Watch Us Rise Quotes

“I don't even know if I agree with all the classics anyway, especially considering that the canon, whatever that means, was created by white men, who published other white men, and basically kept women and people of color out of the conversation as long as possible.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“I wonder why girls with bodies like mine can't even model the clothes that are made for us.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“I walk over to the plus size section, wondering why my sizes have to be in a special section of the store and not mixed in with the other sizes. There is a definite divide, as if a shirt with a 3X tag will contaminate the other clothes. I look through the clothes-there's not much to choose from. Just two racks compared to a whole store full of options for thinner girls.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“Something is always coming and going in this city. There is always something being born, something dying. We walk under scaffolding while our city is under repair – always. Maybe we are all like that, always a work in progress, always complete and lacking at the same time.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“And in class you tried to make me feel like I need to fix my body in order to get a leading role in a play. But my body isn’t broken. I am not beautiful in spite of being big. I’m beautiful because I’m big.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“I look down at the shirts and see that Jasmine has laid one out all the tags on the women’s sizes. “You didn’t even think about me, which means you didn’t consider anyone who doesn’t fit into the standard sizes, which is messed up.” She whispers the last part so Leidy doesn’t hear us arguing.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“I read the ad again: Rubies and Jeans Plus: Because every girl deserves to look beautiful. I think about the word “deserves” and wonder what they mean by it. How about: I am beautiful. The way I am. For a moment – just a moment – I think about taking out my black Sharpie marker and rewriting the statement:
Because every girl is beautiful.
Because every body is beautiful.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“Not finding what you’re looking for? We’ve got a bigger selection of plus size options online. Free return if it doesn’t fit.” She gives me a sympathetic look and walks away.
Online? Why can’t I try on the clothes here in the store? Why are these two racks hidden in the way back of the store?”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“I did not pretend to be princess, in my make-believe I was queen.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“What hurts is the disgust in their voice the visceral fear in their tone, like gaining weight would be the absolute worst thing to happen to them.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“Chelsea, if I spoke up every time someone at this school said a micro-aggression against me, I’d always be saying something. Sometimes for my own sanity, it’s just better to walk away.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“A woman is not a receptacle. My mother said that tonight. She said a woman is not a safety deposit box, not a safe you keep your stuff in. She is not a grocery cart. When you put the key back in, a quarter doesn’t pop out.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“Advice to Myself
from Chelsea to Chelsea Be reckless when it matters most. Messy incomplete. Belly laugh. Love language. Be butterfly stroke in a pool of freestylers. Fast & loose. You don’t need all the right moves all the time. You just need limbs wild. Be equator. Lava. Ocean floor, the neon of plankton. Be unexpected. The rope they lower to save the other bodies. Be your whole body. Every hiccup & out of place. Elastic girl. Be stretch moldable. Be funk flexible. Free fashionable. Go on. Be hair natural. Try & do anything, woman. What brave acts like on your hips. Be cocky at school. Have a fresh mouth. Don’t let them tell you what’s prim & proper. Not your ladylike. Don’t be their ladylike. Their dress-up girl. Not their pretty. Don’t be their bottled. Saturated. Dyed. Squeezed. SPANXed. Be gilded. Gold. Papyrus. A parakeet’s balk & flaunt. Show up uninvited. Know what naked feels like. Get the sweetness. Be the woman you love. Be tight rope & expanse. Stay hungry. Be a mouth that needs to get fed. Ask for it. Stay alert—lively—alive & unfettered. Full on it all. Say yes when it matters. Be dragonfish. Set all the fires. Be all the woman they warned you against being. Be her anyway.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“community organizing"... The real work is in the neighborhoods and homes. You have to talk to people and get to know them-it's all about building relationships and getting to know people...”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise

“You know, ‘ladies’ is old fashioned, Mr. Smith. I like to use ‘womyn’, spelled ‘W-O-M-Y-N’, so I don’t have to include the word ‘man’”. I smile, and a few of the other girls clap.”
― Renée Watson, Watch Us Rise