Best of
Social-Issues

2022

Trayvon: Ten Years Later: A Mother's Essay


Sybrina Fulton - 2022
    While grappling with the ongoing process of making sense of her grief, anger, and cherished memories, she fights every day for justice.In this moving essay, Sybrina imparts to this generation and the next the lessons and wisdom she’s gained in the past ten years—about life, love, and loss; about bad faith; about what changes have and have not occurred; and about the power of her own voice in the gathering storm of a profoundly divided country. Above all, Sybrina knows what it takes to keep moving forward.With a foreword by attorney Ben Crump.

Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American


Wajahat Ali - 2022
    Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago?Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y.Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

A History of Me


Adrea Theodore - 2022
    When the teacher talks about slavery, she can feel all of her classmates staring at her. When they talk about civil rights, she is the one that other kids whisper about on the playground. In those moments, she wants to slip away or seep into the ground; and she wonders, is that all you see when you look at me?What really matters is what she sees when she looks at herself. She is a reflection of the courage, strength, intelligence and creativity that's been passed down from generation to generation through her ancestors.Inspired by the author's daughter's experience in school as well as her own.

Omar Rising


Aisha Saeed - 2022
    He can't wait to experience all the school has to offer, especially science club and hopefully the soccer team; but when he arrives, his hopes are dashed. First-year scholarship students aren't allowed to join clubs or teams - and not only that, they have to earn their keep doing menial chores. At first Omar is dejected - but then he gets angry when he learns something even worse - the school deliberately "weeds out" kids like him by requiring them to get significantly higher grades than kids who can pay tuition, making it nearly impossible for scholarship students to graduate. It's a good thing that in his favorite class, he’s learned the importance of being stubbornly optimistic. So with the help of his tightknit new group of friends - and with the threat of expulsion looming over him - he sets out to do what seems impossible: change a rigged system.

Maizy Chen's Last Chance


Lisa Yee - 2022
    . . until now. Her Mom’s plan is just to stay for a couple weeks, until her grandfather gets better. But plans change, and as Maizy spends more time in Last Chance (where she and her family are the only Asian-Americans) and at The Golden Palace—the restaurant that’s been in her family for generations—she makes some discoveries. For instance: • You can tell a LOT about someone by the way they order food. • And people can surprise you. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in disappointing ways. • And the Golden Palace has Secrets.But the more Maizy discovers, the more questions she has. Like, why are her mom and her grandmother always fighting? Who are the people in the photographs on the office wall? And when she discovers that a beloved family treasure has gone missing—and someone has left a racist note—Maizy decides it’s time find the answers.

Until Forever


Sade Rena - 2022
    If you loved Until Harmony, then you will want to read Until Forever.

Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies


Catherine McNiel - 2022
    So why are so many Christians taught to fear their neighbors? The American church is known as a people who are afraid, who have been nurtured through fear into hatred, and who have moved from hatred to violence--or at least to neglect. This fear, too often lived out boldly in the name of Jesus, is a false religion.God instructs us to welcome strangers. We are not to withhold hospitality or help from anyone in need. So why do we fear strangers, especially those needing hospitality, afraid that their presence may threaten what we have?Jesus taught us to love our enemies. We are to pray for those who actively harm us. Instead, we create enemies in our minds, seeing anyone who thinks, believes, looks, or lives differently from us as dangerous, a threat to our way of living.The Christian community exists to declare and demonstrate God's love and to follow Jesus in practicing love over fear, even in unsafe times and places. It's time to reclaim our brave fear of God and risk transformative love for the sake of our neighbors, the strangers among us, and our enemies.We are people of the Kingdom. Fearing Bravely teaches us that we have nothing to fear. Instead, we can respond to our fear problem with a brave love that emerges from choosing to let our fear of God overcome our fear of everything else.Catherine McNiel writes with conviction, wisely guiding us to recognize our fear and, with God's help, not let it limit us to love courageously all who are among us.

And We Rise


Erica Martin - 2022
    Complete with historical photographs, author’s note, chronology of events, research, and sources.

Wishing Upon the Same Stars


Jacquetta Nammar Feldman - 2022
    But her classmates in Texas are nothing like her friends in the predominantly Arab neighborhood back in Detroit where she grew up. Almost immediately, Yasmeen feels like the odd girl out, and as she faces middle school mean girls and tries to make new friends, she feels more alone than ever before.Then Yasmeen meets her neighbor, Ayelet Cohen, a first-generation Israeli American. As the two girls grow closer, Yasmeen is grateful to know someone who understands what it feels like when your parents' idea of home is half a world away.But when Yasmeen's grandmother moves in after her home in Jerusalem is destroyed, Yasmeen and Ayelet must grapple with how much closer the events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are than they'd realized. As Yasmeen begins to develop her own understandings of home, heritage, and most importantly, herself, can the two girls learn there's more that brings them together than might tear them apart . . . and that peace begins with them?

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now


Jeff Yang - 2022
    And still: Asian America is just getting started. In this intimate, eye-opening, and frequently hilarious guided tour through the pop-cultural touchstones and sociopolitical shifts of the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and beyond, Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Phil Wang chronicle how we’ve arrived at today’s unprecedented diversity of Asian American cultural representation through engaging, interactive graphics (like a step-by-step walk-through of a typical night out in Koreatown...for those who probably won't remember it the day after), charts (how much has yellowface fluctuated decade over decade?), graphic essays from major AAPI artists, exclusive roundtables with Asian American cultural icons, and more, framed by extended insider narratives of each decade by the three co-authors. Rise is an informative, lively, and inclusive celebration of community, and will remain a cultural touchstone for years to come.

Dream, Annie, Dream


Waka T. Brown - 2022
    And at the start of seventh grade, she's channeling that irrepressible hope into becoming the lead in her school play.So when Annie lands an impressive role in the production of The King and I, she's thrilled . . . until she starts to hear grumbles from her mostly white classmates that she only got the part because it's an Asian play with Asian characters. Is this all people see when they see her? Is this the only kind of success they'll let her have--one that they can tear down or use race to belittle?Disheartened but determined, Annie channels her hurt into a new dream: showing everyone what she's made of.Waka T. Brown, author of While I Was Away, delivers an uplifting coming-of-age story about a Japanese American girl's fight to make space for herself in a world that claims to celebrate everyone's differences but doesn't always follow through.

This Last Adventure


Ryan Dalton - 2022
    But after Grandpa is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the confident and adventurous man Archie's known all his life starts disappearing. He's not just losing his memory. He's losing pieces of himself.Archie desperately wants to slow the progression of Grandpa's memory loss. Using Grandpa's old journal entries as inspiration, he creates shared role-playing fantasies with epic quests for them to tackle together–helping Grandpa to live in the present while staying in touch with his fading memories.But there's a limit to the power of the fantasies. And not all the memories recorded in the journal entries are happy. When Archie learns a painful secret about Grandpa's past, he questions everything he thought he knew about his hero. As Grandpa's condition worsens, Archie has to come to terms with the reality of what he's losing and decide what it truly means to live a life worth remembering.THIS LAST ADVENTURE has been described as Big Fish meets Tuesdays with Morrie for kids.

Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote


Alice Faye Duncan - 2022
    Black and White children went to different schools. Jim Crow signs hung high. And while Black hands in Fayette were free to work in the nearby fields as sharecroppers, the same Black hands were barred from casting ballots in public elections. If they dared to vote, they faced threats of violence by the local Ku Klux Klan or White citizens. It wasn't until Black landowners organized registration drives to help Black citizens vote did change begin--but not without White farmers' attempts to prevent it. They violently evicted Black sharecroppers off their land, leaving families stranded and forced to live in tents. White shopkeepers blacklisted these families, refusing to sell them groceries, clothes, and other necessities. But the voiceless did finally speak, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which legally ended voter discrimination.  Perfect for young readers, teachers/librarians, and parents interested in books for kids with themes of:  •  Activism  •  Social justice  •  Civil rights  •  Black history

Between Safe and Real


Dannie M. Olguin - 2022
    With two hungry siblings, an empty fridge, and a violent mother to tip-toe around, Zoe can't slow down enough to catch a breath. When she discovers Mama’s been reading her diary, Zoe realizes she has to stop writing in it. Trouble is, if she stops, Mama’s sure to think she’s hiding something, and will tear through her room like a tornado—again—to find out what. Her solution: write Mama-safe entries in the first diary, while writing her real thoughts in a plain-old composition book.The more entries she makes, the fuzzier the line between safe lies and terrifying truths becomes, and it’s not long before Zoe fears she’s just as unstable as Mama. After all, the apple never falls too far from the tree. If there’s even a shred of truth to her safe journal, then maybe her real journal’s just a hot mess of made-up horrors. When things at home escalate, Zoe must face reality in order to keep herself and siblings safe. But facing reality means taking steps that could shatter her family. Can her friends, Cheryl and Nate, help her understand that love shouldn’t hurt and blood doesn’t make a family?

When Winter Robeson Came


Brenda Woods - 2022
    just as the Watts Riots erupt, in this stirring new novel by Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods.When Eden's cousin Winter comes for a visit, it turns out he's not just there to sightsee. He wants to figure out what happened to his dad, who disappeared ten years earlier from the Watts area of L.A. So the cousins set out to investigate together, and what they discover brings them joy--and heartache. It also opens up a whole new understanding of their world, just as the area they've got their sights on explodes in a clash between the police and the Black residents. For six days Watts is like a war zone, and Eden and Winter become heroes in their own part of the drama. Eden hopes to be a composer someday, and the only way she can describe that summer is a song with an unexpected ending, full of changes in tempo and mood--totally unforgettable.

American Injustice: Inside Stories from the Underbelly of the Criminal Justice System


David S. Rudolf - 2022
    In the past thirty years alone, more than 2,800 innocent American prisoners – their combined sentences surpassing 25,000 years – have been exonerated and freed after being condemned for crimes they did not commit. Terrifyingly, this number represents only a fraction of the actual number of persons wrongfully accused and convicted over the same period. Renowned criminal defense and civil rights attorney David Rudolf has spent decades defending the wrongfully accused. In American Injustice, he draws from his years of experience in the American criminal legal system to shed light on the misconduct that exists at all levels of law enforcement and the tragic consequences that follow in its wake. Tracing these themes through the lens of some of his most important cases – including new details from the Michael Peterson trial made famous in The Staircase – Rudolf takes the reader inside crime scenes to examine forensic evidence left by perpetrators; revisits unsolved murders to detail how and why the true culprits were never prosecuted; reveals how confirmation bias leads police and prosecutors to employ tactics that make wrongful arrests and prosecutions more likely; and exposes how poverty and racism fundamentally distort the system. In American Injustice, Rudolf gives a voice to those who have been the victim of wrongful accusations and shows in the starkest terms the human impact of legal wrongdoing. Effortlessly blending gripping true crime reporting and searing observations on civil rights in America, American Injustice takes readers behind the scenes of a justice system in desperate need of reform.

Tilda Tries Again


Tom Percival - 2022
    Why would she, when her life is great just the way it is? But one day, Tilda's world turns completely UPSIDE DOWN. All of a sudden, everything is topsy-turvy, and nothing feels right. Things that were once easy now seem incredibly challenging. Everything is just so different and hard. Can Tilda discover a way to move forward and embrace all this change? Bold, bright, and empowering, this inspiring story about coping with unexpected changes is perfect for helping children build resilience.The Big Bright Feelings picture book series provides kid-friendly entry points into emotional intelligence topics -- from being true to yourself to dealing with worries, managing anger, and making friends. These topics can be difficult to talk about. But these books act as sensitive and reassuring springboards for conversations about mental and emotional health, positive self-image, building self-confidence, and managing feelings.Read all the books in the Big Bright Feelings series!Ruby Finds a WorryPerfectly NormanRavi's RoarMeesha Makes FriendsTilda Tries Again

Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: what China's Crackdown Reveals about Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere


Mark L. Clifford - 2022
    In preparation for handing the territory over to China in 1997, Deng Xiaoping promised that it would remain highly autonomous for fifty years. An international treaty established a Special Administrative Region (SAR) with a far freer political system than that of Communist China—one with its own currency and government administration, a common-law legal system, and freedoms of press, speech, and religion.But as the halfway mark of the SAR’s lifespan approaches in 2022, it is clear that China has not kept its word. Universal suffrage and free elections have not been instituted, harassment and brutality have become normalized, and activists are being jailed en masse. To make matters worse, a national security law that further crimps Hong Kong’s freedoms has recently been decreed in Beijing. This tragic backslide has dire worldwide implications—as China continues to expand its global influence, Hong Kong serves as a chilling preview of how dissenters could be treated in regions that fall under the emerging superpower’s control.Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World tells the complete story of how a city once famed for protests so peaceful that toddlers joined grandparents in millions-strong rallies became a place where police have fired more than 10,000 rounds of tear gas, rubber bullets and even live ammunition at their neighbors, while pro-government hooligans attack demonstrators in the streets. A Hong Kong resident from 1992 to 2021, author Mark L. Clifford has witnessed this transformation firsthand. As a celebrated publisher and journalist, he has unrivaled access to the full range of the city’s society, from student protestors and political prisoners to aristocrats and senior government officials. A powerful and dramatic mix of history and on-the-ground reporting, this book is the definitive account of one of the most important geopolitical standoffs of our time.

Who Are Your People?


Bakari Sellers - 2022
    Perfect for sharing and gifting.When you meet someone for the first time, they might ask, Who are your people? and Where are you from?Children are shaped by their ancestors, and this book celebrates the village it takes to raise a child.In the vein of I Am Enough and Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, this powerful picture book with beautiful illustrations by Reggie Brown is a joyful recognition of the people and places that help define young readers and adults alike.Don't miss this picture book debut from Bakari Sellers, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country: A Memoir.

Gloria Steinem


Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara - 2022
    Beginning her career as a journalist, her witty and honest articles challenged readers to see the world through her eyes. Following in the footsteps of her suffragist grandmother, she became passionate about feminism and grassroots activism.There was so much work to be done, and Gloria kept working – she became a passionate leader in the women's liberation movement and dedicated her life to brining about change. A spokesperson for an entire generation, to this day Gloria inspires us to keep working for a fairer society – for everyone.This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of this amazing feminist’s life.Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Reconsidering Reparations


Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò - 2022
    Most theorizing about reparations treats it as a social justice project - either rooted in reconciliatory justice focused on making amends in the present; or, they focus on the past, emphasizingrestitution for historical wrongs. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò argues that neither approach is optimal, and advances a different case for reparations - one rooted in a hopeful future that tackles the issue of climate change head on, with distributive justice at its core. This view, which he calls theconstructive view of reparations, argues that reparations should be seen as a future-oriented project engaged in building a better social order; and that the costs of building a more equitable world should be distributed more to those who have inherited the moral liabilities of past injustices.This approach to reparations, as Táíwò shows, has deep and surprising roots in the thought of Black political thinkers such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr, and Nkechi Taifa, as well as mainstream political philosophers like John Rawls, Charles Mills, and Elizabeth Anderson. Táíwò's project has wide implications for our views of justice, racism, the legacy of colonialism, and climate change policy.

Facts and Other Lies: Welcome to the Disinformation Age


Ed Coper - 2022
    A Representative elected to the US Congress on a platform that Democrats are secretly harvesting an anti-aging chemical from the blood of abused children. Angry rioters in furs and horns overrun the Capitol in a bloody carnage of insurrection. The Prime Minister of Australia employing the wife of his friend who fronts a group the FBI has declared terrorists. A global pandemic which, even as they lie dying from it, people refuse to believe exists.Many who sat in shocked disbelief as these events beamed around the world asked the same question: 'How did we get here?' For those rioters, it was the culmination of a journey of online radicalisation that began with the weaponisation of disinformation by their political leaders and outrageously biased 'news' commentators.Facts and Other Lies puts fake news in its historical context and explains how disinformation has fractured society, even threatening democracy itself. It explains why disinformation is so potent and so hard to stop, and what we can do to help prevent its proliferation in Australia - where politicians and shock jocks are already operating from the same dark playbook. It outlines how anyone can defuse disinformation in the home, office or pub, or wherever the deluded gather to spread their nonsense. Be prepared!'This is a timely account of a growing malignancy affecting all modern democracies'Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia'Fascinating and terrifying . . . illuminates so much about humans and social media'Bri Lee, author of Who Gets to Be Smart'Read this book if you want to save democracy'Wayne Swan, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia'Few have mapped our information dystopia more effectively - and entertainingly - than Coper'Bernard Keane, Politics Editor, Crikey'Essential reading for anyone wanting to cut through the nonsense and get to the truth'Eason Jordan, former Chief News Executive, CNN'We live in a world that unfolds at a pace, and with the violent twists and turns in the plot, of a thriller. This book captures the intensity of our politics and connects it to the science of misinformation . . . a great read'Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair in Cognitive Psychology, University of Bristol

Queer Up: An Uplifting Guide to LGBTQ+ Love, Life and Mental Health


Alexis Caught - 2022
    Alongside the author's personal experiences are first-hand stories from notable LGBTQ+ figures, providing a inclusive account of what it means to grow up queer. With chapters on questioning, coming out, friends and family, love, sex, shame, pride and allyship, this is insightful, thoughtful and reassuring book is essential reading for any questioning teen and their allies looking to support them.

Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party


Jetta Grace Martin - 2022
    The secret is this. Knowledge, applied at the right time and place, is more than power. It's magic.That's what the Black Panther Party did. They called up this magic and launched a revolution.In the beginning, it was a story like any other. It could have been yours and it could have been mine. But once it got going, it became more than any one person could have imagined.This is the story of Huey and Bobby. Eldridge and Kathleen. Elaine and Fred and Ericka.This is the story of the committed party members. Their supporters and allies. The Free Breakfast Program and the Ten Point Program. It's about Black nationalism, Black radicalism, about Black people in America.From the authors of the acclaimed book, Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, and introducing new talent Jetta Grace Martin, comes the story of the Panthers for younger readers—meticulously researched, thrillingly told, and filled with incredible photographs throughout.

Like a Diamond in the Sky: Jane Taylor’s Beloved Poem of Wonder and the Stars


Elizabeth Brown - 2022
    Did you ever wonder who wrote that famous verse?In the days when most girls were brought up to run a home, Jane Taylor had a different kind of education in the English countryside, where she was inspired by nature and the stars, and dreamed of becoming a writer. But in the late 1700s, it was not considered proper for women to be writers. Jane and other female poets were shunned, unable to use their own names when published.But Jane did write, and she never forgot her love for the beauty of nature and the glow of stars, or her desire to write for children. Her published poetry became universally known for generations to come: Twinkle, twinkle little star.This lyrical and luminous biography shines a light on the unsung poet who wrote the words of our most enduring lullaby, and features stunning artwork reflecting the world, the stars, and the story behind the poem that we all know so well.

Tell Me Our Story


Anyta Sunday - 2022
    Full-throated, uninhibited, addictive.Soft smiles encouraging him over swing bridges. Hearty chuckles dancing around a ballroom. Wobbly grins. Double-glances. Eyes that brightened the world. His world.From the moment he met David O’Hara, Jonathan started forming a smile of his own.And then O’Hara left.One lingering look.No last goodbye.Seven years later, that laugh again.Full-throated, uninhibited.Addictive.O’Hara. Still all fire and flame, still drawing Jonathan in.And now he wants Jonathan paired with him in a seven-week social influencing challenge.Now, he wants to finish melting his heart…~ ~ ~"Tell Me Our Story" is a second chance, friends-to-lovers gay romance. This is a standalone, no cliffhanger story with HEA.Tropes: second chances bromance, friends to lovers, soul mates, opposites attract, slow burn, sunny and serious, unexpected virgin, forced proximity, one true love, first love / only love, lovers in denial, destined to be together

Home


Tonya K. Lippert - 2022
    But home turned to nowhere and nowhere turned to anywhere. Then somewhere finally came, and finally, always.This lyrical story is timely and thoughtful, depicting the life of two children thrust into homelessness and uncertain housing situations as they move out of their house, to a motel, to a shelter, and finally another more permanent home. Throughout, the duo is challenged by uncomfortable new places and inquiries from strangers, but ultimately, never lose their optimism or determination. They have each other, no matter at home, nowhere, anywhere, or somewhere—always. Includes a poignant Reader's Note on how homelessness affects children and what we can do to help.

Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution


Carl R. Trueman - 2022
    Trueman shows how influences ranging from traditional institutions to technology and pornography moved modern culture toward an era of "expressive individualism." Investigating philosophies from the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, Freud, and the New Left, he outlines the history of Western thought to the distinctly sexual direction of present-day identity politics, providing readers with a clearer understanding of the modern implications of these ideas on religion, free speech, and issues related to personal identity. For fans of Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, this new book offers a more concise presentation and application of some of the most critical topics of our day.

The Marauders: Standing Up to Vigilantes in the American Borderlands


Patrick Strickland - 2022
    In one of the towns profiled, Arivaca, rogue militia members killed a man and his nine-year-old daughter in 2009. In response, the residents organized and spent two years trying to push the new militias out through boycotts and by urging local businesses to ban them. The militias and vigilante groups again raised the stakes, spreading Pizzagate-style conspiracy theories alleging that town residents were complicit in child sex trafficking, prompting fears of vigilante violence.The Marauders flips the standard formula most often applied to stories about immigration and the far right. Too often those stories are told from the perspective of the ones committing the violence. While Strickland doesn’t shy away from exploring those dark themes, the far right are not the protagonists of the book. Rather, the people targeted by hate groups, and the individuals who rose up to stop them in their tracks, are the heroes of this dramatic story.

Calling in Context: Social Location and Vocational Formation


Susan L. Maros - 2022
    Isn't the concept of calling universal? Why wouldn't resources with a biblical perspective on vocation apply to everyone? The reality is that each of us encounters our questions of calling from within a particular context. In this book, Maros explores how various dimensions of social location―including race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, and gender―shape our assumptions and experiences with vocation. Maros helps Christians in the United States in particular see how ideas about calling that emphasize certainty, career paths, and personal achievement arise from cultural priorities that shouldn't go unexamined, such as individualism, productivity, and meritocracy. She explains how unexamined "mental maps" can distort our perspective and refocuses our attention on biblical insights about calling as a lifelong journey. In the process, she helps us find both clarity and encouragement to explore the paths before us. God calls all people, yes―but calling is not a monolithic concept. Filled with numerous stories from Christians in diverse communities, Calling in Context invites anyone exploring questions of calling to find fresh possibilities in their own identity and engagement with God's mission. Reflection questions and Bible study prompts are included throughout.

Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America


Al Sharpton - 2022
    We won’t stop until we change the whole system of justice.”—Rev. Al SharptonWhile the world may know the major names of the Civil Rights movement, there are countless lesser-known heroes fighting the good fight to advance equal justice for all, heeding the call when no one else was listening, often risking their lives and livelihoods in the process.Righteous Troublemakers shines a light on everyday people called to do extraordinary things—like Pauli Murray, whose early work informed Thurgood Marshall’s legal argument for Brown v. Board of Education, Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus months before Rosa Parks did the same, and Gwen Carr, whose private pain in losing her son Eric Garner stoked her public activism against police brutality. Sharpton also illuminates the lives of more widely known individuals, revealing overlooked details, historical connections, and a perspective informed by years of working on the front line of the social justice movement, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the wheels of justice and the individuals who have helped advance its cause.

Even When Your Voice Shakes


Ruby Yayra Goka - 2022
    Her wages will feed her family, help her sisters stay in school, and ensure that her mother won’t have to worry about them. Amerley’s move to Accra isn’t easy, but she soon settles into her new life away from her small village—until she is raped by the son of her employer. Torn between keeping quiet to keep her job and speaking up for herself and for justice, Amerley must decide how to live her truth, and the impact of her choice will be felt through her entire community.Through the life of an ordinary girl from a small country village, Even When Your Voice Shakes exposes the damage wrought by institutionalized misogyny and poverty and reveals how even those who are most disadvantaged are never without their own power.

Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City


Darren Byler - 2022
    He shows that the mass detention of over one million Uyghurs in “reeducation camps” is part of processes of resource extraction in Uyghur lands that have led to what he calls terror capitalism—a configuration of ethnoracialization, surveillance, and mass detention that in this case promotes settler colonialism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the regional capital Ürümchi, Byler shows how media infrastructures, the state’s enforcement of “Chinese” cultural values, and the influx of Han Chinese settlers contribute to Uyghur dispossession and their expulsion from the city. He particularly attends to the experiences of young Uyghur men—who are the primary target of state violence—and how they develop masculinities and homosocial friendships to protect themselves against gendered, ethnoracial, and economic violence. By tracing the political and economic stakes of Uyghur colonization, Byler demonstrates that state-directed capitalist dispossession is coconstructed with a colonial relation of domination.

Let’s Talk About Race in Storytimes


Jessica Anne Bratt - 2022
    But when it comes to talking about race, they often don’t know how or are hesitant to take the first steps. This includes children's librarians, who are taking seriously our profession’s calls for diversity, equity, and inclusion. They already know that popular storytimes can be an effective way to increase community representation and belonging at the library. Incorporating race into storytimes is an ideal way to foster inclusion by normalizing conversations about these issues. This book will help public and school librarians face their own biases, showing them how to have honest discussions with children, their caregivers, and storytime attendees, as well as their colleagues. In this book, you will discoverseveral ready-to-use library storytimes that incorporate racial themes, complete with sample activities and booklists;an anti-oppression framework, based on the author’s own real-world practice, that is customizable for different settings and situations;concrete suggestions for overcoming fears and awkwardness when it comes to talking about race, with advice on practicing new language, making space to connect around appropriate cultural books for read alouds, and evaluating books for storytime;interactive self-reflecting worksheets which explore planning picture book introductions and songs for inclusive storytimes, providing age-appropriate glimpses into history, and suggested affirmations in describing skin tone, hair, and language;advocacy talking points centered on social justice that will encourage discussion with co-workers and other library staff; andguidance on community engagement, relationship building, and intentionally trying to diversify your world in order to truly become an anti-bias practitioner.