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Words for Our Time: A Review of We Rise, We Resist, We
Raise Our Voices
By lynmiller-lachmann on 2018-09-11 15:06:40
The results of the November 2016 national election in the United States left millions of
parents and children terrified about what would happen next. The triumph of a candidate and party that ran on an explicitly
anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and racist campaign—one that pledged to strip the rights of LGBTQ+ and disabled persons as
well—implied great danger for those targeted. A number of anthologies to offer comfort, hope, and inspiration for future
social justice activism emerged from this election. Edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, We Rise, We Resist,
We Raise Our Voices, is a standout among these for a number of reasons. [caption id="attachment_11637" align="alignright"
La
width="300"] Some of the contributors to We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our
Voices at the launch party last week.[/caption] One is that the included writers and illustrators come from groups that have
been targeted and groups that have faced past oppression. They are elders with words of wisdom drawn from personal
experience: African-American veterans of the civil rights movement, children of immigrants, Native American writers and
artists and others who broke into a previously closed publishing industry by founding small presses and self-publishing.
Another difference is the sheer variety of creative work showcased in this anthology—poetry, short stories, autobiographical
essays, letters to children and grandchildren, photographs, and illustrations in various styles and media. In addition, the book
is directed to younger children, those in elementary school, with an approach that is both reassuring and empowering. The
authors take on the role of trusted adult, letting young readers know that they are loved, that their ancestors have survived
terrible times in the past and, working together, we will survive and overcome our current struggles as well. [caption
id="attachment_ 11638" align="alignleft" width="270"] Editors Cheryl Willis
Hudson and Wade Hudson, who founded Just Us Books 30 years ago.[/caption] Many of the authors write about growing up
under Jim Crow and seeing the changes with the civil rights movement. Some counsel self-care and self-preservation
because a family’s love is most important of all; for instance, Sharon M. Draper’s poem “Prayers of the Grandmother”
contains the refrain, “Stay safe, my child, she’d whisper. / Come home to me each night.” Bernette G. Ford, Lesa Cline
Ransome, and Sharon G. Flake name the civil rights heroes, known and unknown, who serve as models and inspiration for
young people today. Eleanora E. Tate and Roy Boney, Jr. describe how they overcame prejudice and a canon of stereotypes
to tell their authentic stories. A number of authors offer advice on confronting bullies and bigotry and channeling anger into
more productive pursuits. Yet others stress our common humanity as a means of reaching out to others and knowing that
each one of us is valued no matter what some leaders and their followers may say. No one underplays the challenges or
difficulties of the current situation but all counsel belief in ourselves, working with others, and having the patience of one
who, as Margarita Engle writes in “I Wonder,” “plant[s] / many seedlings anyway, so that by the time/I’m old, a whole forest
will wave/happy branches.” We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voicesis an essential title for elementary-age children as well
as their teachers and caregivers.
