we are not yet equal

eye-opening read that will jolt you

Having been a person who enjoys reading history, I believed I had a realistic and reasonable view on the timeline of race in America. There was so much information in this book that I didn't know - and, be still my librarian heart, it has citations! Despite its heavy research, the book is a flowing, accessible read which means really anyone can pick it up and get something out of it.

Having a narrative timeline connecting the events to each other was really helpful in getting my brain to process everything and develop a more rounded mindset. I may not always personally agree with things the author poses as cause and effect, purposeful vs incidental, etc. However, just getting the chance to have the information and how it let to the current mindset presented to me was an experience I am very glad to have had.

I understand more now that the history as I learned it is not history as it was carried out. Freedom in policy does not mean freedom in every day life and attitudes. It hasn't changed as much as we would like to think it has and making the actual movement to equality is going to result in EVERYONE digging deeper into themselves, admitting and re-training themselves regarding personal prejudices, and a society that consciously works towards those goals.

I'll leave you with a particularly haunting thought from the epilogue of the book. It's what has kept me thinking about this book long after finishing it. The author says, "Imagine if, instead of continually refighting the Civil War, we had actually moved on to rebuilding" What a statement! What would our country look like if policy had become attitudes and reality for racial equality?

What could our country look like in 50 years if we decided to start right now?

"We are not yet equal" is a valuable book to read. I recommend it to everyone, but especially teens who are getting ready to enter adulthood. You are our best hope for an amazing, truly equal future!

What's on the back?

(The book's description from Goodreads)

Carol Anderson's White Rage took the world by storm, landing on the New York Times bestseller list and best book of the year lists from New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Chicago Review of Books. It launched her as an in-demand commentator on contemporary race issues for national print and television media and garnered her an invitation to speak to the Democratic Congressional Caucus. This compelling young adult adaptation brings her ideas to a new audience.

When America achieves milestones of progress toward full and equal black participation in democracy, the systemic response is a consistent racist backlash that rolls back those wins. We Are Not Yet Equal examines five of these moments: The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was greeted with Jim Crow laws; the promise of new opportunities in the North during the Great Migration was limited when blacks were physically blocked from moving away from the South; the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was met with the shutting down of public schools throughout the South; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 led to laws that disenfranchised millions of African American voters and a War on Drugs that disproportionally targeted blacks; and the election of President Obama led to an outburst of violence including the death of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri as well as the election of Donald Trump.

This YA adaptation will be written in an approachable narrative style that provides teen readers with additional context to these historic moments, photographs and archival images, and additional backmatter and resources for teens.

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