See Me, Hear Me, Know Me

Fashion Speaks

The next morning, Makena pulls on a black t-shirt from an anti-racism march, with “JUSTICE” spelled out across the front in bold white letters. She intends to let the shirt speak for itself with a caption-free selfie. On the Metro, Najee compliments it and admits his dad always tells him not to yell back, but to make his words matter more than his volume. By lunch, the post has passed 200 likes. Gran jokes that justice never goes out of style, and Auntie Bling sends a link about Carlotta Walls.

Adeline guesses Carlotta must be a clothing designer, so Makena reads up: Carlotta was one of the Little Rock Nine, the Black students who integrated an all-White Arkansas high school in 1957. The National Guard had to block the doors because the White people didn’t want them in the school, and President Eisenhower had to send additional troops to escort them inside. Her first-day dress, black with blue and white geometric shapes and a teal alphabet print, hangs today in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The article says that Carlotta’s seamstress mother made the family’s clothes, but a great-uncle bought this one specially for the occasion. Makena guesses the alphabet stood for Carlotta’s determination to learn, and thinks back to how carefully she picked her own first-day outfit.

That night, Auntie Bling sends another link, this one about Harlem’s Fashion Row and how few fashion houses hire designers of color. Mom catches Makena scrolling instead of finishing homework, but softens once she hears why, telling Makena that fashion can be its own kind of activism, and might be her purpose one day, right after her algebra.

On Sunday at the Riverfront food pantry, Evette mentions the monarch butterflies on Makena’s shirt. She says they’re endangered. Humans need to take better care of nature. Makena mentions that Evette did a pretty good job organizing the cleanup at the Anacostia River. Evette agrees, but says she wishes there was more that could be done.

Maritza says they don’t have to wait until they’re grown to make a difference. They can start now by making the kind of world they want to live in. Makena says she wants to live in a world where who you are inside matters more than what you look like on the outside. Maritza says she wants a world where a community can be full of people from different backgrounds and beliefs, but still be united. Evette says they should post their ideas online. Maritza asks if Makena knows how to make a website. Together, they decide to call the website “World by Us.”

“This,” Makena declares, “is going to be beautiful.”