Parable of the Brown Girl

December 23, 2019
In this illuminating work, chaplain Adams (The Misinterpreted Gospel of Singleness) shares stories of girls and women of color she met while working in a residential treatment facility for mental health and behavioral issues, focusing on how her subjects cope with injustices and insecurities. Setting up each chapter as a “parable” of one girl and a main struggle she faces, readers first meet Deborah, a nine-year-old with divorced parents who tells Adams: “Why did God make me a warrior when I’m really just weak?” The exchange prompts Adams to ruminate on the need for women to appear strong. Elsewhere, 19-year-old Leah learns that “God never intended for us to see people as less or as something negative, something other. We are created in God’s image and likeness”; 16-year-old Mary confronts issues of body-image, with Adams explaining how hypersexualization was never God’s intention; and 17-year-old Nimi unpacks the complexity of identities, considering what it means to be black in America as opposed to other countries around the world. In the final portrait, 17-year-old Ebony explores the experience of being too black for the white community and too white for the black community. Though directed toward Christians, these profound profiles will be eye-opening for any reader.

Starred review from February 1, 2020

Minister and advocate Adams, creator of the Becoming Conference, notes that Jesus did his best teaching using the parables. The author then wonders about those parables with young brown girls at their center. Adams reminds us that, similar to the protagonists of the parables of Jesus, brown girls represent all girls. In this slim narrative, Adams is viciously critical of the myth of the strong black woman; a trope that normalizes the pervasive mistreatment of black women since, the myth infers, they are tough enough to rescue themselves. Adams uses anecdotal and personal experience to demonstrate that these stereotypes and labels often lead to young women rarely asking for help. Profound insights are offered throughout this work, interweaving theological paradoxes within historical Christianity, including those in which weakness is considered a strength and the poor and hungry are the blessed. VERDICT Adams is a keen observer of the difficult life stage of adolescence, and her words will provide support to young girls and all who work with this population.--Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic Seminary Lib., Pittsburgh

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