Ace of Spades

“I know no good comes from comparing what I have to what they have, but seeing all that money and privilege, and having none, hurts. I try to convince myself that being a scholarship kid doesn’t matter, that I shouldn’t care.”

Devon Richards comes from a very different world than the rest of his peers at Niveus. He is poor and Black, and he does not have access to the privileges that his classmates are afforded by their wealth and family history. Despite how hard he tries to convince himself that his differences do not matter, he feels the effects of Anti-Black Racism deeply.

“Even though I know I shouldn’t care, it annoys me that when girls know what they want and how they’re going to get it, they’re seen as cocky. But guys who know what they want? They’re confident or strong.”

While Chiamaka Adebayo has grown up with wealth, she has always had to deal with her own specific Intersections of Identity. Being Black and a girl, she experiences both racism and sexism and notices the differences in the ways that boys and girls are treated. She is frustrated that her confidence and success are seen as cockiness rather than the byproduct of all her hard work and ambition.

“Perhaps if hierarchies weren’t so important and people weren’t constantly trying to take me down, maybe I’d be more trusting of people, and Ava and I would be more than just two girls using each other to survive high school.”

Chiamaka sees all of her friendships at Niveus as transactional. Although she likes Ava and finds her fun to be around, she distrusts her and sees her both as competition and as a tool to climb the social hierarchies of their school. Her straightforward pragmatism in this regard represents her attempts to work within a prejudiced system and force it to work in her favor despite the many social injustices that she endures.