Priya Vulchi and Winona Gua

In 1903, the African American scholar and author W.E.B DuBois wrote these words: “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” In 2018, the words of Dr. Dubois continue to haunt us. How can we find another, better way to talk with each other about race and get anywhere in our understanding of each other?

That is exactly what Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi care deeply about. As sophomores in high school they heard classmates express views that did not reflect the reality of racism that people today are experiencing. These two young women recognized a disconnect and made a decision to take creative action. With the assistance of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton, Priya and Winona developed Princeton Choose: The Classroom Index, a racial literacy textbook and toolkit made up of personal stories and research that makes it easier for teachers to talk about race in the classroom.

Added to this, they presented a TED talk entitled “What it Takes to be Racially Literate.” That talk was named one of the top three best presentations of TEDWomen by Forbes.

I spoke with Winona and Priya about their thoughtful, passionate, and creative work in bringing the change we so desperately need.

Priya and Winona, when I heard your TED talk, my perspective was broadened within the first few minutes. You said that if you do not seek out an education about race, put in the effort to be racially literate, you wouldn’t get it.

Let’s start with the basics. What is racial literacy?

Bridging the heart-mind gap — both fiercely caring about the personal ways in which race impacts people everywhere, yet also understanding (mind) the systematic ways in which that came to be. We believe that fundamental to racial literacy is this longer idea of racial ​and intersectional literacy​ and leadership — understanding how race operates within a web of other parts of our identities and how we can take lead ourselves to dismantle all of those systems together. We describe it fully in our TED talk, “What It Takes To Be Racially Literate.”

How did you become aware that there is an incomplete understanding of racism for so many people?

We grew up in a very academic town where research, stats, and these dense textbooks were always referred to when talking about race. The conversation just felt really detached from the actual people, the lived experience, and it was almost as if people were becoming desensitized by the cold stats. On the other hand, a lot of people talk about race without recognizing how their individual story is part of a larger narrative of systematic injustice. There needs to be a balance of both, the gap between our hearts and minds needs to be bridged, in order for us to have a complete understanding of the way race operates in America.

In 2015, there was a backlash against a McGraw-Hill Education textbook, ​World Geography, that referred to African slaves as “workers.” That is just one of several factually inaccurate passages found in textbooks. You both believe that young people need better education regarding race. What do you think needs to be done (specifically) in classrooms?

The list on what can be done better is endless. But here are a few that pop into our minds first, based on our own personal experiences:

Kids start showing signs of prejudice and stereotyping at 3–4 years old. It’s so bizarre to us that we’re taught how to be literate in science, math, finance, music, art, etc., but never equipped with the fundamental life skills to better live together and love one another. If we don’t have meaningful conversations about race in the classroom starting at young age, then kids are going continue to be fed racist narratives from the tv shows they watch, cartoons they read, and pretty much the entire world around them — it’s up to our education system and our teachers to counter those narratives.

The classrooms we grew up were pretty racially homogenous because of the opportunity gap — when we looked around us in our AP classes, there were no black students, no hispanic students — but whenever there happened to be any students of color, we were always expected to speak on behalf of our whole race. To avoid that, we designed our textbook so that pressure can be alleviated from the handful of minority [students] in the classrooms and onto the diverse faces within the pages of our book.

Race needs to be talked about in all subject areas, not just history. We need all teachers to be racially literate. For example, if you’re a STEM teacher, you should talk about all the diverse inventors & innovators who are left out of our textbooks and substituted by primarily European white, older men. If you’re a theater teacher, you should choose plays that protest — plays with diverse casts, languages, and storylines.

Like we mentioned in our TED Talk, racism is always talked about as if it’s some outdated historical phenomenon. When race is mentioned, it’s only in history class when slavery is taught. In classes like history, we need to recognize that our country was built off of racism, and therefore it impacts everything around us. We need to understand that the way racism operates has rapidly evolved. We need to include more than a paragraph about the Japanese American Internment Camps.

One of the things we talk about at Smart Girls is the importance of finding out what you care about, what injustices you want to shine a light on, then participating in finding lasting solutions. What have y’all been doing to work toward overcoming gaps in racial literacy?

In high school we published a 224-page textbook that pairs personal stories from the greater New York area to corresponding systematic research (bridging what we call the heart-mind gap of racial literacy). Since then, we’ve deferred college for a year [Winona’s going to Harvard and Priya’s going to Princeton] and fundraised ourselves for a trip to all 50 states to gather interviews for our next book on race & intersectionality [release: Spring 2019 with Tarcher Perigee, a Penguin Random House Imprint].

What are the hard things you face in this work? After all, education is supposed to bring growth and they don’t call them growing pains for no reason.

We’re Asian American, in this kinda grey space as model minorities, so at first we thought we didn’t have a role in the fight against racial injustice. We’re girls, so we’re usually seen as meek and naive, so we were rarely respected as leaders of an organization; we’re teens, so we were almost never taken seriously (we’re told to wait for “the real world” so often that we’ve started wondering if the adults in our lives are actually hinting that the Matrix is real and this world is fake). Because of all these so-called “weaknesses,” we at first thought that we couldn’t be the bold activists we aspired to be. It wasn’t until, with the help of so many incredible mentors across the country, we had a mindshift where we decided to transform this “weaknesses” into strengths that things changed for us. We realized that, as Asian Americans, we have a certain privilege we can leverage in this conversation about race and also a lot of undiscussed oppression and discrimination that we can use our platform to shine a light on.

As 18 year olds, we’ve used our unheard student perspective to design a more effective racial literacy for educators — a tool made by students for students.

Why is storytelling such an important aspect of racial literacy?

Three out of four white people don’t have a single friend of color. The only way we’re going to get people to care about people who look different than them is to humanize them through storytelling. If we can get diverse voices to racially homogenous and divided communities across the country, then maybe we can change people’s hearts.

What has helped your success with this project?

It took us a while to realize that we can ask for help. Our mentors have 100% made this work possible. Whether it was the 50 people who hosted us across the country, the fellow student activists who we learn and grow from every day, the random strangers we tapped on the shoulder to interview and who 4 years later still answer every email we send, or our parents, we definitely could not have done this alone.

What research and fact-finding practices can you share with Smart Girls? ​

For quantitative and academic research: Find credible sources!! Read books by well-respected experts on race — ​The New Jim Crow, ​The Fire Next Time, ​Race Matters are all some we love. The textbook we read over and over again in high school: ​Racial Domination, Racial Progress. Lots of the research we know and believe are from books like these. For qualitative: BELIEVE PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEN THEY TELL YOU THEIR STORIES.

For people who care about racial literacy, what should they be paying closer attention to as midterm elections are approaching?

SIMPLE: MAKE RACIAL JUSTICE A PRIORITY. It is IMPORTANT what your representatives think about race, and what solutions they believe in. If you care about racial literacy, MAKE IT KNOWN what you believe in. Make sure people of color are getting to vote and are not disenfranchised. And, obviously, vote!!!

How can people reading this step up and get involved? What is your call to action to co-create a new, shared American culture that values every citizen? ​

Learn to look at the world through a justice lens. Look at your friends, walk through your hometown, scroll through pictures of CEOs… and notice the impact of race. Find out what, find out why. Read. Listen. Gain that consciousness, and we hope that you’ll begin to care about how all these injustices in our world must be changed. Then, brainstorm how you can leverage your skills and resources and identities… to make a dent in that world. (Also, go to our website .)

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.