This year in our Pre-AP 10 English class, we read “The Girl Who Fell From The Sky” by Heidi Durrow. We were privileged that Ms. Hatten, one of our tenth grade english teachers, came into contact with Ms. Durrow requesting a meeting. Ms. Durrow gladly obliged and met with our tenth grade English class on Apr. 8th. For those who haven’t read the book, you should know that it’s a story of a biracial girl named Rachel who struggles to understand her identity. Our classes had us each come up with two questions to ask Ms. Durrow either about the book or herself.  This was one of my questions:

How do you think that Rachel’s struggle with her race and understanding her identity applies to todays world?

Ms. Durrow answered it eloquently, her response was told alongside a story of her past making it easier for me to relate to her. She spoke of times in her life that were comparable to Rachel, the girl I had read so much about. As Ms. Durrow finished answering my question, she turned it around to me. Though this may not be as well-put as Ms. Durrow’s answer, here was what I had to say.

I think that biracial struggles are something very prevalent in todays society, but being biracial is something that is really hard for me to understand. I can never really have the full impact of being discriminated upon because of my race. My parents are both white and so are all of the people in my family. Most of my friends are white and I go to a high school with a high population of white students.

Racism has never affected me personally because of the color of my skin and the community I was raised in. I think that while this may be true, one must educate themselves so that they can fight that racism and stand up for those that feel like they can’t find their voice. Ms. Durrow’s book is a great tool to help people like me come to a better understanding of what it is like to be biracial. I think it’s an important book for students to read for whichever race you are, and to be conscious of the issue in todays society. A book like “The Girl Who Fell From The Sky” is something that is rare and so well thought out, that it helps kids like me have a better understanding of racism, and also impact me and others to want to be help out in our community.