Book Review | If You're Going to a March

Rating ⭐⭐1/2

I had high hopes for this one, but ended up being disappointed. It is a very white perspective on what protests look like. It does not address what marches and protests often look like when People of Color are the ones on the front lines. One only needs to look at the obvious differences between what happened when a bunch of backwater hicks stormed into state capitol buildings around the country with their weapons out, threatening governors and attempting to get into Chambers. No officers in riot gear and gas masks there as these white men got in their faces, yelling and screaming. Only face masks to protect from COVID. Yet, one can imagine how very different those scenes would have played out had it been POC, or Black men in particular, doing the exact same thing. In fact, you don't have to imagine it. You can see it by looking at videos and images of the protests and marches that have been going on since George Floyd was murdered by four men on a street in Minneapolis. Protesting and marching does not look the same for People of Color as it does for white people, and unfortunately this book does not address that.

I do appreciate that the illustrator did show a great amount of diversity within the pages. We see families of all colors, in all shapes and sizes, preparing to attend a march. We see families arriving by all modes of transportation, people of all ages and cultures. This diversity continues page after page as the march moves through the streets.

Another major issue I have with the book is how it addresses both the presence of the police and the media also at the march.

"There will be police officers at the march. Their job is to keep people safe."

This line nearly made me want to throw the book across the room. We can argue day and night about good officers vs bad officers but here is the reality: If you have five bad officers who do bad things, and you have five supposedly good officers who look the other way though they themselves do not DO bad things, then you have ten bad officers. That is a fact. And if you read my account of the protests I have attended in recent weeks, it will be glaringly obvious that I had zero fear of my fellow protesters. But I made damn sure I always knew where the officers in our area were, because rubber bullets were constantly shot and people got hit with strays all the time. I feared the officers, NOT my fellow protesters.

"There will be reporters, too. Their job is to tell the truth. If you want to answer their questions, speak in a loud, clear voice."

This is also not true. One must only look to Faux News to see how their coverage of the protests is so blatantly skewed, they are telling out-right lies. I think this statement is far more true on a local level, usually. For the protest I mentioned that I took Eleanor to, along with a good friend and her children, this statement was 100% true. The reporter and her camera crew asked to interview the girls, and it was beautiful to see Eleanor and her BFF holding hands. They are truly a symbol that hate is something that is taught, not something you are born with, because these girls have loved each other since they first met in dance class four years ago. They've known each other more of their life now than not, and it has never once occurred to either of them that they are any different from one another just based on their skin. So many people around us were in tears listening to the girls talk, and it made me feel such pride.

I would obviously not have taken Eleanor to the first protest I attended a few weeks ago, given that the protest the night before had turned very violent with tons of rubber bullets, water bottles, and tear gas flying. I would not have trusted that I could have kept her safe from the tear gas or flash bangs or rubber bullets, because in truth it was the officers who were so unpredictable. Protests and marches can be chaotic though, without the violence, and the author really pushed the narrative of the peaceful protest. While I agree that is a good message to send to kids, I also think it is unreasonable to expect peace at this point looking at it through the lens of the protests for George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks. People of Color HAVE protested peacefully, and nothing has changed. We are still right back here again, the same place we were when Michael Brown was murdered and left in the street for hours.

I recognize that perhaps my own outlook is also still too narrowly focused at this time to appreciate this book in full. There are many things to protest in addition to the murder of Black men by police officers. But that is where the attention is right now, and when I was searching for picture books to add to my #BlackLivesMatter Reading List, this is one that came up over and over.

I appreciated the 'how-to' parts of the book, preparing kiddos for what they will need to bring with them, how to get to and from the march, and also how to conduct themselves around those who disagree with why they are marching. The book never actually says what the protest march is for, but the kids carry signed that say "Speak Up" in rainbow letters, "Do the Math (and Science", "Peace begins with me" and "Hate Has No Home Here". As the protesters march, at one point we see barricades have been put up on a sidewalk and a couple people with frowning faces watching the march go back. Of this the narrators says, "If you see people who disagree, be polite." I think that is also important, but also not always realistic - again especially when thinking about the current protests and marches happening here and around the world in response to the murders of Floyd and Brooks.

I will still read this one to Eleanor, but I will also address each point that I have mentioned above as things that bothered me while reading. I do not want to scare Eleanor away from her budding activism but I also want to be realistic. We have discussed many times what happened to George Floyd and how we are protesting to stop other Black men from being hurt or killed by officers who are supposed to protect the entire community. We've talked about how we see each person, color and all, for who they are as whole people. (Side note: Let's stop with this colorblind bullshit, okay? When you say you don't see another person's color, you are denying seeing part of who they are. Stop it.) We talk about how all colors of skin are beautiful, all cultures have great things to offer our world, and that we will remain on the right side of history, fighting, marching, protesting for justice that has too long been denied.

NetGalley ARC | The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement

I received a free digital ARC from the publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is utterly captivating and I could not put it down.

The author deftly weaves together a beautiful and sweeping narrative of how the House on Henry Street came into being after its founder, Lillian Ward, determined that there had to be a way to help the city's most vulnerable populations in need of the most care and services. It began in March of 1893, when a young girl came to Ward for help, the girl's mother was dying. She'd just given birth, but the doctor had abandoned the woman when she could not pay the fee for his services. It was this pivotal moment when twenty-six year old Lillian Ward, a nurse, decided to act. Through her determination, commitment to the poor, and generous benefactors, she was able to establish the Henry Street Settlement, an organization that still exists to this very day. Along the way we see how the settlement responded during times of crisis - the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic, the rise of violence, drug use, and homelessness in the 70s and 80s, and providing relief during the Great Depression. We also see how the Settlement fought on behalf of those the many they served, including immigrants and the working poor who had very little support.

The book is incredibly well-researched and truly a love letter to this place that has stood the test of time, constantly advocating for those who could not do so for themselves. I knew nothing about these settlement homes prior to reading this, and even have to admit that when I first requested the book I misread the title, substituting tenement for settlement. I am not sure why my brain did that, but it did. So, I was surprised by the content, but yet still engrossed immediately in the story. The idea of creating these settlement homes began in the 1890s and through that decade and the next Progressive-minded folks pushed to create these homes that would become so vital for the neighborhoods surrounding them. The author makes many references to Jane Addams and her founding of Hull House in Chicago, another topic I plan to explore further.

The book is divided into three sections that cover various important points in the life of the settlement. It is difficult to even choose a favorite portion of the book, though I suppose I am a little partial to the early days as Wald and her staff worked tirelessly on behalf of those they served. It is almost baffling to me that something like this could have been founded and thrived in the very late 1800s/early 1900s, yet we cant seem to organize quite on this level or with this ease of access today. This specific settlement house still does, but I mean on this level in other cities. As a teacher I routinely see how fractured so many services are and how many different organizations provide a myriad of services to our students in need. But what the Henry Street house did so perfectly from the start was to manage these services from one main organization. Since then certain services have been turned over to other agencies, but the majority remain with the place where they began. At the time of its funding, Wald and her team focused on four areas in which they could best serve the community: nursing, civic work, social work, and country work. There were arts programs including classes in art mediums like pottery, dance classes, and a theatre that has operated nearly the entire time the settlement has been in existence. The facilities offered (or still offer today) an on-site residence, daycare, access to health care, food, and clothing (including sewing lessons still offered today).

There's still so much more, but I don't know that I can actually do this book justice.

Highly recommended.

Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice

Rating: 5 Stars

Wow. What a book.

I could not put this book down. I read it in a matter of a few hours and was constantly stopping to take notes. For so long I have had to try to explain how it is possible to be both pro-choice and a Christian, and here I can finally explain so articulately, because Dr. Parker has done so.

Dr. Parker did not come to his decision to become an abortion provider over night. It was a long process of evolving for him, into understanding that there is a moral argument to be made for providing women of all ages, races, social classes, religions, and so on a safe space in which they can receive the service of a doctor like Parker - services which are 100% LEGAL in the US. And the shameful state laws being passed, slowly but surely chipping away at Roe v. Wade are trying to ensure that even if abortion is legal, the poorest of the poor and the already-disenfranchised will have no way to access a safe and legal procedure they may desperately need.

The narrative here is thought-provoking, compelling, and helped me understand even better my position on the issue of abortion. I am pro-choice. Always have been, always will be. I can even recall an incident in 4th grade where a boy named Eric and I got into an argument one day during class - we were arguing about abortion, of all things for 4th graders to be arguing about. Looking back, I feel sorry for Ms. LeMay, who must have wondered what she had done wrong in order for this to debate to rage in her classroom. I clearly remember stomping into my aunt and uncle's house after school (Mom worked until 5) and shouting about how this boy said that abortion was murdering babies, and how could anyone even think that because a fetus and a baby were not the same thing?! Deep thoughts for a 4th grader, eh? I still feel as strongly about the issue now as I did then. Women must have, and deserve, to have autonomy over their own bodies.

This is our right.

You will not take it away.

It is our right to decide to have children, or not. To decide when is the right time to become a mother, and when it is not. For some, there is never a right time, and that is okay. Whether or not to have an abortion is not a decision any woman comes to lightly. I can promise you, no pregnant woman wakes up one morning and proclaims, "What a lovely day, think I'll go 'round to the clinic for an abortion after lunch."

Literally, none.

Yet this 100% LEGAL MEDICAL PROCEDURE is so heavily stigmatized, and even women who know they made the right decision for themselves by choosing to terminate a pregnancy, are made to feel ashamed, as though anyone else has the right to judge their life and the things they've been through that brought them to that choice.

As you might surmise, this is a topic I am incredibly passionate about. I will fight tooth and nail until the end of time and do whatever I can to ensure that access to safe and legal abortions are always an option for women. But for a long while now, as I found my way back to my faith after Eleanor was born nearly six years ago, I have had to wrestle with this question, of how I reconcile my belief in a woman's right to control her own body, with being a follower of Christ. Turns out, it is not as difficult as I thought it would be, given the daily barrage of right-leaning politicians who profess that their Christian faith demands they put an end to abortion immediately.

Dr. Parker's word spoke to me in a way that had be constantly wanting to shout, "Exactly!" as I read. He was able to, as a born-again Christian who has since found that Quakerism within the last decade or so, say everything I regularly want to say and articulate these thoughts in a meaningful way that invites people to meet one another where they are at, without judgment, and understand that we each have our own story and path to follow. He firmly believes that the services he provides is something he does in order to care for the women in his many communities - unfortunately due to so many frivolous laws being passed particularly in the Deep South, he travels weekly to several states, including Mississippi where there is exactly one clinic that provides abortion services.

There are so many great passages in the text and even as I type this, I am contemplating if I will just share them and say, "See here, this is important" and be done with it. Or if I will go into detail and make this review even longeeeeerrrrrrrr. Seriously, I had so many notes it was kind of ridiculous. Even so, his words are important and the way in which he came to these beliefs, as a Christian, are so crucial to understanding how one can both BE a Christian and support a woman's right to choose.

Dr. Parker addresses the issues head-on of what he perceives to be one of the unspoken, underlying reasons that some right-leaning politicians are so in favor of ending Roe v. Wade. He does not shy away from the racial implications, particularly when talking about those who use the platform of abortion to claim it is a form of black genocide (a tactic that angers him greatly).

"The truth, I am convinced, is that the people behind the black genocide movement, like Priests for Life and Life Dynamics, do not care about black babies and black women. These are often the same people who want to do away with public housing, I want support state-sponsored child care. Theirs is a feigned concern. they are using women of color as pawns in a much bigger game...Their goal…Is not, actually to curtail abortion services for poor women and women of color. It's to limit access to abortion for all women, including, and especially, white women because the thing all too many white anti-abortion activist really want, which they can't say out loud, is for white women to have more babies, in order to push back against the browning of America..As we march toward the reality that, by 2050, no one racial or ethnic group will hold a proportional majority in this country, racial suicide paranoia bounds. And for the white racist legislators in the red states, nothing is more threatening than a majority-brown country; it strips them of their historic power... (page 164)"

Dr. Parker goes on to add...

"The white people who are still in charge believe that if their women don't start having lots of babies, they - the white patriarchs - are going to become obsolete.

100 years ago, a white politician with the same fear who looked to exert control over female fertility would just say so...Theodore Roosevelt encouraged white women to do their duty and have at least two children, or else contemplate "race suicide." In these times, such a bold articulation of racist values is impossible. Too many of their own women are working and going to school, running businesses. running for political office, and taking birth control pills: any outward pressure on daughters or sisters or wives to have more children would be risable..And so the white men in charge have invented a work-around. They've tied their antipathy toward abortion together with civil rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. They understand that by curtailing abortion for black women they curtail it for white women, too. It's a slight of hand, a misdirection. The way I see it, the attack on abortion rights is nothing less than an effort to put all women back in their place" (page 165).

I don't believe he is wrong about much of this. Controlling women's bodies is ultimately what the anti-abortion movement is about. They certainly do not have the right to call themselves pro-life. Pro-birth, yes. Pro-life, hell no.

I also appreciated Dr. Parker's explanation of his personal beliefs and his professional choices. I feel like this is extremely important, because were he to not do this, it would be easy for someone to try to make a point that he performs abortions with as little regard for the procedure as the woman supposedly using abortions as a method of birth control. (Seriously, do not even get me started on people who actually think this is a thing. An abortion is an invasive and physically uncomfortable/painful procedure. Not at all something that is done without thought.) I especially appreciated his thoughts on how he proceeds if he thinks a woman is there against her will. The world needs so many more providers like Dr. Parker, who truly cares about each woman he treats, and makes sure he is doing his absolute right by each and every one who seeks out his services.

"In keeping with my commitment to abide by the law, I also comply with every TRAP regulation, no matter how unjust or discriminatory I believe it to be. I do this because it's more important to me to provide abortions than to not provide them, and because I understand that my reputation for being an excellent provider of 'safe and legal' abortion is all I have; the minute I resort to guerrilla tactics, I have given away the higher ground" (page 194).

and

"In my work, I abide by the consensus, established by Roe and by medical science, around "viability." According to Roe, the state has a compelling interest to protect the life of a fetus only when it reaches the point where can survive outside the womb with the aid of medical technology. I will not terminate a pregnancy beyond 25 weeks. For a million reasons, this boundary makes sense to me. For one thing, although abortion is very safe, it gets riskier as the gestational age of the fetus increases. I don't feel comfortable assuming that risk-especially if a woman's only rationale for wanting to terminate is her personal preference. I won't do it. If you're 28 weeks and you just don't want to be pregnant, or you just don't want to give birth-that's not an appropriate use of my skills" (page 194).

and

"I also refuse to perform abortions on women who I believe are being coerced. So many factors play into a woman's decision that this can be hard to discern. Every kind of woman winds up on my table, and I don't interrogate the circumstances of their life, because personal details are outside my purview… But at the same time, I do everything I can to explore what for me the central question, which has two parts. First: Have you made this decision yourself? And second: are you resolved about it? A woman is entitled to her own regret, as well as her own inner conflict and moral ambivalence. But I will not do an abortion if I sense that it is not her own desire" (page 195).

and

"When a woman tells me that her boyfriend has threatened to kill her or beat her if she does not terminate, I will refuse to perform her abortion. I have no reason to disbelieve you, I will say. But this is a legal problem, and I am a doctor, not a lawyer and not a police officer. We will help you get into a shelter. We will help you get a restraining order against your boyfriend. If, after you get yourself away from your boyfriend, you find that terminating the pregnancy is something that you want to do, well then, I am here next Wednesday through Friday and the clinic opens at seven in the morning" (page 198).

and

"I am sure of what my job is and what it isn't. I do not perform abortions on women who do not want them. If a mother is threatening to withhold support, or love, or shelter from her pregnant daughter, I will make sure the girl understands what that means for her. It's good for you to know now that if you want to carry this pregnancy forward, you won't have your mother's support. If you want to have this baby, we can figure out ways to get you help. We can help you find a place to live. But it's good for you to know early on that you're on your own. By framing the girl's reality in these terms, she may see her situation differently. She may consider, realistically, how it will be to raise a child on her own as a teenager and she may come to a different decision. Or she may not" (page 199).

Dr. Parker briefly touched on religious groups who support reproductive rights and I found this extremely helpful. It is kind of embarrassing that, at age thirty-six, I did not realize groups like that existed, because I guess I just assumed they didn't. But here he talks about groups that he refers to as "brave and righteous leaders for reproductive rights" who "have been so widely ignored, for decades by the public and press" (page 208). I've spent much of my time since finishing this book seeking out information about said groups, with utter fascination, really.

Dr. Parker's professional choices are not without risks, as he also points out more than once. He refers to the day a fellow provider, Dr. George Tiller, was murdered in his own church as he served that Sunday morning as an usher, and how difficult that was. But on the other hand, Dr. Parker is also quick to point out that while some providers (particularly in the Deep South) go to the lengths of wearing disguises to conceal their identities as they enter the various clinics they work at, that he himself is one of the best disguises of all. While not dismissing the risks entirely, he says, "My best protection is my every day self. I can walk around in plan sight because no one on earth expects a large, bald, black man in sweats and a baseball cap to be a doctor, let alone one of the last abortion doctors in the south" (page 129).

Dr. Parker's sentiments on the current and future laws regulating abortions and providers who can perform this service are crucial. As touched on above, while Roe v. Wade is still the federal law of the land, bit by bit so many states have passed laws that are making it more and more difficult for clinics that provide abortions to remain open. He cites specifics such as mandating that these clinics have hallways wide enough to maneuver a gurney through (despite the fact that clinics have no need for using gurneys), and other requirements that are so obviously meant to cost the clinics so much money in renovations that they simply can not comply, and end up closing as a result of being out of compliance with new and increasingly over-the-top mandates. Another major obstacle revolves around the admitting privileges of doctors who provide abortions. Some states are now requiring a doctor preforming abortions to have admitting privileges at  a hospital in the area. Dr. Parker points out how this, too, is meant to curtail the doctors' abilities to serve patients who need them; many hospitals are unlikely to grant such privileges for a number of reasons and once more we see clinics closing in the areas that often need them most. And also in many cases, even if a clinic is able to comply with all of these demands, it can often be just as difficult for a woman needing an abortion to even get there in the first place.

"Increasingly, limited or no access to abortion is a reality. 89% of US counties have no abortion provider at all; nearly 40% of American women of reproductive age live in these counties. This means on average, a woman has to drive 30 miles to a clinic, more than 50 if she lives in a rural area-and more if she seeks an abortion after 20 weeks" (page 180).

This is not okay. There are a myriad of reasons why a woman might seek an abortion, and not a single one of those reasons is anyone's damn business except the woman making the decision. So when lawmakers very obviously go out of their way to throw up as many obstacles as possible in a woman's path, they are choosing to ignore the pesky little part of the law that says ABORTION IS LEGAL IN ALL FIFTY STATES. Women must band together and fight for our rights of body autonomy, no matter what walk of life we come from, another point that Dr. Parker makes: "When it comes to protecting the right to safe and legal abortion, all women are sisters. A legal threat to abortion access for a poor, African-American woman is a legal threat to a white woman, too. A state wide ban on 20-week abortions affects every woman, no matter what her income or where her kids go to school. It might be easy to look away from the plights of women like those who come to the clinics where I work but if lawmakers succeed in stripping away the rights of poor women to obtain abortions, they will also be quietly but inexorably stripping away all women's rights. Solidarity is the best defense...I have seen the solidarity at work, especially in recovery rooms. After abortions, women are frequently volatile, awash with relief or tearful at the end of a long inner journey. Frequently I have seen two women, virtual strangers, black and white, holding hands across their bed rails, one woman in the midst of her emotional turbulence and the other one helping her through it" (page 182).

There are still so many more passages I feel are hugely important and want to share, but I am also finding that this review has become wildly out of control. I realize that many I quoted were long, but I do sincerely hope that at least one thing here has given you pause to think about your own opinion and perspective. Here I will take my leave, dropping these last couple morsels for you to mull over, as I have done repeatedly since finishing this hugely important text:

"Talking openly about abortion should be something that happens in church, and not suppressed by religious authorities in the interest of preserving their own power. Women should find healing and understanding in church, not stigma and shame" (page 210).

"As a Christian, I feel that it's my job to help offer a counternarrative: that God gave every woman gifts and the agency to realize those gifts, and that nothing about choosing to terminate a pregnancy or to delay childbearing puts a woman outside of God's love" (page 69).

"The earth spun, and with it, this question turned on its head. It became not: is it right for me, as a Christian, to perform abortions? But rather: is it right for me, as a Christian, to refuse to do them?" (page 36).

"The procedure room in an abortion clinic is a sacred as any other space to me, because that's where I am privileged to honor your choice. In this moment, where you need something that I am trained to give you, God is meeting both of us where we are" (page 212).

Highly highly recommended.

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 Stars

I cannot think of a for fitting subtitle than the one for this book. An American Tragedy, indeed, well-deserving all caps, even. This collection of Coates' articles written during President Obama's years in office are a sobering and heart-wrenching look back at a groundbreaking presidency, only to be followed by such a ginormous shit-show that it is hard to believe we are talking about the same America. Sadly, we are.

Prior to this read, I was familiar with Coates' work and had enjoyed several of his articles for The Atlantic, though some of these were still new to me. And truthfully, I am having a very difficult time putting into words all the emotions I felt while reading this one. As a result, this might actually be one of the worst reviews I have ever written because no matter how I try, the words I write don't properly convey how important this book is. I might as well just stand on an actual soapbox on a street corner, banging a drum and shouting at passers-by that they MUST read this book. What I CAN say is that if you are looking for the voice of this generation in regards to writing, speaking, thinking about race, you can stop now; Coates is that voice, that writer, that thinker. Not only are the articles fantastic, but it is the in-between stuff that really pops. Coates prefaces each article with further writing, discussing his frame of mind at the time, what was going on when he penned that particular articles, and his reflections on it now that President Obama's time in office is receding further and further in the rear-view mirror. It is interesting to read of how his writing and thinking evolved over the course of Obama's two terms, and how that impacted him as a whole. You can certainly locate each individual article online, but please trust me when I say your time and money spent on the book would be well worth it. In fact, I wish this would become required reading in high school and beyond - especially two of the most powerful essays in a strong collection of work: "My President Was Black" and "The Case for Reparations". The latter is especially eye-opening, even for those who think they already have a solid grasp on how deeply racism is embedded into every day life in America, even in 2018. ESPECIALLY in 2018. 

In the final essay, the epilogue really to eight years of President Obama, comes Coates' final thoughts entitled, "The First White President". The title alone really makes one stop and think, with Coates providing his thoughts on why the statement is so infuriatingly accurate, and I thoroughly agree with his argument - that trumplethinskin's "entire political existence hinges on" a black president coming before him. he truly won for no other reason than being a white male, it really is that simple. This grossly unqualified candidate lead the way on the birtherism 'movement', and has demanded multiple times to see President Obama's transcripts, because OF COURSE a black man could not really be intelligent enough to attend an Ivy League school (sometimes when I type, I roll my eyes so hard I am worried they will roll right out of my head). If this line of thinking from trump makes you uncomfortable, good. It should. His thoughts, words, and actions are so normalized at this point, I fear we may never recover. 2020 can not come fast enough, and we must do all we can in the Midterm elections to right this ship before we reach the point of no return.

In addition to the aforementioned articles, Coates touches on a number of other topics as well in his selection of work from each year of the Obama presidency. One of my other favorites was a piece on Michelle Obama, her upbringing, and message sent in conjunction with that of her husband's. Also addressed at length is the epidemic of mass incarcerations and the impact that has on Black families - another fantastic piece that is timely and horrifying.

Basically what I am trying to say here is that the collection is superb. Even those articles from the earliest years of the Obama Administration are just as important now as they were then. We are also lucky enough to be able to go back to those articles now, with the knowledge we have gained in the time since they were first written. This brings another dimension to Coates' writing that we should be thankful for. In these articles, as well as the prefaces he has included for each of them, Coates writes in such a persuasive way, yet still allows himself to be completely open and vulnerable. He does not have all the answers, nor does he claim to. But to understand one another and work toward building a better, more inclusive future, his words provide a wonderful starting point - if everyone is will to take those steps and begin that journey.

I highly recommend this book to pretty much any and everyone. The unfortunate part is that those who might need it the most in all likelihood will never pick it up. Therein lies the problem. But the rest of us can and must pick up the slack and keep moving forward.

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

I received a free digital ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 Stars

I have no other way to really sum up the book than this: every single person who has ever had the audacity to say #AllLivesMatter when that is clearly NOT the case in America needs to read this book. They won't, but they should. Let's clear something up right now: No one ever said #BlackLivesMatter MORE, we are saying #BlackLivesMatter also. So please spare me the #AllLivesMatter bullshit because until black lives do, that simply is not true.

Bennett touches on so many issues that are so hugely important right now and will remain so until we can find a way to come together and fix what is wrong with our country. I teach in a school that is predominantly African-American. I teach specifically in a Special Education class for students diagnosed with emotional disturbances. I have nine students and guess how many are African-American males.

I'll give you a second...

Six. SIX. Six, out of NINE.

And with this being my sixth year teaching in this setting, you can imagine how many little black boys have come through my room (though I must also make note that my students are with me for three years. I was a 4-6 room until our district moved 6th grade into the middle schools and last year I became a 3-5 room.) It absolutely terrifies me for these boys I know and care about so deeply, that someday some might be will be looked at the way Trayvon was, or Philando, or Eric, or Freddie, or any of the countless young men who have been murdered because their skin color was deemed dangerous. 

Bennett makes several good points about several related topics, including the NFL as a whole (and the idea that the league is roughly 70% black, yet the "owners" are 100% white), the n-word, his support not only of #BlackLivesMatter, but women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and so on. He also speaks specifically about Kaep and what a complete clusterfuck it is that he is not allowed to play in the NFL.

The book is written very much in a conversational style, and it would be easy to imagine yourself sitting down with Bennett and having a long chat about a whole host of issues we must resolve if we are going to survive as a nation.

Highly recommended.

Book Brag!

WOOOHOOO!

I requested this one ages ago on Edelweiss and did not think I would get approved once the publishing date had come and gone. BUT I finally was approved today! Definitely going to drop everything else I planned to read/write tonight for this one, and I won't even feel one smidge bad about that!

Happy Reading

Sarah