#FlashbackFriday - We Are Not Yet Equal

Instead of a review this week (NOT because I haven't finished anything, I swear! I have, but I don't have a new review in me right now.), we'll be celebrating #FlashbackFriday and looking back on a review I wrote two years ago, almost to the day, on August 17th, for We Are Not Yet Equal by Carol Anderson. It seemed like an appropriate review to revisit.

We Are Not Yet Equal is the young adult adaptation of Carol Anderson's New York Times Bestseller White Rage. White Rage was published in 2016, following commentary on "black rage" after the murder of Michael Brown in 2014 and an op-ed Anderson wrote in response. We Are Not Yet Equal came out two years later, in 2018. Now here we are, in the dumpster fire that is 2020, and these books remain every bit as relevant as they were upon being published. And I can't help but keep coming back to the quote I pulled for my original review from the epilogue.

"Imagine if, instead of continually refighting the Civil War, we had actually moved on to rebuilding..."

Is this the time? Is this finally the year that white people like me reckon with the power we unfairly hold and the ways in which we reinforce the white supremacist ideals the United States is built on and start contributing to the work dismantling systems designed to oppress people who don't look like us? Is this the year people complaining about keeping "politics" out of whatever sphere they find themselves in recognize a. what a privilege it is to be able to do that and b. that human rights and basic decency are not "politics"? We've all seen the energy picking up these last couple months, and I hope that keeps up. A few ways I am trying to educate myself and stay engaged:

• Contacting my representatives. You can find scripts for issues you feel strongly about at https://5calls.org/, as well as contact information for your local reps. And while we're at it, fucking VOTE, y'all, in federal and local elections. Want change? The best place to start is in your local sphere.
• Unlearning the fake history I grew up being taught and relearning ACTUAL history using resources like this.
• Showing my support for protesters from a distance by donating to bail funds and community organizations.

What are you doing to keep yourself energized and engaged?