Passionate About Books - and Social Justice

Reading in Chilean Recycling Cooperative, November 2007. PHOTO: © MARTA ESCOTET

In this electronics-crazed and time-crunched culture, many people in the US still do read. From our vantage point here at the Myers Center we see increasing reader interest in finding ways forward to a more equitable future.

Each year we celebrate authors and books that speak with great clarity, insight, and creativity about rights and compassionate responsibilities within community. Our 23-year-old center, network, and national reviewer panel identifies recent books that speak to too-often erased histories, too-little heard stories and analyses, and too-scantily noticed strategies for social change.

Who are we? People of all ages (from 13 to 86 years old) living in Massachusetts, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Washington State, Illinois, and Ontario; active in a variety of settings, occupations and avocations; involved in our communities; diverse on all sorts of demographic variables; and all standing tall for rights and responsibilities within our communities and world.

We delight in the serendipity of finding, then promoting, books that deepen public awareness of human realities, vulnerabilities, strengths, complexities, and, most importantly, resiliencies. We are encouraged by the determination of people who recognize that human rights are our responsibility, not just that of our governments.

There are diverse ways to engage people's reading. Each one of the recipients of the Myers Outstanding Book Awards advancing human rights is a stepping stone to engagement, reflection, and new energies for activism for social justice. Read, friends, read!

The Outstanding Books

The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory by Kenny Fries (Carroll & Graf, 2007).

This is a gem of a story describing biological research conducted by Albert Wallace and Charles Darwin on ad-aptation. Interspersed within this are the author's ways of adapting to fibulae missing in both of his legs. Essayist, poet, and Goddard faculty member, Fries has written a truly distinctive philosophical and autobiographical examination of the social and political context of ability/disability.

Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route by Saidiya Hartman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007).

This powerful memoir focuses on the introspections, activities, and discoveries of a US professor spending a year in Ghana. Ms. Hartman wanted to confront the ghosts of slavery in Ghana and in the African American community. Along her journey, she raises the question: which Africans do we mean when we say "African Americans"? "Was it the Africa of royals and great states, or the Africa of disposable commoners? She wrestles with the Ghanaian proverb: "No matter how big a stranger's eyes, they cannot see." The subtleties in insight emerge with both sadness and a radiance that shines through loss.

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, edited by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (South End Press 2007).

In 2004, organizers, progressive academics, and practitioners gathered to think strategically about funding sources for social change. Important questions: How did the 501c3 non-profit model come to drive, or squelch, forward movement toward social justice? Are there viable alternatives to current foundation funding patterns?

The Secret Powers of Naming by Sara Littlecrow-Russell (University of Arizona Press, 2006).

This is a stunning collection of poems written by an Anishanaabe (Ojibway)-Naxi Metis lawyer, mediator, and political activist. Ms. Littlecrow-Russell's strong voice is truth-telling prophetic as she writes about poverty, death, racism, patriarchy, legal travesties, nationalist sentiments, and other issues related to Native American life. Ms. Littlecrow-Russell is a single mother, playwright, and anti-racism organizer who fills her poems with humor. She witnesses, holding out hope for the survival of the spirit and restoration of her community.

Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations by Tina Lopes & Barb Thomas (Between The Lines, 2006).

This hands-on book by a Canadian team can help readers build fairness and equity into their workplaces. Ms. Lopes and Ms. Thomas bring us into various consulting situations (public agencies, unions, etc.) where we see concrete examples of problems as well as opportunities to move racial equity forward. With thoughtful finesse, they have developed discussion materials grounded in real-life contexts. The authors encourage us to act more intentionally in our ordinary moments.

Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America by Micki McElya (Harvard University Press, 2007).

Did you know that in 1923 the US Senate voted to approve "the erection as a gift to the people of the US [of a] monument in memory of the faithful colored mammies of the South"? The Senators did so immediately after (once again) defeating a bill opposing lynching. The House of Representatives tabled the bill, acknowledging voluminous opposition to the monument over the years from Black community groups and allies. McElya, a historian at the University of Alabama, also describes white women's minstrelsy and other vehicles of white primacy.

Anti-Arab Racism in the US by Steven Salaita (Pluto Press, 2006).

Through an investigation of speeches, articles, and other media produced by the government and various other sources, Mr. Salaita deftly demonstrates the connections between powerful and pithy statements like President Bush's "you are with us or against us" and the current realities faced by Arab-Americans.

Mr. Salaita, a professor at Virginia Tech University, compellingly demonstrates the depths of anti-Arab racism in legislation and pronouncements across the spectrum: from neo-conservatives to liberals and progressives.

Getting It: A Novel by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster, 2006).

Written for teens, this is a story of a Mexican American boy going through the minefield of high school friendships, dating, sexuality, the divorce of his parents, and homophobia. The reader follows Carlos as he searches for a way to deal with his tangled emotions and burgeoning sexuality. In an attempt to impress a popular girl, Carlos enlists the make-over help of Sal, the cool guy who is the only out gay student in the school. In return for Sal's help, Carlos agrees to help start a gay-straight alliance at their school. Their relationship is a catalyst for a great many changes, both external and internal, in Carlos' life.

The Cost of Privilege: Taking on the System of White Supremacy and Racism by Chip Smith (Camino Press, 2007).

This long-time social justice advocate makes explicit the groundings of white supremacy throughout an accessible history of the United States. Mr. Smith starts with the creation of the "white race" over three centuries ago, then leads the reader through imperialism, slavery, and the national oppression of many peoples. Cutting to the quick, he analyses the interconnections of race, gender, and class, and the missed opportunities for greater equity at various points along the development of the colonies and nation. The call to organizers for a broad united front is compelling.

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington (Doubleday, 2006).

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson subjected hundreds of his slaves to an untested smallpox vaccine? Ms. Washington, a journalist, medical ethicist, and former medical social worker, documents many involuntary, non-therapeutic experiments on African-Americans by medical researchers. Throughout, Washington draws connections between past experiments and current health care disparities.