A Dialogue on Race

We have received many responses from publisher Jason Low's letter responding to Attorney General Eric Holder's speech on race and the International Reading Association's What's Hot for 2009 Survey. Read the letter, check out the responses, and let us know what you think.

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Dear Readers,

Lately, the world has given us so much to think about!

On February 18, 2009, Eric Holder, the new Attorney General, was sworn in. This is not usually headline news, but the nation's new top lawman went on to give the media some newsworthy morsels, including allegedly accusing Americans of being "a nation of cowards" on matters of race. Although people should judge for themselves, it's easy to accept the media's spin, after they've finished slicing and dicing the speech and serving it up with a steaming side of controversy. But hold your fire! Holder's speech was more than 2,000 words long, and when you read it in its entirety—and I highly recommend that you do—I think you will find it both thoughtful and truthful. Race is a scary thing to talk about. Most people are reluctant to intentionally initiate conversations that could be uncomfortable or spiral out of control due to a misunderstanding. Since race is still a taboo subject, people do not get much practice talking about it and never become more knowledgeable about the subject or adept at talking about it, so the comfort level never rises.

On the same day as Holder's speech, the International Reading Association (IRA) released its annual What's Hot for 2009 survey. The survey interviews literacy leaders and asks them which teaching strategies are hot, and which are not. I'm troubled about this because multicultural literature has "not been hot" since 1997, although it has be categorized as "should be hot" for years. If we were to draw a parallel between Eric Holder's speech on race and IRA's What's Hot survey, we would arrive at the same conclusion: we should be talking about race, but we are afraid to do so.

Many of the fears and prejudices we hold stem from our upbringing. It is difficult to unlearn what we were taught from an early age. But things can be different for our children. Dialogues about race have to happen early and often so our children's futures will diverge from our past. Talk is an important starting point, but along with these dialogues must come action. Good teaching and good parenting are about being consistent in what you say and do. Are your own friends of different races or cultural backgrounds? Do you read about and have books about people different from yourself in your home? Do you listen to music from around the world? Do you speak, or are you learning to speak, a language other than your primary one? What kinds of food do you enjoy on a weekly basis? Being inclusive is about living inclusively every day of our lives. Our children are watching, and they will determine what role diversity will have in their lives by watching how we have made it a part of ours.

Jason Low
Publisher

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Your Responses

I personally appreciate . . . your thoughtful, honest Letter to Readers in the March edition of the Lee & Low E-mail Newsletter. I just returned to the office after a 3-month family leave upon the adoption of my baby daughter from South Korea (she just turned 1 on Tuesday!). My husband and I are striving to create a community that naturally accepts and celebrates transracial and transcultural families and I applaud you and your team for the essential books that you publish that help us reach this goal. There are so many families like my own who would love to see more books that portray our families doing normal, everyday things - books in which adoption is not the central theme, but rather titles that simply celebrate the daily routines of families that are created through adoption.

Thank you for all that YOU do for all of our children - and for all of our families.

All best and have a wonderful weekend,

Shawn Brommer
South Central Library System

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Thank you for your letter on race. It is just wonderful.
Keep up your good work!

Enrique Sanchez
Illustrator, Abuela's Weave, Amelia's Road, Confetti: Poems for Children, and When This World Was Mew

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I am a Literacy teacher for 28 years and one of your authors. I am writing in response to your recent email about what out children should be learning about race from parents and from our schools. I am happy to read your most astute commentary and wholeheartedly agree with you. I recently renewed my love of American Sign Language and am a student once again. I have taught it to my public school 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and they have enbraced it voraciously. I have taken them to visit students at St. Joseph's School for the Deaf to interact with them. What an experience!

Believe me, that broke down some barriers. I think I will write about it (smile)!!

You are so right when you observed that race (and handicaps) is still a touchy subject and shouldn't be. I see it often in our minority children who may get angry and call each other names. There is a line in one of author Shel Silverstein's books that says, we all look the same when you "turn off the lights."

I often read that to my class and have a long discussion on its interpretation.

I thank you for this email and will pass it on to many of my colleagues.

Mary Dixon Lake

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Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!!!!
How courageous of you in these tight times to tie these two themes together and speak out, calling IRA to task on their refusal to take a more proactive stand to promote multicultural literature.

As they say in Spanish: Impresionante!!!!!!!

Oralia Graza de Cortes
Co-Founder, Pura Belpré Award

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That was AWESOME!

Wow. Very well said, Jason.

Awesome.

Jesse Joshua Watson
Illustrator of Chess Rumble and I and I Bob Marley

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Your piece is right on! My experiences have reflected the attitudes that are at the core of the race problems in America as described by our new Attorney General. Too bad most people only heard the "coward" part of his speech. We need a national discussion on the race issue without the "gotcha" media hype. If I can be of any help in addressing this issue in an intelligent, sensitive way, please count me in. Forum? Dialog? Essays? Discussion groups? Whatever.
Best to all of you at Lee and Low.
Joyfully,
Pat and Fred McKissack, Sr.

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At church we continue to reflect upon our next steps on the topic of Race. Jason makes a unique point in response to Attorney General Eric Holder's recent remark that Americans are reluctant to talk about Race. Perhaps some of Jason's suggestions and Eric Holder's observations will resonate with us as we make plans for the coming months. Although Jason's examples are about families and children, he makes me feel proud of what we're doing on many levels in our ministries. And yet, as Jason and Eric Holder remind us—we also have a long way to go.

Ginny Moore Kruse
Former Director of the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

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Jason Low is the CEO of a respected publishing company that has been publishing titles for children reflecting life experiences of a diversity of children for years. Lee and Low continues to win recognition for its works, including but not limited to the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. In his career as a publisher, Jason is drawing his line in the sand, as must we all at some times in our lives, if we want to be true to ourselves. Thank you, Jason, for this beacon!

Satia Orange
Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), American Library Association (ALA)

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Thank you for your thoughtful comments and link to Eric Holder's full speech which, like so many others, I had not read in its entirety.
I appreciate your pushing me to do that.

Kathy Isaacs

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You are absolutely right. I grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan. So I was lucky to experience different cultures one apartment away from my own. As I have grown and lived in many areas around the U.S., it is amazing the lack of interaction communities have with other cultures.

It is very important for cultures to shine through the constant bombardment of a singular culture. I think it is inevitable that this discussion happens wether folks like it or not. Let the mistakes be made because these things can and do allow dialogue.

Best,
Michael

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Thank you, my friend! This is such an important issue and I, too, cheered Eric Holder's courage and integrity for speaking up as he did.

Here's another thought— I believe we are thinking about "multiculturalism" the wrong way, as if it were something other, something to the side of the mainstream. In truth multiculturalism IS the mainstream. It means true inclusion of all of our cultural perspectives, not just a focus on those who have been excluded in the past. There's room in the circle for us all. The circle just gets bigger.

Peace,

Joseph Bruchac
Author of Bowman's Store, Buffalo Song, Crazy Horse's Vision, and
Jim Thorpe's Bright Path

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Tell us what you think

Write to Jason at publisher@leeandlow.com with your thoughts on Eric Holder's speech, IRA's What's Hot 2009 Survey, and the way Americans deal with - or ignore - the issue of race.

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