New Anti Racism Picture Books

New Anti Racism Picture Books

Right after we dropped my stash of returnables off at our
favorite local redemption center Diane and I stopped off at the
library to return books. When she indicated that she was in no big
hurry I started browsing and hit pay dirt: three fine anti racist
pictures books, hot off the press.

Although I've heard about Kwanzaa plenty since it was created in
1966, I never really grasped its meaning until I read Ibi Zoboi's The
People Remember. In musical verse, powerfully teamed up with Loveis
Wise's bold illustrations, it pairs the history of Blacks in America,
from slavery through Black Lives Matter, with Kwanzaa's seven pillars.
It's a marriage that empowers both to practically leap from the page
and into the readers' mind, soul, and heart.
"the people grew weary of
the low-hanging strange fruit--
lynched fathers and mothers,
sons and daughters--
cut from those mighty tree branches..."
The section built around nia (purpose) reminds readers that
Blacks sent to fight in the World Wars also had battles to fight in
their own country with "white-hooded strangers" terrorizing and
legions being lynched and that the fight for justice mobilized
everyday people under powerful leadership.
"Here was another chance
at freedom, at justice,
as the people remember
that still, like dust, they rise."
Kuumba (Creativity) is celebrated with a pantheon of musicians and
writers who made people get up and dance or sit down and think.
When I think of people who are white like me reading this book I
have hope and fear. My hope is that we will grow more aware of the
resiliance and strength with which Blacks from era to era faced and
fought the evils of personal and systemic racism. I fear that we
will commercialize this holiday to death like we do Mothers' and
Fathers' days.
I hope Zoboi is prolific as a writer. She beautifully combines
a unique and engaging voice with a range few authors reach.

"An angry mob with flaming sticks burned my family's brand-new
house.
Their broken minds and evil hearts were so afraid of Black
progress. The police made no arrests. My family moved away."
Author Alice Faye Duncan and illustrator Keturah A. Bobo have
beautifully teamed up to introduce younger readers to an amazing Black
activist with an important mission and message with their Opal Lee and
What It Means to Be Free.
Opal Lee was born into Jim Crow Texas. Whites only and colored
only signs abounded. Her beloved Forest Park Zoo was whites only
except for one day a year. When she was twelve a mob burned down her
family's home. That fire kindled a flame within her.
Convinced that "If we don't remember what we have been through,
our nation is doomed to repeat it," she spearheaded a movement to make
Juneteenth a national holiday. For four years in her nineties she
walked across America collecting signatures for her petition.
She has a reminder for the many people who think that now that
we've elected a Black president we're beyond all that racial stuff.
"None of us are free until we're all free, and we aren't free yet."

Does the name Elijah Cummings ring a bell? If it doesn't don't
feel bad. I only just made this dedicated Congressman's acquaintance
through Carole Boston Weatherford's The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The
North Star of Equal Justice.
Cummings' sharecropper parents moved to Maryland to escape the
brutality they had witnessed in their native South Carolina. They
raised seven children in a house so small the children had to go to
the library to do homework. Although the family was poor, they shared
with others in need. They brought their children up to value education.
Cummings' vocation was evident early in life. When he was
eleven he protested the segregation of a city swimming pool. He
realized that the many working class Black kids in his neighborhood
who were ending up in reform school were kids in need of decent legal
representation. But when he told his school guidance counselor of his
plan to become a lawyer, she disrespected his dreams.
So how did he succeed? Why is he aluded to as the North Star of
Equal Justice? The book holds the fascinating answers.

On a purrrsonal note, my spring break is going great. Tuesday I was
able to read outside for the first time this year. I love outside
reading. I also made a really great apple pie for supper desert.
Today I went on the bus to Orono because they have what Veazie lacks--
places to go and people to see--to motivate me to walk. I stopped in
at the library and browsed at the thrift shop.
I also have a major piece of news which I am going to share next week
so I can first deliver it in person on campus first. (Jules)
I haz her all week. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all the volunteers who run the Orono
Thrift Shop, creating an affordable boutique out of a community's odds
and ends and using the proceeds to contribute to some pretty important
organizations.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway





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