and Adeline meet two new awesome teachers, Ms. Jacobs-Lee of homeroom/social studies, and Mr. Djondo of algebra. Mr. Djondo makes a point of emphasizing that names matter, so it’s important to get each others’ names correct.

 

We Walk Together

The next day, Uncle Alex takes Amari and Makena to the Riverfront Community Center. He is a volunteer at the food pantry, and wants to take the girls to show it to them.

After a volunteering session, Makena stops at the art section to look at what’s around there. And that’s where she runs into Evette and Maritza. She recognizes the platform shoes Evette posted back on Instagram that morning.

 

A Powerful Thing

Later that week, Mr. Djondo’s class has a substitute teacher—Ms. Allyn. She hurries through attendance, not taking the time to pronounce Makena’s name correctly. She doesn’t even give Makena time to correct her. When Ms. Allyn mistakenly calls Makena “Adeline,” Makena does correct her. But Ms. Allyn scolds her for disrupting class.

Later, Makena reflects that not everybody who is Black is the same, so it’s important to see people for who they are, not for just the color of their skin.

Afterwards, Makena goes shopping with Maritza and Evette. Makena gets her hand at styling Maritza, who ends up loving the changes! Although Maritza can’t buy the clothes that day, she takes a photo to commemorate the outing.

 

When Right Goes Wrong

It’s the day of the Food Truck Festival, so Makena and her family head to Anacostia Park on a lovely afternoon. There, Makena separates from her family to meet up with Najee. The two of them decide to visit the music section of the festival.

On their way, they pass by a little kid standing all alone on the path. She’s about three years old, with red hair. Najee and Makena glance around for an adult who’s accompanying the girl, but they don’t see anyone interested. Makena and Najee gently ask her if she’s lost. She nods at them wide-eyed. They offer to help her find her mom.

Najee picks the girl up and they begin looking for her mom. And then, a White woman angrily stops them. The woman thinks that Najee and Makena are kidnapping the girl! The woman doesn’t give either Najee or Makena the opportunity to explain, and eventually a park ranger has to come diffuse the situation. Suddenly, the girl’s mom arrives and takes the child away.

When Makena asks Najee what happened, he answers shortly “It’s livin’ while being Black.”

 

Words Hurt

After Najee leaves the festival, Makena goes back to her family. They are stunned when she explains what happened. The next day, Makena also shares her experience with Evette and Maritza. They agree that what happened was awful, and was racist discrimination.

 

Fashion Speaks

The next day, Makena chooses to wear a sweatshirt with the word JUSTICE. It ends up getting over 200 likes on Instagram. In response, Auntie Bling texts Makena about Carlotta Walls and the clothes she wore in Little Rock, Arkansas. This shows Makena that part of fashion is activism… connecting people’s stories and communities, and sending a message.

Later, Makena, Maritza, and Evette realize that they don’t need to wait to make a difference… they can start now! They decide to start a new website: World by Us.

 

One Cold Day

After school one day, Amari and Makena realize they both forgot their house key, and the spare is gone too because Amari used it another day she forgot her key. They split up and try to go around the house to find an open window or door; it’s cold outside!

And then suddenly, two cops run up telling them to drop everything and put their hands up. Makena, stunned, obliges, but Amari freezes. Apparently the cops got a report of two Black women breaking into a house. But they’re surprised when they realize Amari and Makena are just children.

Suddenly, Jerome and Stella run up, exclaiming that the two criminals are the residents of the house! Stella takes the girls back to her home to wait for their parents. As they walk down the street, they see an unknown man standing with his arms crossed in his driveway.

That evening, after the girls’ parents pick them up, they learn that the man who was in the driveway was the man who called the cops. He didn’t realize the two girls he saw were the residents of the house, and just assumed they were criminals breaking in because they were Black.

 

See Me, Hear Me, Know Me

The next day, Makena realizes that she’s sick of feeling like people don’t see her for anything more than the color of her skin, and they don’t listen when she tries to talk. She wants people to judge her only after getting to know her first.

She writes the words “See Me, Hear Me, Know Me” on a t-shirt, and then films a video of herself explaining what happened the night before. She posts it on Instagram.

 

A Gift Worth Celebrating

Then, something amazing happens. Makena’s phone lights up from a bunch of other videos and positive responses! People are sharing something uncomfortable or unknown about themselves… it turns out many people have similar stories to Makena’s.

A few days later, the man who called the cops comes to the house to apologize to the girls. He admits that he was wrong to jump to conclusions.

Several days later, Makena receives a package in the mail from Auntie Bling. It’s a t-shirt with her words printed on them. Auntie Bling also sent a nice message saying that continuing to wear the shirt will continue to send a message. And then, Makena has an idea: she wants to put on a show called Powerful Statements/Powerful Style. It will feature her friends, wearing clothes that represent them.

The friends take turns taking center stage, explaining who they truly are, and why their clothes represent them. The show gets an incredible response! Makena explains that when you take the time to truly get to know somebody, you see who they truly are.

 

Standing Up to Racism

Although Makena is fictional, her story is based on real racial injustices Black people experience. People make assumptions about others when they don’t know much about an ethnicity, cultural background, or religious belief. How can we change false assumptions?

  • Find videos that help you learn about others’ life experiences and points of view
  • Look up articles about anti-racism or discover books by authors of color whose main characters are different than you
  • Learn another language, just a few words or phrases
  • Watch a show or movie featuring people from a different racial group than you
  • Research racial makeup of your community to better understand the racial minorities around you
  • Try new recipes to make food you’ve never tried before from a different ethnic group
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