Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Content Warning: The stories in this collection explore issues of racism, anti-gay bias, sexual assault, mental health, and suicide.

Raven is a 17-year-old girl living in Portland. Each summer, she attends a summer camp for girls of color in the Portland area, first as a camper and now as a counselor. Raven’s father left her and her mother when she was seven.

The first day of camp, she sees her father’s daughter, Brooke, that he had 10 years ago when Raven’s parents split up. Raven notes that she is one of the only girls there capable of paying full tuition. As Brooke waves to Raven, Raven ignores her.

Over the next few days, Raven witnesses Brooke being bullied, first at lunch, then at the school’s talent competition. Raven contemplates intervening—considering how she should both as a counselor and to be a good person—but instead hesitates, allowing other counselors to do so instead.

The last night of camp, the counselors tell the campers a ghost story about a monster in the woods. When Brooke tells another camper, Mercy, how she is not afraid, Mercy tells her she should be since her weight won’t allow her to outrun the monster, as the girls laugh and make fun of her.