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Reading Recommendations from Mikki Kendall

Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism, joined us on June 9th for an event presented in partnership with Meyer Memorial Trust and the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. During her conversation with Shadiin Garcia, Kendall was asked about books she would recommendation for young readers, educators, and anyone hoping to further their understanding of racial justice work. Her recommendations are below.


They Called Us Enemy
by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, & Steve Scott

From PRH: In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten “relocation centers,” hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.

They Called Us Enemy is Takei’s firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the terrors and small joys of childhood in the shadow of legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s tested faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do?

Order your copy of They Called Us Enemy from an indie bookstore:
Powell’s Books | Broadway Books | Green Bean Books | Bookshop


March
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell

From PRH: A groundbreaking graphic-novel memoir by a living legend of the civil rights movement, created by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Order your copy of March from an indie bookstore:
Powell’s Books | Broadway Books | Green Bean Books | Third Eye Books


The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas

From HarperCollins: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

Order your copy of The Hate U Give from an indie bookstore:
Powell’s Books | Broadway Books | Green Bean Books | Third Eye Books


Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World
edited by Kelly Jensen

From Workman: Have you ever wanted to be a superheroine? Join a fandom? Create the perfect empowering playlist? Understand exactly what it means to be a feminist in the twenty-first century? You’ve come to the right place.

Forty-four writers, dancers, actors, and artists contribute essays, lists, poems, comics, and illustrations about everything from body positivity to romance to gender identity to intersectionality to the greatest girl friendships in fiction. Together, they share diverse perspectives on and insights into what feminism means and what it looks like. Come on in, turn the pages, and be inspired to find your own path to feminism.

Order your copy of Here We Are from an indie bookstore:
Powell’s Books | Broadway Books | Green Bean Books | Bookshop


“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

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