The Manic Monday meme word today is 1,000.
Villagers, I hope is that it won't take 1,000 years for our nation to become the 'more perfect union' that Barack Obama spoke about in Philadelphia last month. We have mishandled, fumbled, stumbled and generally messed race relations up in our generation ... our parent's generation ... our grandparent's generation and so forth thru the birth of our nation.
One reason I support Barack Obama is that his vision for our country is filtered through the lens of his existence as the child of a Black father and a white mother. As such, he may be able to show us by his own personal character and judgement that positive race relations is possible. However, there are other things we need to do to ensure harmonious and productive race relations in America over the next 1,000 years!
One thing we can do today is ensure that our children see themselves and the diversity of our nation in the books that they read.
Did you know that the number of African American Children’s Book authors published in 2007 has declined nearly 12% since 2006! The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) has tracked children’s books by and about people of color in the US since 1994. Recently the CCBC released the 2007 stats - an estimated 77 children’s books by African American authors were published in 2007 out of an estimated 5,000 children’s books published! [SOURCE]
It made me sad to learn this information today. I hope my future generations over the coming 1,000 years of our nation's glorious existence on this planet will be marked by a 'more perfect union'. I hope that all of us support and encourage our libraries, bookstores and childcare-providers to demand more African American children's books for all of our children to read in 2008 and beyond.
You can begin today. Be one of the next 1,000 people to purchase Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria for a child you know!
