Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages

I must write today. I am so discouraged. I’m trying to process the incredible events that started one week ago with a man’s unjustified death and has returned us to the riots of 1968. Messages from those who recall Martin Luther King Jr.’s words from that time are the ones I must listen to. “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” I suggest that first we must have respect for each individual. My historical fiction Freedom Lessons has five beliefs or lessons I have embedded in the book. Here is the first:

Treat others as you would like to be treated. Speak to others with respect. Listen with empathy. The simplicity of the Golden Rule is to help your neighbors. Treat your family with kindness. Imagine how others would want to be treated. Walk in their shoes. As members of the black community in this story Frank, Evelyn, and Annie Mae practiced this rule every day. Frank deferred to his mother’s expectations of him even as he wanted to strike out at the unfair consequences of the school integration. Annie Mae realized that Colleen didn’t understand that the library trips would be misunderstood. Evelyn agreed to enlighten this white teacher. “Do unto others” was embedded in Colleen’s upbringing yet practicing the Golden Rule clashed with the unwritten rules she wasn’t familiar with. 

I believe that what we learn as children or as students will impact how we interact with others throughout our lives. Gram’s Book Club was created to encourage books of diversity for readers, to create empathy, to understand “others”. WE MUST LEARN FROM THE PRESENT AND THE PAST. HERE IS AN AMAZING RESOURCE LIST! THANK YOU DR. NICOLE COOKE!