PASSIONATE ABOUT BOOKS - AND ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE!
THE 2007 GUSTAVUS MYERS CENTER OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARDS ADVANCING HUMAN RIGHTS

December 10^th, 2007 - Boston, MA

In this electronics-crazed and time-crunched culture, many people in the US still do read. Yes, US reading patterns have changed as the National Endowment for the Arts fall report points out, yet from our vantage point here at the Myers Center we see increasing reader interest in finding ways forward to a more equitable future.

Each Human Rights Day in December we celebrate authors and books that speak with great clarity, insight and creativity about rights and compassionate responsibilities within community. Our 23-year old center, network and national reviewer panel identifies recent books that speak to too-often erased histories, too-little heard stories and analyses, and too-scantily noticed strategies for social change.

Who are we? People of all ages (from 13 to 86 years old currently) living in Massachusetts, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Washington State, Illinois, Ontario, many other places; active in a variety of settings, occupations and avocations; involved variously in communities across the US and Canada; diverse on all sorts of demographic variables; and all standing tall for rights and responsibilities within our communities and world.

We delight in the serendipity of finding, then promoting, books that deepen public awareness of human realities, vulnerabilities, strengths, complexities, and, most importantly, resiliencies. Given the current media backdrop of "tsk, tsks" about declining reading patterns, we ask: what if teens (and adults, too) could learn about human rights, domestic and global, in a more indirect, yet more powerful, manner? Via Fries, Hartmann, Salaita or others here listed? We at the Myers are encouraged by the determination of people in all walks of life who recognize that human rights are our responsibility, not just that of our governments.

There are diverse ways to engage people's reading. Any one of the recipients of the Myers Outstanding Book Awards advancing human rights is a stepping stone to engagement, reflection, and new energies for activism for social justice. We at the Myers agree with Dana Gioia, Chair of the National Endowment of the Arts, that reading is "an irreplaceable activity in developing productive and active adults as well as healthy communities." Reading and learning are valuable life-long activities. Read, friends, read!

Kenny Fries,
The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory
(Carroll & Graf 2007)

This is a gem of a story on biological research by Albert Wallace and Charles Darwin on adaptation, and interspersed within this is the author's ways of adapting to fibulae missing in both of his legs. Essayist, poet, and Goddard faculty member, Mr. Fries has written a truly distinctive philosophical and autobiographical examination of the social and political context of ability/disability. He draws the reader's attention via his relationship with his partner to how a society's culture defines the limit of the body as much as a particular individual's bodily condition. Read this dazzling book!

Saidiya Hartman,
Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2007)

This powerful memoir focuses on introspections, activities and discoveries as a US professor spending a year in Ghana. Ms. Hartman wanted to confront, the ghosts of slavery in Ghana ("to reckon with the lives undone and obliterated in the making of human commodities"), and in the African American community. Along her journey, she raises the question: which Africans do we mean when we say "African Americans"? "Was it the Africa of royals and great states, or the Africa of disposable commoners? Which African was it that we claimed?" She wrestles with the Ghanaian proverb: "no matter how big a stranger's eyes, they cannot see." The subtleties in insight emerge with both sadness and a radiance that shines through loss. Do listen to this distinctive voice!

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, edited by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
(South End Press 2007)

In 2004, organizers, progressive academics, and practitioners, gathered to think strategically about funding sources for social change. Important questions: How did the 501©3 non-profit model comes to drive, or squelch, forward movement toward social justice? Are there viable alternatives to current foundation funding patterns? This edited volume contains papers and presentations identifying the patterns and their consequences, including examples of organization focusing on strategic goals rather than grant writing along foundation-determined guidelines that prioritize social service delivery, not advocacy for social change. This is a progressive's must-read!

Sara Littlecrow-Russell,
The Secret Powers of Naming,
(University of Arizona Press 2006)

This is a stunning collection of poems written by Anishanaabe (Ojibway)-Naxi Metis lawyer, mediator and political activist. Rather than actively repressing painful information, Ms. Littlecrow-Russell models the creative energy that flows from acknowledging exploitation. Her strong voice is truth-telling prophetic as she writes about poverty, death, racism, patriarchy, legal travesties, nationalist sentiments, and other issues as related to Native American life. Ms. Littlecrow-Russell is a single mother, playwright and anti-racism organizer who fills her poems with quips, sarcasm and humor. In Ojibway, the word zhaabwii is loosely translated as the act of passing through intact. She witnesses, holding out hope for the survival of the spirit and restoration of her community.

Tina Lopes & Barb Thomas,
Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations,
(Between The Lines 2006)

This hands-on book by a Canadian team can help readers build fairness and equity into their workplaces. Ms. Lopes and Ms. Thomas bring us into various consulting situations (public agencies, unions, etc.) where we see concrete examples of problems as well as opportunities to move racial equity forward. With thoughtful finesse, they developed discussion materials grounded upon real-life contexts. The Canadian perspective on power imbalances and racial equity is particularly refreshing. The authors encourage us to act more intentionally in our ordinary moments. Read it and be jogged out of mental ruts!

Micki McElya,
Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America,
(Harvard University Press 2007)

Did you know that in 1923 the US Senate voted to approve "the erection as a gift to the people of the US [of a] monument in memory of the faithful colored mammies of the South" ? The Senators did so immediately after (once again) defeating a bill opposing lynching. The impetus? Organizing for over a decade and a half by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to cement [pun intended] the "proper" place for all Negroes: in servitude, happy to be cooking, cleaning, and protecting white families. The House of Representatives tabled the bill eventually, finally acknowledging voluminous opposition to the monument over the years from Black community groups and allies. McElya, a historian at the University of Alabama, tells about white women's minstrelsy and other white primacy vehicles over the years. There's so much to learn here about continuities!

Steven Salaita,
Anti-Arab Racism in the US,
(Pluto Press 2006)

Through an investigation of speeches, articles, and other media produced by the government and various other sources, Mr. Salaita deftly demonstrates the connections between powerful and pithy statements like President Bush's "you are with us or against us" to the current realities faced by Arab Americans. This politically astute and unapologetically uncompromising analysis contextualizes the many components of anti-Arab bigotry. Mr. Salaita, Virginia Tech University professor, compellingly demonstrates the depths of anti-Arab racism in legislation and pronouncements across the spectrum: neo-conservatives to liberals and progressives. Readers will gain a deepened analysis of the cost of anti-Arab racism to US culture and reputation. Please read!

Alex Sanchez,
Getting It: A Novel
(Simon & Schuster 2006)

Written for teens, this is a story of a Mexican American boy going through the minefield of high school friendships, dating, sexuality, the divorce of his parents, and homophobia. The reader follows Carlos as he searches for a way to deal with his tangled emotions and burgeoning sexuality. In an attempt to impress a popular girl, Carlos enlists the make-over help of Sal, the cool guy who is the only out-gay in the school. In return for Sal's help Carols agrees to help start a gay-straight alliance at their school. Their relationship is a catalyst for a great many changes both external and internal in Carlos' life. Mr. Sanchez refreshingly shows Sal as a positive role model. This fast-paced and well-written story, told in a non-condescending manner, could fruitfully be read by parents, teachers, counselors - all of us!

Chip Smith,
The Cost of Privilege: Taking on the System of White Supremacy and Racism,
(Camino Press 2007)

This long-time social justice advocate makes explicit the groundings of white supremacy throughout an accessible history of the United States. Mr. Smith starts with the creation of the white race over three centuries ago, then leads the reader through imperialism, slavery and national oppression of categories of people. Cutting to the quick, he analyses the interconnections of race, gender and class, and, importantly, the missed opportunities for greater equity at various points along the development of the colonies and nation. The call to organizers for a broad united front is compelling. The Cost of Privilege would make an excellent common reading for book discussion groups. Do read!

Harriet A. Washington,
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
(Doubleday 2006)

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson subjected hundreds of his slaves to an untested smallpox vaccine? Ms. Washington, a journalist, medical ethicist and former medical social worker, documents the involuntary, invasive, non-therapeutic experiments on African Americans by medical researchers in Medical Apartheid. She documents the rationalizations of the white researchers who conducted the experiments as standard practice, unquestioned for decades. The facts speak for themselves on abuses ranging from accepted slavery era practices such as forced no-anesthesia surgery, to 20th century "Mississippi appendectomies"/non-consensual post-partum sterilizations, radiation of African American school children, Norplant testing, clinical AIDS drug trials on African American foster children without permission, and more. Whistle-blowers are given their due. Throughout Ms. Washington draws connections between past medical experiments and current health care disparities.

Congratulations to all the winners! Please support them at your bookstore and libraries.