Dear Martin by Nic Stone
2018
Weight: 6. 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in Lending Library
Harriet bought me Dear Martin as a surprise, and I am glad she did. It is a young adult book about racism, being a teenager, being a black teenager among white teenagers, and police shootings. It is important that we have books like these for young adults. Young people are seeing young black men being killed by police in the news. Black teenagers are in between being kids and adults, but they are so often seen as adults by authority figures and not just adults, but also as a threat just by being in a random place (their home/the sidewalk/the train station/the car/etc) at the wrong time (a time where someone with power is feeling scared or angry).
Today, I watched "When They See Us." I think I have written about the Central Park Five here before. It is a story that never gets less heartbreaking and, honestly, just gets worse the more you know. The people who made this series did a great job. For any white people who cannot see black teenagers as children, you should watch this and do not look away. I do not even have children but, if you do, can we please all just open our hearts to what it would feel like to be the parents of these boys? For everyone else, the siblings, friends, girlfriends. Whiteness has been constructed. There is no going back. We can only go forward. We do not want to keep ruining lives and embracing an embarrassing and incredibly cruel history or acting like it did not happen. That helps no one. We have got to do the hard work.
2018
Weight: 6. 4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in Lending Library
Harriet bought me Dear Martin as a surprise, and I am glad she did. It is a young adult book about racism, being a teenager, being a black teenager among white teenagers, and police shootings. It is important that we have books like these for young adults. Young people are seeing young black men being killed by police in the news. Black teenagers are in between being kids and adults, but they are so often seen as adults by authority figures and not just adults, but also as a threat just by being in a random place (their home/the sidewalk/the train station/the car/etc) at the wrong time (a time where someone with power is feeling scared or angry).
Today, I watched "When They See Us." I think I have written about the Central Park Five here before. It is a story that never gets less heartbreaking and, honestly, just gets worse the more you know. The people who made this series did a great job. For any white people who cannot see black teenagers as children, you should watch this and do not look away. I do not even have children but, if you do, can we please all just open our hearts to what it would feel like to be the parents of these boys? For everyone else, the siblings, friends, girlfriends. Whiteness has been constructed. There is no going back. We can only go forward. We do not want to keep ruining lives and embracing an embarrassing and incredibly cruel history or acting like it did not happen. That helps no one. We have got to do the hard work.
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