I take my role as an aunt to two nieces very seriously. I want them to grow up to be strong, capable, generous leaders. I never want them to feel stifled by the world, or to find something they love to do and be unable to pursue it because they don’t think it’s available to them. Luckily, they are being raised by parents dedicated to the same thing, with the resources to make it happen. For many parents and children, though, books to encourage their sense of belonging in the world are few and far between. Let’s work to change that!
As I post this, I am spending a Minnesota Conference UCC Ashley Micro-Grant to purchase a whole bunch of new, diverse children’s books for the church. Many of the titles on my wish list come from an amazing list compiled by A Mighty Girl. “75 Books about Extraordinary Black Mighty Girls and Women” . A Mighty Girl put together this list of books because “Too often the stories of African-American women, who historically faced both racial and gender discrimination, have been hidden from many mainstream histories.” The list celebrates Black women in history, the arts, mathematics, science, sports, entertainment, politics, and more. In addition, my wish list contains other books that support our mission for social justice, understanding of diversity, and love of children. Books about folks with autism, physical and mental disabilities, books about immigrants and children of immigrants defining the American dream, books about “the first” to do something heroic or amazing or even ordinary (like voting), books about Kamala and Malala and Lin-Manuel and RBG. I won’t be able to get all of them all at once, but a special donation is kicking off the effort, and the grant is taking us pretty far. If you would like to contribute, see our Amazon wish list. (If you don't want to purchase from Amazon, that's OK -- this just gives you an idea of what we need!) We share our space with Higher Ground Church of God in Christ. During the schooling at home issues of the pandemic, they have come across students being left behind. They have started a mentorship and tutoring program that I imagine will expand once we are able to meet in groups again. They also have connections in the community with young, working families. Their food giveaways have been a Godsend for many during this time of quarantine and economic instability. Love of children and social justice are missions we share with them. Statistically speaking, nationally, about half of children between birth and five years (47.8%) are read to every day by their parents or other family members. According to the Department of Education, the more students read or are read to for fun on their own time and at home, the higher their reading scores, generally. Reading and being read to has an impact that extends beyond just hearing stories. In a study of nearly 100,000 U.S. school children, access to printed materials was the key variable affecting reading acquisition. The number of books in the home correlates significantly with higher reading scores for children. Students who choose what they read and have an informal environment in which to read tend to be more motivated, read more and show greater language and literacy development. Children’s academic successes at ages 9 and 10 can be attributed to the amount of talk they hear from birth through age 3. Books for kids contain 50% more words that children are unlikely to encounter frequently in spoken language. In addition, seeing themselves represented in books helps develop self-esteem. Seeing from other viewpoints opens kids’ eyes to experiences they may never otherwise have. Unfortunately, reading together is an experience that not all children get on a regular basis. Sometimes parents work multiple jobs or odd hours. Many parents do not themselves have a high level of literacy and may be unable or embarrassed to read to their children. Immigrant parents may find it difficult to read in a second (or third) language. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has been amazing at getting books into kids’ hands. If you have children or grandchildren ages 0-5, make sure they’re signed up. Local Central Minnesota registration is through the United Way. Amazing as Dolly is, though, she can’t send dedicated adults to read the books. A future component to incorporate into our library program, then, is read-aloud time! We have many grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles in the Peace UCC congregation, many of whom are retired educators. Would you be interested in reading with some kids once we are able to get together again? Could you be a tutor or mentor if needed? Let me know, and perhaps something will develop. We’re not going to make it for National Read Aloud Day 2021, which was February 3, but it would be fun to at least gather on National Read Aloud Day 2022. If you are in the Central Minnesota area and would like to make that a goal, let me know! **All volunteers who work with children in the Peace United Church of Christ building must read and agree to our Child Safety Policy, linked elsewhere on this site.**
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One thing that has struck me in the weeks leading up to the inauguration of President Biden is the diversity of his Cabinet picks. This may be the first Cabinet in history to accurately reflect “America.” Half are women, half are people of color, and LGBTQ people are openly represented. This diverse group seems deeply committed to a common goal of working to better the lives of Americans. While they will not always be successful, they will be unified in commitment to the Constitution and America’s founding principles.
There are those who think that discussions about representation are harmful, or that talking about multiculturalism or systemic issues somehow creates the problem. Ezra Klein writes in “Why We’re Polarized”: “The alternative to polarization often isn’t consensus but suppression. We don’t argue over the problems we don’t discuss. But we don’t solve them either.” Michael Kimmel, in Privilege: A Reader, states: “To be white, or straight, or male, or middle class is to be simultaneously ubiquitous and invisible. You’re everywhere you look, you’re the standard against which everyone else is measured. You’re like water, like air. People will tell you they went to see a ‘woman doctor’ or they will say they went to see ‘the doctor.’ People will tell you they have a ‘gay colleague’ or they’ll tell you about a colleague. A white person will be happy to tell you about a ‘Black friend,’ but when that same person simply mentions a ‘friend,’ everyone will assume the person is white. Any college course that doesn’t have the word ‘woman’ or ‘gay’ or ‘minority’ in its title is a course about men, heterosexuals, and white people. But we call those courses ‘literature,’ ‘history’ or ‘political science.’” While it would be nice if someday we didn’t need Women’s History Month or Black History Month, we won’t get there if we don’t acknowledge the issues that create a default setting. Is there some moral, religious and cultural singularity that can be called “American?” For too many people, the answer is yes, and that singularity is white US-born Christian man. Perhaps some of the difference is in how we choose to define and interpret words. The same word can be used as insult or compliment, depending on the situation and the intent. We have certainly seen that lately as heated rhetoric has exploded into actual violence. The Capitol was stormed by people carrying flags of the Nazi regime, the Confederacy, and replacing the Stars and Stripes with a TRUMP flag. They have the support of many Christians and even carried “Jesus loves Trump” signs. They consider themselves patriots. Are they “America?” It is still a time of self-examination as individuals and as a country. We have a brand-new opportunity to define what it means to be American. How can we live up to our commitment to the Constitution and ideals? How can we help to create a more perfect union—without the need for it to look or worship or celebrate or speak just like we do? Representation matters, but sometimes that is seen as multiculturalism and has been ridiculed and resisted. In my childhood books and television shows, there were few people of color, and they were rarely in main roles. When authors and TV writers began to add diverse characters, they were often tokens or stereotypes. Some of the early “multicultural” children’s books made sure to put an African-American, a person with a visible disability, an Asian, a girl, etc. into prominent places in the pictures, even when they weren’t discussed in the story. It was almost a mathematical equation that if you put one of each kind of person, it was inclusive. This was not the solution, but it was a start. Today, there is a joyful celebration of diversity in children’s books. Children (and grownup children) can see themselves realistically portrayed as central to the action, no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey. Today’s children have never seen the world with only white characters even though it still takes effort to find diverse examples. They can aspire to anything and see someone who looks like them. The Supreme Court, the White House, the ballet, the lab, even outer space have come to life. We have “discovered” people like Katherine Johnson, the human computer from Hidden Figures, through books and movies. I say discovered, even though they have been there all along. American history is full of heroes and heroines of many colors, religions, cultures, sexual orientations, and more, and celebrating this fact doesn’t seem antithetical to our founders’ dreams and plans. I challenge you to examine your definitions. Look at your unique circumstance. Look at the world around you. During February’s Black History Month and March’s Women’s History Month, learn about a part of American history that you may have missed in school. The Smithsonian, PBS, and the History Channel are places to start. Our young poet laureate Amanda Gorman stated, in her inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb,” that “while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption we feared since its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.” What will our history book say about our choices in 2021? |
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AuthorMichelle Dettmann is the volunteer head librarian for the ABCDLibrary project. Michelle graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, with a degree in Elementary Education and a passion for children's literature and literacy. A lifelong member of the United Church of Christ, she is dedicated to their principles of justice, accessibility, and embrace of diversity. Archives
June 2021
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