Indigenous Nations in Nonfiction

In 2021, the National Council of Teachers of English published Reading and Teaching with Diverse Nonfiction Children's Books: Representations and Possibilities. Edited by Thomas Crisp, Suzanne M. Knezek, and Roberta Price Gardner, it includes a chapter I wrote with Betsy McEntarffer that draws heavily from Simon Ortiz's The People Shall Continue. 

Betsy is a retired white librarian. I met her years ago, online, before she retired. I don't remember how, exactly, but she was doing terrific work on her library's efforts to be mindful of diversity in the collection. And so, we talked by email for years. When I was invited to write a chapter for nonfiction book, I asked her to work with me on it. The book came out in November of 2021. 

In 2016, Simon Ortiz (Acoma) invited me to give a talk in his lecture series at Arizona State University. I met him a long time ago and had been talking about his children's book The People Shall Continue in talks I gave here and there. He has been a source of strength and guidance for Native people -- through his writings but also with his advocacy. I was deeply honored by his invitation.  He follows what I do in children's literature. 

What he writes about in The People Shall Continue is the heart of the chapter Betsy and I wrote. Our chapter is "Indigenous Nations in Nonfiction." We came up with a set of guidelines that we call An Indigenous Peoples' Framework for Evaluating Nonfiction. One of the challenges for us all is a lack of time. Often we want a quick answer to a question but when we are trying to expand what we know about a people unlike ourselves, quick answers are not enough. In our chapter we provide some background information that helps you strengthen your critical lens. 

A mainstream default is to think of Native peoples as a cultural group. That is true, but the vital difference is that we are the original peoples of this land currently called North America. We are not "the first Americans." This land was called something else before it was called "America." When Europeans came here, there was conflict but they also engaged in treaties with us. 

Treaties don't happen between cultural groups. They happen between nations. Or, more specifically, between leaders of those nations. That, for me, is a starting place to understanding who we are. And so, I emphasize that we are nations. Sovereign nations. It is far more complicated that that but I think it is important to start with that idea. The word, nation, is in The People Shall Continue. As far as I know, it is the first time a children's book has that word in it. 

The word "people" is in the book title. Some of you may not notice it and to some of you it might seem unimportant---but it is deeply significant! Think about books you've read about us. Do you remember "people" in it? Or do you remember "Indian" or a similar word (Native American, etc.). Now--what image comes to your mind when you think about "people" and when you think "Indian." Different, right? The "Indian" is likely a stereotypical image and it is also likely an adult male or a group of adult males attacking some white pioneers that are depicted as courageous for venturing out onto "the frontier" or "the wilderness." I believe Simon used the word "people" to help you see us--not as aggressors but as mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. The word "people" shifts the lens, significantly. 

With The People Shall Continue as our guide, our framework uses Simon's words to help you develop understandings that will help you evaluate a work of non-fiction. I think the content of our framework applies to fiction, too. In addition to the words "people" and "nation" there are nine additional points that we invite you to consider. I hope you're able to get a copy of Reading and Teaching with Diverse Nonfiction Children's Books: Representations and Possibilities. Request one at your library. I think you'll see that the book has many other excellent chapters, and perhaps, you may buy a copy for yourself. 

Update: Jan 5, 2022, 6:30 AM

You can get the book directly from NCTE: https://store.ncte.org/book/reading-and-teaching-diverse-nonfiction-childrens-books-representations-and-possibilities 

"What will they say..." Or, Master Narratives of Smiling Slaves and Smiling Indians

Eds. Note: Please scroll to the bottom of this post to see links to discussions of A Birthday Cake for George Washington. The links are in two sets. The first is to items upon the release of the book. The second set is to items following Scholastic's decision to withdraw the book. 

Back in November or December, I started to hear that people in children's literature were wondering what we (by we, I mean people who objected to the treatment of slavery in A Fine Dessert) would say about the smiling slaves in a book due out this year. That book, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, is out now.

It felt, then and now, too, like the people who think A Fine Dessert is ok were waiting to pounce on us. The line of reasoning is this: if the smiling slaves in A Fine Dessert were not ok, then, the smiling slaves in A Birthday Cake for George can't be ok, either. It seemed--and seems--that a test is being put forth. If we don't slam A Birthday Cake, then, our critiques of A Fine Dessert can be ignored.

That situation is disgusting.

A predominantly white institution filled with predominantly white people with hundreds of years of power to determine what gets published is waiting to pounce on people of color if they don't pounce on other people of color.

I ordered A Birthday Cake for George today. I'll study it. I may--or I may not--write about it.

What I want to focus on right now is power and the investment in that white narrative of the US and its history.

Smiling slaves in picture books that, in some way, depict slavery are a parallel to the smiling Indians in picture books set in colonial periods. Those smiles sell. They tell kids things weren't all that bad for those who lived in slavery or those whose communities were being attacked and decimated by those who wanted their land--in many instances--so they could turn those lands into plantations of... smiling slaves.

People in the US are so determined to ignore the ugly history of the US that they churn out narratives that give kids a rosy picture of US history.

Some of you may recall a post here a few years ago, written by a 5th grade girl named Taylor: "Do you mean all those Thanksgiving worksheets we had to color every year with all those smiling Indians were wrong?"

I took a quick look this morning. It was easy to find smiling Indians in picture books for young children. Here's covers of two recent books:

That expectation that we have to throw the team that did A Cake for George Washington under the bus is (saying again) disgusting. Do Native and POC mess up? Yes, we do. We're human beings. Do we want Native and POC who create children's books to do right by our histories? Of course.

The fact is, we're peoples who've been through hell, and survived. Persisted. Indeed, we've thrived in spite of all that got--and gets--thrown our way time and time again.

In whatever ways we choose to write or speak about A Cake for George Washington, I think we'll be doing so from a space of care for each other, because publishing (and Hollywood, too) aren't all that welcoming of the things we want to give to children. Native and POC are, collectively, at a disadvantage. We face difficult decisions at every turn. Native actors need exposure so they can build profiles that give them power to impact what they do the next time, and what those behind them can do, too. Native writers and POC are in that same position. The stakes are high--no matter what one decides to do. Those stakes aren't necessarily the same for white actors, writers, and illustrators.

One of the most important children's books I've read is Simon Ortiz's The People Shall Continue. It is about working together so that we all continue, as people who care about each other. With that in mind, I think the ways that we respond and write about A Cake for George Washington may disappoint those who are waiting for our responses.

Note (Jan 9, 2016): I've been compiling links to discussions of A Fine Dessert and now, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, here:
https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2015/10/not-recommended-fine-dessert-by-emily.html

Or, you can go directly to them as listed here:

• Jan 4, 2016. "Smiling Slaves in a Post-A Fine Dessert World", by Vicky Smith at Kirkus
• Jan 6, 2016. "What Will They Say" by Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children's Literature
• Jan 6, 2016. "A proud slice of history." by Andrea Davis Pinkney at On Our Minds (Scholastic blog)
• Jan 8, 2016. "On the Depiction of Slavery in Picture Books" by Nathalie Mvondo at Multiculturalism Rocks
• Jan 13, 2016. "Book Review: A Birthday Cake for George Washington" by Edith Campbell at Crazy QuiltEdi
• Jan 13, 2016. "So Scholastic is publishing..." by @LeslieMac on Twitter
• Jan 14, 2016. "The First Bite: Slicing Through A Birthday Cake to Reveal Layers of Truth" by Ramin Ganeshram (author of book) at CBC Diversity. 
• Jan 14, 2016. "Enslaved Africans of George Washington Depicted as 'Happy and Joyful' by Zellie Imani in The Atlanta Blackstar
• Jan 15, 2016. Scholastic's "Response on a Birthday Cake for George Washington" at the Scholastic blog, On Our Minds.
• Jan 15, 2016. "NOT Recommended: A Birthday Cake for George Washington" by Allyson Criner Brown at Teaching for Change.  
• Jan 15, 2016. Scholastic's "Response on A Birthday Cake for George Washington" at the Scholastic blog, On Our Minds. 

In an unprecedented move, Scholastic released a statement that they are withdrawing the book from distribution. The statement was released on Sunday, January 17. Here's the first paragraph of the statement:

Scholastic is announcing today that we are stopping the distribution of the book entitled A Birthday Cake for George Washington, by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, and will accept all returns. While we have great respect for the integrity and scholarship of the author, illustrator, and editor, we believe that, without more historical background on the evils of slavery than this book for younger children can provide, the book may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves and therefore should be withdrawn.

Below are links to items specific to their decision. I am placing Ebony Elizabeth Thomas's Storify in a larger font because I believe it is the single most important response to #SlaveryWithASmile. Today (Jan 22) I am inserting Freeman Ng's page-by-page synopsis at the top of the set of links for those who wish to begin their reading with more information about the contents of the book.

Page-by-page synopsis with screen captures, of A Birthday Cake for George Washington, by Freeman Ng.

• Jan 17, 2016. "New statement about the picture book 'A Birthday Cake for George Washington'" at the Scholastic blog, On Our Minds. 
• Jan 17, 2016. "Recalled" by Edi Campbell at Crazy QuiltEdi
• Jan 17, 2016. Daniel Jose Older's tweets (his was a key voice in the discussions of A Fine Dessert) 

• Jan 18, 2016. "Children's Literature About Slavery: The Struggle Continues" by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, at Storify. 

• Jan 18, 2016. "Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Let's Have Some Cake" by Elizabeth Bird at School Library Journal.
• Jan 18, 2016. "A Bumpy Ride" by Roger Sutton at Horn Book. 
• Jan 18, 2016. "Smiling Slaves at Storytime" by Paula Young Lee at Salon.
• Jan 18, 2016. "Under Pressure, Scholastic Recalls Racist Children's Book" by Deborah Menkart, at Huffington Post.
• Jan 18, 2016. "A bumpy ride" by Roger Sutton at Read Roger/Horn Book
• Jan 18, 2016. "Scholastic pulls children's book showing George Washington's slaves smiling." CBC Radio's interview of Edi Campbell. 
• Jan 18, 2016. "Scholastic Pulls Children's Book For the Way it Depicts Slaves" by Sara Jerde at Talking Points Memo.
• Jan 18, 2016. "Scholastic Inc. Removes "A Birthday Cake for George Washington" from Shelves by Jennifer Baker at Forbes. 
• Jan 19, 2016. "No Text is Sacred" by Megan Schliesman at Reading While White. 
• Jan 19, 2016. "What happens when children's books fail to confront the complexity of slavery?" by Michael W. Twitty at The Guardian
• Jan 19, 2016. "Steve Sheinkin! Also, when history is 'sanitized' for your protection" by Adrienne Russell and Aaron Barnhart at The Actually Podcast 
• Jan 19, 2016. "Early Literacy and NOT Teaching the 'Birthday Cake' Book," a Storify by Atena Educator
• Jan 22, 2016. "Controversial Picture Books Struggle to Help Children Understand Slavery." by Eyder Peralta at NPR's All Things Considered (features Alison Criner Brown, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Matt de la Pena).
• Jan 22, 2016. "#SlaveryWithASmile" podcast on the Ferguson Response Network; guests include Mikki Kendall, Roni Dean-Burren, Edith Campbell, and Allyson Criner Brown. 
• Jan 22, 2016. "It's Not Censorship" Storify by the Zinn Education Project, comprised primarily of Daniel José Older's responses to joint statement from the National Coalition of Censorship, the PEN American Center, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. 
• Jan 22, 2016. "Take the cake." by Jamie LaRue at the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom blog. 
• Jan 23, 2016. "On Censorship and Slavery." Storify by Daniel José Older. 
• Jan 23, 2016. Updates to "A Birthday Cake for George Washington." Storify by @LeslieMac of the National Ferguson Response Network. 
• Jan 25, 2016. "Statement from Scholastic on Claim of Self-Censorship by Advocacy Groups" at the Scholastic website. 
• Jan 25, 2016. "Whips AND Chains" by Roger Sutton at Horn Book's Read Roger blog.
• Jan 26, 2016. "Dear Scholastic: Given Your Statement about Standards..." by Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children's Literature.
• Jan 26, 216. "Have you been following the "A Birthday Cake for George Washington" Controversy? by Lin Oliver, Executive Director of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. 
• Jan 29, 2016. "The real censorship in children's books: smiling slaves is just the half of it" by Daniel José Older at The Guardian. 
• Jan 31, 2016. "Wrestling with a Birthday Cake for George Washington as a Mother and a Librarian." by Karen Jensen at School Library Journal.

• Feb 8, 2016. "We Will Continue to Raise Our Voices: Survival, Slavery, Censorship" by Daniel José Older at School Library Journal. 
• Feb 8, 2016. "You Don't Show the Sweet Without the Bitter" by Sarah Hannah Gómez at School Library Journal.
• Feb 8, 2016. "So People Disagree. Is This a Problem?" by Joan Bertin at School Library Journal. 
• Feb 9, 2016. "The Dangers of Self-Censorship" by Chris Finan at the American Booksellers Association. 
• Feb 11, 2016. "Why the Banning of 'A Birthday Cake for George Washington' Really Matters" by Ramin Ganeshram at Huffington Post
• Feb 11, 2016. "#WeNeedDiverseCritics: My Response to Children's Literature Stakeholders' Refusal to Take Critique" a Storify by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
• Feb 11, 2016. Leslie Mac's video on Facebook, rebutting Ganeshram's article at Huffington Post.

_____

The book is no longer available at Amazon. See the last line in this screen capture, taken at 3:12 PM on January 18, 2016.

Around 4:00 PM on January 19, 2016, the price of the book on Amazon got a bit inflated. It went away pretty quickly. I doubt it sold. Someone at Amazon must have... removed the private seller's account.

Julie Flett Depicts Debbie Reese in TEACHING TOLERANCE

Some weeks ago, Dave Constantin at Teaching Tolerance got in touch with me for an article that came out yesterday: Rewriting History--For the Better. They wanted art for the article and got in touch with Julie Flett, who read it and wrote to me with an idea.

She wanted to show someone reading to children, and thought she'd like to show ME reading to children. I was speechless. And of course, I was thrilled! I love her work.

Julie asked me for photos of me reading to kids. The only photo I have is one of me reading to our daughter when she was a baby. Here's that photo (if you're wondering about the book, we're looking at illustrations in a children's literature textbook).

I sent her more recent photos, too. As we exchanged email about the art she was working on, she asked about a book that I'd like to be reading in the art, and I chose Simon Ortiz's The People Shall Continue. Permissions to use that worked out beautifully. Here's a screenshot of a portion of the article, and Julie's illustration of me:

I'm humbled, and delighted, and excited... a flood of emotions are racing through me! Thank you, Julie! This is a gift that I'll treasure always.

I've written about Julie's work several times and am pleased as can be to be in her portfolio.

Read the article in Teaching Tolerance, and order Julie's books for your home, classroom or library collection:

• We All Count: A Book of Cree Numbers
• Wild Berries
• Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak Iii Swer/Owls See Clearly at Night
• Little You (written by Richard Van Camp)

Debbie Reese (me!) on CUNY's INDEPENDENT SOURCES

Finally had a chance to watch the segment that CUNY's Independent Sources asked me to do with them about children's books and Thanksgiving. My belly is always in knots when I do something like this. But! The people I worked with there are terrific. Thanks, Nicole and Zyphus! I think it turned out great and hope AICL's readers will take a few minutes to watch/share it, and of course, get the books I recommend!

Scroll down to see the video. Here's some screen captures of it. I'm sharing them because THEY LOOK SO COOL!

And here's the video:

Some thoughts about Native American Month and Thanksgiving

In the opening chapter of Eric Gansworth's If I Ever Get Our Of Here (2013, Arthur A. Levine Books), the main character, Lewis, is walking home. The time of year is August.  Lewis lives on the Tuscarora Reservation. Here's what Lewis is thinking:

As I turned the corner at Dog Street, where I lived, I could see my old elementary school. The teachers would be in their classrooms now, decorating bulletin boards with WELCOME TO THE 1975-1976 SCHOOL YEAR! in big construction-paper letters. They were going to be puzzled by the fact that the United States Bicentennial Celebration wasn't exactly a reservation priority, since we'd been here for a lot longer than two hundred years.

That puzzlement is what today's post is about. Lewis's people identify with a tribal nation that has been here far longer than the nation we know as the United States of America. I think it fair to say that the US marks two moments of historical significance. One is its independence on July 4, 1776. But Independence Day is preceded by "the first Thanksgiving" in 1621. (Set aside time to read and study What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving: The Wampanoag Side of the Tale.)

In schools across the country, Native peoples appear in the curriculum at specific times of the year. Like this month. November. Thanksgiving.

Coincidentally (?), November is Native American Month. I suspect November may have been chosen because that is the month when the US celebrates Thanksgiving. As such, I think it seemed (to someone) to be the ideal month for Americans to "reflect on the profound ways the First Americans have shaped our country's character and culture." That phrase is in the opening line of President Obama's 2014 Presidential Proclamation designating this as National Native American Heritage Month. The first president to proclaim November as Native American Month was George H. W. Bush, in 1990 (see the full list of proclamations here).

People mean well. They have good intentions. But even President Obama's opening remark indicates a framework that doesn't work. Are Native peoples "the First Americans?" I know a good many Native people who would say they're citizens of their tribal nation first and foremost, and I've read that Native leaders who fought the U.S. in the 1800s wouldn't call themselves Americans at all.

A fact: 

Native Nations pre-date the 

United States and all its holidays. 

Our timelines, in other words, don't start at 1621 or 1776, or the year at which any given state in the US celebrates its statehood.

President Obama is right. Native peoples did shape the country's character and culture. Watch this video from Vision Maker Media. It has terrific information about how the Founding Fathers were guided by, and turned to, the Haudenosaunee.

So here we are, a few weeks away from Thanksgiving, in a month designated as one in which US citizens are invited to "work to build a world where all people are valued and no child ever has to wonder if he or she has a place in our society." That is another phrase in President Obama's proclamation. In it, he also talks about sovereignty.

I want librarians, teachers, parents, writers... everyone, really, to move away from talking about Native peoples in the past tense context of Thanksgiving. I want everyone to move away from talking about us only in November.

Buy and share the books I recommend below year-round. Doing that conveys the respect and inclusion that everyone in the U.S. should have as a given. Not an exception, but as a given. Gansworth's If I Ever Get Out of Here and the ones I discuss below are among my favorite books.

Every people has a creation story. Not every person within a group believes in those creation stories, but I think most people respect those stories and the people who hold them as truths.

Simon J. Ortiz's The People Shall Continue starts with Native creation stories (plural because there are over 500 federally recognized Native Nations in the U.S., with tremendous difference in language, location, spirituality, and material culture) and moves through contact with Europeans, wars, treaties, capitalism, and the need for peoples to unite against forces that can destroy the humanity in all of us. Published in 1977, 1988 and again in 1994 by Children's Book Press, this picture book is no longer in print. Used copies, however, are available online, and I highly recommend it for children and adults, too. It offers a lot to think about. Ortiz is a member of Acoma Pueblo, in New Mexico.

Believe it or not, a lot of people express surprise to learn that we are still here. People think we were all killed or died of disease... gone from the face of the earth. Some people think we are still here, but that to be "real" Indians, we have to live like we did hundreds of years ago.

Picture books like Cynthia Leitich Smith's Jingle Dancer (2000, Morrow Junior Books) push against those ideas. The protagonist is Jenna, a Muscogee Creek girl who is going to do the Jingle Dance for the first time at an upcoming powwow. The story of Jenna getting ready reflects what happens in Native communities when a young child is going to dance for the first time. Everyone helps. The cover shows Jenna at the powwow. Inside you'll find her walking down a tree-lined street as she visits friends and family members. At one point she feels a bit overwhelmed at all the work she needs to do to be ready, but her Great Aunt Sis tells her a traditional story about not giving up. Smith is enrolled with the Muscogee Creek Nation.

Native spiritualities are misrepresented as pagan and mystic, and rather than seen as religions with their own integrity, are cast as superstitions of primitive people.

Tim Tingle's How I Became A Ghost (2013, RoadRunner Press) bats down those two ideas beautifully. His middle-grade novel opens with these words on the first page: "Chapter 1: Talking Ghost, Choctaw Nation, Mississippi, 1830." Bam! Spirituality is there from the start. Not in a mystic way. It is an IS. A matter of fact. And nationhood, too! Right from the start.

This is a story about the Choctaw Trail of Tears, told from the vantage point of Isaac, a ten year old boy. Given its topic, it could be a very raw story, but Tingle's storytelling voice and humor (yes, humor) keep the focus of the story on the humanity of all the people involved. Tingle is enrolled with the Choctaw Nation and is working on a sequel to How I Became A Ghost. 

I'll close with a board book that features a Native language. In the U.S. and Canada, government policy was to 'kill the Indian and save the man' in boarding schools run by churches or by the government. Kids were forced to attend those boarding schools (starting in the 1800s) and were punished and beaten for speaking their own languages. The direct result was that many Native languages were lost. Today there are language revitalization programs in which elders who still speak their language are teaching it. In some places, language remained strong.

We All Count (2014, Native Northwest) is a board book for toddlers who are learning to count in English, but in Cree, too. Written and illustrated by Julie Flett, who is Cree Metis (First Nations in Canada), each page is beautifully illustrated, with the Cree word for each numeral written in a large font that complements the page itself.

Get those books! Order them from your local bookstore, and ask your librarian to get them, too. There are a great many that I could write about here, but instead, I'll direct you to my page of links to Best Books lists. Check out my gallery of Native Artists and Illustrators, too. Learn their names. Look for their books. And if you want to learn a bit more about sovereignty, read We Are Not People of Color.

To date: Most popular page at American Indians in Children's Literature...

On August 8, 2010, I created a video using Google's "Search Story" program. Since then, it has become the most popular page on my site, and, it appears on a lot of other sites, too.  I'm reposting it here today.





The books I featured are:

The People Shall Continue, by Simon Ortiz. I chose that because that book embodies our perseverance (by our, I mean indigenous people) in the face of a 400+ year history of warfare. It is a perseverance that includes all peoples who stand together in the face of adversity and persecution.

Jingle Dancer, by Cynthia Leitich Smith. This is second in my line-up because in the text and illustrations, readers can see the joy and vibrancy of our present-day lives---a joy and vibrancy I feel when I'm home at Nambe, dancing or helping my daughter or my nieces and nephews get ready to dance.

Hidden Roots, by Joseph Bruchac was next because in it, readers get a powerful look at just one of those moments in history when laws were passed to get rid of us.... this one was sterilization programs in Vermont in the 1930s.  Note from Debbie in Jan of 2024: I no longer recommend Bruchac's books. For details, see: Is Joseph Bruchac really Abenaki?

Last is Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich.  In this, the first of several books about Omakayas, a young Ojibwe girl, readers gain a Native perspective on the effects of Europeans moving on to homelands of Native peoples. Unlike the way that Laura Ingalls Wilder portrayed 'other' to her characters, Erdrich doesn't dehumanize other to the characters in Birchbark House.

The soundtrack I used was one of a small set of options. The music has that excitement I feel when I'm reading and writing about books that I cherish.  I'm happy to know its getting a lot of traffic, and I hope it is helping people find my site, and increasing their ability to look critically when selecting children's books.

Simon Ortiz's THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE

"The People looked around them and they saw Black People, Chicano People, Asian People, many White People and others who were kept poor by American wealth and power.

The People saw that these People who were not rich and powerful shared a common life with them.

The People realized they must share their history with them."

What you've just read is an except from The People Shall Continue, a poem written by Simon Ortiz. His poem was published as a picture book in 1977. If you read American Indian poetry, you are likely familiar with his work. He is from Acquemeh (Acoma) Pueblo, and "The People" are the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Ortiz begins The People Shall Continue with Creation. Not Genesis, but Creation, as viewed by several different Indian tribes. From the opening pages of his book, children learn that there is more than one way to view Creation. And they learn about diversity in lifestyle, diversity that is dependent on place.

As the story continues, Ortiz tells us that "something unusual began to happen." That something is the arrival of what he calls "strange men" who came "seeking treasures and slaves." This happened to the People, everywhere. He tells us about resistance as he recounts the many ways in which the People persevered in the face of government efforts to stop us from being who we were and are.

His book, in short, offers a history of American Indians.

Here we are, nearly 30 years after the publication of his book, and the rich and powerful continue to cause suffering.

The title of Ortiz's book THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE helps me when I read the news each day and learn of yet another incident in which the rich and powerful denigrate people of color. This morning I read about a parody of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" written by students at Tufts. The re-written song is "Oh Come All Ye Black Folk." It takes aim at affirmative action, but also, specifically, at 52 African American freshmen at Tufts, who, it is suggested, are there regardless of D's and F's. For more on this, Inside Higher Ed has the story I read.

As noted in an earlier post, racial tensions seem to be on the rise on college campuses across the country. A student told me last week that over Thanksgiving break, she overheard students at a bar talking about their "Trail of Beers" party.

A comment to my post about Philbrick's book suggested that on this blog, I "doth protest too much." That individual is not paying attention. The pile of ugliness is huge and it is everywhere.

And so I will protest, and, THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE.

The People Shall Continue, written by Simon Ortiz, illustrated by Sharol Graves, was published in 1977 by Children's Book Press.