This list of fiction and nonfiction books, compiled by Susan Conlon, MLIS and Kim Dorman, Community Engagement Coordinator, of Princeton Public Library, provides a range of perspectives on the issues raised by the POV documentary Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust.

From the majestic peaks of the snow-capped Sierras to the parched valley of Payahuunadü, “the land of flowing water,” ``Manzanar Diverted:” poetically weaves together memories of intergenerational women. Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.

ADULT NONFICTION

Bahr Meyers, Diane.The Unquiet Nisei: An Oral History of the Life of Sue Kinetomi Embrey. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Based on extensive oral histories, The Unquiet Nisei recounts how Sue Kunitomi Embrey emerged from the WRA camp at Manzanar to become a leader of the Japanese American Redress Movement.

Brown, Daniel James. Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.New York: Viking Press, 2021.
In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. Chronicling the lives of several Japanese Americans who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Brown also tells the story of these soldiers’ parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best—striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring.

Lillquist, Karl. Imprisoned in the Desert: The Geography of World War II-Era, Japanese American Relocation Centers in the Western United States. Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Central Washington University, 2007.
Evacuation of persons of Japanese descent from the U.S. West Coast to inland, arid sites in 1942 contains elements of all aspects of traditional geography, including physical, human, and regional sub-disciplines; however, few geographers have written on the topic. Further, little has been written about the landscapes in which the Japanese Americans were incarcerated, and how the evacuees interacted with the landscapes while they were incarcerated. This book focuses on the geography of each of the eight western U.S. relocation centers–Amache, Gila River, Heart Mountain, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Topaz, and Tule Lake. Common to all in their western U.S. locations was aridity. All were located in arid or semi-arid environments. The Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas centers were excluded from this study because of their locations well east and in vastly different environments than the remainder of the sites. They were also the shortest-lived centers of the ten.

Miller, Char (editor). Wading Through the Past: Infrastructure, Indigeneity & Western Water Archives.Claremont: The Claremont Colleges Library, 2021.
Wading Through the Past is a collection of essays based on the 2021 Western Water Symposium, sponsored by The Claremont Colleges Library. An assortment of scholars, librarians, and advocates have virtually gathered to discuss the process of digitizing, making accessible, and using the Western Water Archives in the hope that we might better understand and improve our relationship to water. SPECIFICALLY noting “Payahǖǖnadǖ Water Story by Teri Red Ow”l

Omi, George. American Yellow.Sarasota: First Edition Design Publishing, 2016.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Omi family was uprooted from their home in San Francisco and incarcerated approximately 2,000 miles away at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. This memoir follows the story of the Omi family’s survival through the war and of their journey back to San Francisco to rebuild their lives in the aftermath.

Rotner Sakamoto, Pamela. Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds.New York: Harper Perennial, 2017.
Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an portrait of a resilient family, an examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.

Umemoto, Hank. Manzanar to Mount Whitney: The Life and Times of a Lost Hiker.Berkley: Heyday, 2013.
Hank Umemoto was a young teenager when he was incarcerated at Manzanar during World War II. From inside the barracks, he was able to see Mount Whitney, and vowed that he would one day hike the mountain when he was a free man. Umemoto recalls stories from his life as a Japanese American in California both before and after the war, and chronicles his journey admiring Mount Whitney from inside Manzanar to finally reaching its summit decades later.

Yamashita, Karen Tei.Letters To Memory. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 2017.
This memoir recollects the Japanese internment using archival materials from the Yamashita family as well as a series of epistolary conversations with composite characters representing a range of academic specialties.

FILM SUMMARY

McAllen, Texas is home to the last reproductive health clinic on the Texas/Mexico border. It is the center of the tension between religious protesters who try to stop patients coming inside and the security staff of the clinic who fight to protect it. On the Divide follows three different Latinx members of this community and the unforeseen choices they face for their daily survival.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use On the Divide to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Tips and Tools for Facilitators:

On the Divide is a unique film that is specially positioned to support abortion advocacy and create spaces for community building. By embracing nuance and humanity, the film notably serves those most affected by abortion restrictions in an area that has become a battleground for reproduction justice.

Given the film’s potential to spark discussion and positive change, we encourage organizers and hosts to watch the film beforehand and invite them to reflect on the goals of the event:

• What hopes do you have for this screening?
• What do you hope you will learn from this experience? What do you hope participants will learn?
• What do you anticipate will be a challenge in facilitating this event?
• What do you hope will happen after the event?

The documentary is a thoughtful, intentional, and emotional film and may bring up sensitive conversations. Consider the following tips on how to create and engage in a productive and respectful dialogue:

• Co-create community agreements ahead of discussion. An example can be found here.
• Practice active listening—approach the conversation from a place of solidarity and in service to those most affected by abortion restrictions. If emotional responses arise, stay calm and truly consider what the speaker has to say.
• Ask intentional questions—when building bridges across issue divides, try to understand and meet people where they are.
• Acknowledge people’s stories and emotions—if someone shares their personal experience, validate their experience and thank them for sharing. This can help create mutual respect and understanding.

In addition, consider the following suggestions to help ensure safety and care at your event:

• Co-facilitate your event so you can have a trusted partner in leading care-centered dialogue
• Invite mental health volunteers so that they can support anyone experiencing distress
• Review trigger warnings before the event begins

Community Agreements: What Are They? Why Are They Useful?

In an effort to create a collaborative space fueled by solidarity and respect, we encourage organizers and event hosts to integrate community agreements into their events. Community agreements help provide a framework and parameters for engaging in dialogue that allows you to establish a shared sense of intention ahead of engaging in discussion. Community agreements can be co-constructed, and creating them can be used as an opening activity that your group collectively and collaboratively undertakes ahead of engaging in dialogue. Here is a model of Community Agreements you can review. As the facilitator, you can gauge how long your group should take to form these agreements or if participants would be amenable to pre-established community agreements. Below are some sample community agreements:

• Use “I” statements—draw from your own experiences and speak on behalf of yourself rather than using “we.”
• Step up, step back—balance your participation by stepping up into the conversation and stepping back to help create space for others.
• Actively listen—listen without interrupting or centering your own response.
• Respect privacy and confidentiality—event hosts, organizers, and participants agree not to share private information outside of this space.
• Honor your needs—whether they be accessibility, emotional, or logistical needs, communicate those to event hosts and organizers and/or feel empowered to step away from the conversation if triggered.
• Center care—remember that we are here to care for ourselves and our communities. Allow caring values to guide participation in the conversation.

A note on inclusive language

Historically, the fight for abortion care and rights has centered the experience of white cis-gendered women. The impact campaign for On the Divide is committed to centering the experience of all those affected by abortion restrictions, especially those most affected—women and birthing people who are Latinx, BIPOC, and/or immigrants.

We encourage event organizers and hosts to integrate inclusive language that acknowledges and centers the experience of trans and nonbinary people and people of color in the fight for reproduction justice and abortion access. For helpful definitions and clarification of language, you can visit The Gender Spectrum’s “Language of Gender.”

These suggested readings provide a range of perspectives on issues raised by the POV documentary On the Divide and allow for deeper engagement. Compiled by Veronda Pitchford, Assistant Director of the Califa Group - a non-profit library membership consortium in California.

Adult Non-Fiction

Alcorn, Randy. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments Expanded and Updated. Expanded and Updated ed., Sisters, Oregon, Multnomah Publishers, 2000
Presents opposing views or "answers" to many arguments used by the Pro-Choice movement as to why abortion should be legal in the United States.

Browder, Sue Ellen. Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women’s Movement. Softcover, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2019
Contraception and abortion were not originally part of the 1960s women's movement. How did the women's movement, which fought for equal opportunity for women in education and the workplace, and the sexual revolution, which reduced women to ambitious sex objects, become so united? In Subverted, Sue Ellen Browder documents for the first time how it all happened, in her own life and in the life of an entire country. Trained as an investigative journalist, Browder unwittingly betrayed her true calling and became a propagandist for sexual liberation and wrote pieces meant to soft-sell unmarried sex, contraception, and abortion as the single woman's path to personal fulfillment. She did not realize until much later that her thinking and personal choices were unwittingly being influenced by those looking to subvert the women's movement.

Cunningham, Anne. Reproductive Rights. New York, Greenhaven Press, 2017
There has been a neat divide in the United States and elsewhere between the pro-choice and pro-life camps. Reproductive rights are more expansive than the abortion debate. Access to affordable health services is a fundamental right, yet women, who are subject to discrimination, poverty, and violence at a higher rate than men, are at risk for losing access to screenings, maternal care, and contraception. Does the government have the right to legislate women's health? This close examination provides perspectives from all sides to help readers understand what is at stake.

Fessler, Ann. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade. Reprint, New York, Penguin Books, 2007
The untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. The author is an adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently contacted her mother, brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times.

Gutmann, Matthew. Fixing Men: Sex, Birth Control, and AIDS in Mexico. First, Oakland, CA, University of California Press, 2007
Fixing Men illuminates what men in the Mexican state of Oaxaca say and do about contraception, sex, and AIDS. Based on extensive fieldwork, this breakthrough study by a preeminent anthropologist of men and masculinities reveals how these men and the women in their lives make decisions about birth control, how they cope with the plague of AIDS, and the contradictory healing techniques biomedical and indigenous medical practitioners employ for infertility, impotence, and infidelity. Gutmann talks with men during and after their vasectomies and discovers why some opt for sterilization while so many others feel "planned out of family planning."

Johnson, Abby, and Kristin Detrow. The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion Clinic Workers Tell Their Stories. San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2018
This book narrates the experiences of former abortion clinic workers, including those of the author, who once directed abortion services at a large Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. These individuals, whose names have been changed to protect their identities, left their jobs in the abortion industry after experiencing a change of heart.

Kimport, Katrina. No Real Choice: How Culture and Politics Matter for Reproductive Autonomy (Families in Focus). New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 2021
In the United States, the “right to choose” an abortion is the law of the land. But what if a woman continues her pregnancy because she didn’t really have a choice? What if state laws, federal policies, stigma, and a host of other obstacles push that choice out of her reach?

Based on candid, in-depth interviews with women who considered but did not obtain an abortion, No Real Choice punctures the myth that American women have full autonomy over their reproductive choices. Focusing on the experiences of a predominantly Black and low-income group of women, sociologist Katrina Kimport finds that structural, cultural, and experiential factors can make choosing abortion impossible–especially for those who experience racism and class discrimination.

Miller, Patricia. Good Catholics: The Battle over Abortion in the Catholic Church. First, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2014
Good Catholics tells the story of the nearly fifty-year struggle to assert the moral legitimacy of a pro-choice position in the Catholic Church, as well as the concurrent efforts of the Catholic hierarchy to suppress abortion dissent and to translate Catholic doctrine on sexuality into law. The author also describes the profound and surprising influence that the conflict over abortion in the Catholic Church has had not only on the church but also on the very fabric of U.S. politics.

Nokes, Emily, et al. Shout Your Abortion. Toronto, Between the Lines, 2018
The Shout Your Abortion (SYA) movement inspired people all over the country to share their experiences with abortion through creative cultural expressions such as art and begin organizing in a range of ways to start conversations that had never happened before and build communities of healing. The book presents a collection of these photos, essays, and creative work inspired by the movement and illuminates the individuals who have breathed life into this movement to spark their liberatory and political power of defying shame and claiming sole authorship of their experiences.

Parker, Willie. Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice. New York, 37 Ink, 2018
Dr. Willie Parker, a southern born Christian fundamentalist, read an interpretation of the Good Samaritan in a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and realized that in order to be a true Christian, he must always show compassion for all people.

He stopped practicing obstetrics to focus entirely on providing safe abortions for women who need help the most—often women in poverty and women of color—in the hotbed of the pro-choice debate: the South. He thereafter gave up his extravagant life and became an itinerant abortion provider, becoming one of the few doctors to provide such services in Mississippi and Alabama.

Pollitt, Katha. Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights. Reprint, Picador, 2015.
Through poetry, essays, and criticism, feminist writer Katha Pollitt illustrates the political and social issues of reproductive rights including racism, and poverty. The book makes an impassioned argument for a renewed commitment to the struggle for abortion rights.

Roberts, Dorothy. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1997.
In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights agendas.

Shah, Meera. You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion. Chicago, Chicago Review Press, 2020
This book collects the stories that were shared with Dr. Meera Shah after she started revealing that she was an abortion provider and not just a doctor. Each time she met someone new, they would confide that they'd had an abortion themselves. And the refrain was often the same: You're the only one I've told. The stories humanize abortion and combat the myths that persist in the discourse that surrounds it through the inclusion of a wide range of ages, races, socioeconomic factors and experiences, showing that abortion does not happen in a vacuum--it always occurs in a unique context.

Singer, Elyse Ona. Lawful Sins: Abortion Rights and Reproductive Governance in Mexico. 1st ed., Stanford, CA. Stanford University Press, 2022
Lawful Sins reorients reigning perspectives in medical and feminist anthropology that celebrate reproductive rights as a hallmark of women's citizenship in liberal societies. By challenging the application of a liberal rights framework to Mexican abortion, the book uncovers an apparently contradictory situation--the state's increased surveillance of women's bodies precisely in the context of their presumed liberation. The book offers a critical account of the relationship between reproductive rights, gendered citizenship, morality, and public healthcare.

Kaplan, Laura. The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. First Edition, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2019.
This is the first account of Jane's evolution as an underground abortion service, the conflicts within the group, and the impact its work had both on the women it helped and the members themselves as told by one of its members. This book stands as a compelling testament to a woman's most essential freedom--control over her own body--and to the power of women helping women.

Walbert, David, and Douglas Butler. Whose Choice Is It?: Abortion, Medicine, and the Law. Seventh, Chicago, American Bar Association, 2021
This book strives to give a comprehensive view of the entire subject of abortion-safety, morality, legality, accessibility, human rights and freedoms, reproductive justice, and a host of other issues as it relates to ongoing public policy.

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Film Summary

After two police killings, Black millennial organizers challenge a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. Told through the lens of Janaé and Bella, two fierce abolitionist leaders, Unapologetic is a deep look into the Movement for Black Lives, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Using This Guide

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Unapologetic to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities in conversations about racial justice, community organizing, feminism, and justice beyond punishment and imprisonment. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Helpful Concepts & Definitions

• Abolition: a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
• Accountability: people thinking about the ways they may have contributed to violence, recognizing their roles, acknowledging the ways they may need to make amends for their actions, and making changes toward ensuring that violence does not continue and that healthy alternatives can take its place.
• Black Queer Feminist Lens: a political praxis (practice and theory) based in Black feminist and LGBTQ traditions and knowledge, through which people and groups are able to bring their full selves into the process of dismantling all systems of oppression. This lens supports individuals and communities in creating alternative modes for living and being rooted in their lived experiences. By refusing to be governed by oppressive systems and historically racist and patriarchal structures, those being led by a Black Queer Feminist Lens effectively prioritize problems and solutions that center (and are led by) historically marginalized people in communities. It is an aspirational and liberatory politics that acts on the basic notion that none of us will be free unless all of us are free.
• Community accountability: a process in which community members such as family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers work together to transform harmful situations and how the community responds when harm is caused. This can also describe a process in which the community recognizes that violence has an impact on it, even in situations where the violence is primarily between individuals, and those individuals may have participated in allowing the violence to happen or even causing the violence and the community is responsible for resolving the violence.
• Community organizing: a process in which people come together into a group that acts in their collective interests to address specific problems through long-term strategies.
• Femme: a descriptor for a queer person who presents and acts in a traditionally feminine manner. All femmes hit upon two key aesthetic and identity-related traits: being feminine and falling somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum.
• Gender-based violence: any act that is perpetrated against a person's will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships. This encompasses threats of violence and coercion. It can be physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual in nature, and can take the form of a denial of resources or access to services.
• Genderqueer/gender fluid or nonbinary: terms that may be used by people who identify as neither exclusively male nor exclusively female, as a gender other than male or female, as more than one gender, as no gender at all, or whose gender changes over time.
• Intersectionality: concept that describes the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class, and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects.
• Misogynoir: term coined by queer Black feminist Moya Bailey to denote, in her words, “both an historical anti-Black misogyny and a problematic intraracial gender dynamic that had wider implications in popular culture. Misogynoir can come from Black men white men and women, and even other Black women.”
• Prison Industrial Complex: term used to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social, and political problems.
• Queer: according to Jennifer Patterson writing in Queering Sexual Violence, ‪“a radical position within the larger mainstream LGBT community; a commitment to exposing the systems that criminalize rather than serve. It’s a space to dream up new systems that do serve us. For me, it is a rejection of mainstream ideas around sexuality and gender and the home to critical thought organized through radical love and compassion. It’s also an umbrella term that offers more flexibility than something a bit more fixed like gay or lesbian.”
• State violence: direct harm and abuse perpetrated by people in positions of authority within institutions that people are required to engage with or depend on, as well as the structural harm resulting from neoliberal public policy, rules, and regulations.

For far too long, Black women’s significant contributions to movements for racial justice in America have been overshadowed and undervalued. The 2020 documentary Unapologetic gives Black women leaders within the ongoing Movement for Black Lives their flowers now while they can still smell them. Directed by Ashley O’Shay and produced by Morgan E. Johnson– two Black women– the film follows two young Chicago-based activists, Janae and Bella, as they fight for justice for the police murders of Rekia Boyd and Laquan McDonald.

Using clips from Unapologetic, this lesson provides a framework for viewing radical Black women’s activism in Chicago today as part of a continuum. Students will learn that there is no Janae and Bella without foremothers like Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Margaret Burrroughs. The lesson encourages students to think about how the past has shaped the present and how the present will shape the future.

A Note from Curriculum Creator Bella BAHHSI came into Black womanhood during the first wave of the ongoing Movement for Black Lives and joined other young Black women on the frontlines of direct action protests– with the intention of disrupting, challenging and changing the conditions that have rendered our experiences of (and resistance to) racially gendered violence inconsequential and erasable. I created this lesson plan for the same reason that I agreed to be filmed for Unapologetic: to amplify Black women’s leadership and creative and professional contributions to historic Black liberation movements.The film is so much bigger than me, Janae, Ashley and Morgan. We are all part of a growing collective of Black women who are seeking and becoming examples for what it means to be Black and woman and decompartmentalized, and we do not exist within an ahistorical vacuum. We build upon the legacies of the Black women who dared to engage in radical activism during the movement to abolish slavery, the Reconstruction Era, the Progressive Era, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the CIvil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement. Their movements enabled ours.Our movement popularized the use of hashtags, social media campaigns, interstate takeovers and mutual aid as tools for political education and political defiance. We made defunding police departments a nationwide call to action, and we made police and prison abolition a part of public discourse– all while amplifying the need for intersectional policy analysis and development. What we’ve contributed to this temporal moment is undeniable and has already begun to change the future of this nation.But we could not have been empowered to lead if we had not learned whom to follow. This lesson plan grounds our work in its relationality to the work of the movement women who paved the way for us to be unapologetic.

Subject Areas

• Black History
• U.S. History
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Studies
• Political Science
• Current Events
• Criminal Justice
• Sociology

Grade Levels: 9-12

Objectives:In this lesson, students will:

• Study radical Black women’s activism throughout history
• Discuss race and racially gendered violence
• Compare and contrast different eras of racial justice activism

Film Summary

Caught between the expectations of his Guatemalan immigrant family and his desire to live “happy and gay” with his long-distance boyfriend, 19-year-old Hunter Pixel Jimenez takes us on an energetic and colorful journey through his life as a trans teen in LA and his dreams for the future.

Watch To the Future, with Love here.

Using This Guide

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use To the Future, with Love to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debate, this resource envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and actively listening to one another.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to take action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Letter From Hunter Pixel Jimenez:

To The Future, with Love - Hunter's Letter

Preparing To Facilitate

Participants in any conversation arrive with differing degrees of knowledge and varied lived experiences with respect to the topics addressed in To the Future, with Love. It will be helpful to prepare for the conversation by grounding yourself in an understanding of the issues, and topics reflected in the film as you set an intention ahead of your event.

In your facilitation, we urge you to center the experiences and identities of those who have been marginalized. This will allow you to lead a conversation that maximizes care, critical curiosity, transformation, and connection.

The following resources will help you invite your community into a generative dialogue after screening.

Definitions:

Cisgender – Refers to people whose Gender identity aligns with their assigned sex at birth (cis- from Latin, meaning, “on this side [of].” In contrast to trans, from the Latin root meaning “across,” “beyond,” or “on the opposite side [of]”).

Genderfluid – Refers to people who have a gender or genders that change. Genderfluid people move between genders, experiencing their gender as something dynamic and changing, rather than static.

Gender identity: One’s deeply held, internal sense of oneself as male, female, a blend of both, neither, or something else. Identity also includes the words we use to convey our gender. Gender identity can correspond to, or differ from the sex we were assigned at birth. The language a person uses to communicate their gender identity can evolve and shift over time, especially as someone gains access to a broader gender vocabulary.

Gender role: The set of functions, activities, and behaviors commonly expected of boys/men and girls/women by society.

LGBTQI+: This is an acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex” The “+” sign recognizes the limitless sexual orientations and gender identities used by individuals.

Nonbinary and/or Gender Queer: Terms used by people whose gender identity falls outside the categories of man or woman, male or female. Nonbinary people may define their gender identity as both man and woman, as falling somewhere between these gender “binaries”, or falling outside the “gender binary” altogether.

Sex: Used to label a person as “male” or “female” (some US states and other countries offer a third option) at birth, this term refers to a person’s external genitalia and internal reproductive organs. When a person is assigned a particular sex at birth, it is often mistakenly assumed that this will equate with their gender; it might, but it might not. It is also possible to have a sex other than male or female, as is the case with people who are intersex.

Transgender or simplyTrans: Sometimes this term is used broadly as an umbrella term to describe anyone whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex. It can also be used more narrowly as a gender identity that reflects a binary gender identity that is “opposite” or “across from” the sex they were assigned at birth.

Transition: “Transitioning” is a term commonly used to refer to the steps a transgender, agender, or nonbinary person takes in order to find congruence in their gender. This term can be misleading as it implies that the person’s gender identity is changing and that there is a discrete moment in time when this takes place. More typically, it is others’ understanding of the person’s gender that shifts. What people see as a “transition” is actually an alignment in one or more dimensions of the individual’s gender as they seek congruence across those dimensions. A transition is taking place, but it is often other people (parents and other family members, support professionals, employers, etc.) who are transitioning in how they see the individual’s gender, and not the person themselves. A person can seek harmony in their gender in many ways:

• Social: changes in social identifiers such as clothing, hairstyle, gender identity, name and/or pronouns;
• Hormonal: the use of medical approaches such as hormone “blockers” or hormone therapy to promote physical, mental, and/or emotional alignment;
• Surgical: the use of surgery to modify of gender-related physical traits ; and
• Legal: changing identification documents such as one’s birth certificate, driver’s license, or passport.

Queer: A multi-faceted word that is used in different ways and means different things to different people. Some definitions include: 1) attraction to people of many genders; 2) nonconformity to cultural norms around gender and/or sexuality; 3) a general term referring to all non-heterosexual and/or non-cisgender people. Some within the LGBTQI+ community, especially older people, have experienced the use of the word “queer” as a hateful epithet and are reluctant to embrace it.

This article from, “Understanding Gender” from Gender Spectrum is a helpful primer on gender identity and gender expression. The definitions above come from Gender Spectrum’s terminology page “The Language of Gender,” and from Vanderbilt University’s LGBTQI Definitions.

FILM SUMMARY

A rising star in progressive politics and a new father, Ady Barkan finds his life upended when he is diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Then, after a chance encounter with a powerful senator on an airplane catapults him to fame, Ady and a motley crew of activists ignite a once-in-a-generation movement for universal health care, in a journey that transforms his belief in what is possible for the country and for his family.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Not Going Quietly to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit communitynetwork.amdoc.org.

After a chance encounter with a powerful Senator on an airplane catapults him to fame, Ady and a motley crew of activists ignite a once-in-a-generation movement for universal healthcare, in a journey that transforms his belief in what is possible for the country and for his family.

These suggested readings provide a range of perspectives on issues raised by the POV documentaryNot Going Quietlyand allow for deeper engagement. This list of books was created by Constance Zack of the School Library Association of Rhode Island.

Barkan, Ady. Eyes to the Wind: a Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance. NewYork: Atria Books, 2019
At thirty-two, Ady Barkan had everything he wanted: a fulfilling career in the progressive movement, a brilliant wife, and a beautiful newborn son.

Then his luck ran out. What he thought might be carpal tunnel was in fact ALS, a neurological disease that would probably paralyze and kill him quickly. But then, with his life slipping away and American democracy under grave threat, he turned a devastating diagnosis into his most potent tool. [This book] is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining narratives about determination, perseverance, and now to live a life of purpose. The first traces Ady's battle with ALS. The second shows his journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the progressive movement, becoming one of today's most vocal advocates for social justice.”

Brawley, Otis Webb. How We Do Harm: A Dr. Breaks Ranks about Being Sick in America.St. Martin’s Press. 2012
Dr. Otis Brawley is the chief medical and scientific officer of The American Cancer Society, How We Do Harm pulls back the curtain on how medicine is really practiced in America. Brawley tells of doctors who select treatment based on payment they will receive, rather than on demonstrated scientific results; hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that seek out patients to treat even if they are not actually ill (but as long as their insurance will pay); a public primed to swallow the latest pill, no matter the cost; and rising healthcare costs for unnecessary--and often unproven--treatments that we all pay for. Brawley calls for rational healthcare, healthcare drawn from results-based, scientifically justifiable treatments, and not just the peddling of hot new drugs.

Jobin-Leeds, Greg and AgitArte. When We Fight, We Win: Twenty-First Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World. New York: The New Press, 2016
Same-sex marriage, Black Lives Matter, the Dream Act, the People's Climate March, End the New Jim Crow, Occupy Wall Street--these are just a few of the initiatives that have taken flight in the past decade, the most fertile and productive era of activism and reform this country has seen since the 1960s. Now, in a visually rich and deeply inspiring book, movement leaders and activists distill their wisdom, sharing lessons of what works and what hinders transformative social change.

Kirsch, Richard. Fighting for Our Health Care: The Epic Battle to Make Health Care a Right in the United States. Rockefeller Press, 2012.
This first-person account brings readers inside the biggest and most consequential issue campaign in American history. Fighting for Our Health recounts how a reform campaign led by grassroots organizers played a crucial role in President Obama’s signing historic health reform legislation in March of 2010—defeating the tea partiers, Republican Party, health insurance industry, and the US Chamber of Commerce. The action takes place inside the Beltway—the White House, Congressional anterooms, and the streets of DC—and at hundreds of town meetings, demonstrations, and confrontations in places like Danville, Virginia and Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mellander, Rochelle. Mightier Than the Sword : Rebels, Reformers, and Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing.Beaming Books, 2021.
Throughout history, people have picked up their pens and wielded their words--transforming their lives, their communities, and beyond. Now it's your turn! Representing a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, Mightier Than the Sword connects over forty inspiring biographies with life-changing writing activities and tips, showing readers just how much their own words can make a difference. Readers will explore nature with Rachel Carson, experience the beginning of the Reformation with Martin Luther, champion women's rights with Sojourner Truth, and many more. These richly illustrated stories of inspiring speechmakers, scientists, explorers, authors, poets, activists, and even other kids and young adults will engage and encourage people to pay attention to their world, to honor their own ideas and dreams, and to embrace the transformative power of words to bring good to the world.

Reid, T.R. The Healing of America: a Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care.Penguin Press, 2009.
Reid provides a whirlwind tour of successful health care systems worldwide, revealing possible paths toward U.S. reform. Reid shows how all the other industrialized democracies have achieved something the United States can't seem to do: provide health care for everybody at a reasonable cost.

In his global quest to find a possible prescription, Reid visits wealthy, free market, industrialized democracies like our own--including France, Germany, Japan, the U.K., and Canada--where he finds inspiration in example. Reid shares evidence from doctors, government officials, health care experts, and patients the world over, finding that foreign health care systems give everybody quality care at an affordable cost. And that dreaded monster "socialized medicine" turns out to be a myth. Many developed countries provide universal coverage with private doctors, private hospitals, and private insurance.

Richards, Cecile. Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead.Touchstone, 2018.
"To make change, you have to make trouble.” From Cecile Richards comes a story about learning to lead and make change, based on a lifetime of fighting for women's rights and social justice. Cecile Richards has been an activist since she was taken to the principal's office in seventh grade for wearing an armband in protest of the Vietnam War. She had an extraordinary childhood in ultra-conservative Texas, where her civil rights attorney father and activist mother taught their kids to be troublemakers. In the Richards household, the 'dinner table was never for eating--it was for sorting precinct lists. From the time Richards was a girl, she had a front-row seat to observe the rise of women in American politics. She watched her mother, Ann, transform from a housewife to an electrifying force in the Democratic party who made a name for herself as the straight-talking, truth-telling governor of Texas. But Richards also witnessed the pitfalls of public life that are unique to women. Her experiences paint a powerful portrait of the misogyny, sexism, fake news, and even the threat of violence confronting those who challenge authority. As a young woman, Richards worked as a labor organizer alongside women earning minimum wage, and learned that those in power don't give it up without a fight. Now, after years of advocacy, resistance, and progressive leadership, she shares her story for the first time--from the joy and heartbreak of activism to the challenges of raising kids, having a life, and making change, all at the same time. She shines a light on the people and lessons that have gotten her through good times and bad, and encourages readers to take risks, make mistakes, and make trouble along the way. Richards has dedicated her life to taking on injustice, and her memoir will inspire readers to hope and action.

Rosenthal, Elizabeth. An American Sickness: How Health Care Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. Penguin Press, 2017.
At a moment of drastic political upheaval, a shocking investigation into the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American healthcare system, as well as solutions to its myriad of problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast?

Wen, Leanna. Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health. Henry Holt, 2021.
Lifelines is an insider's account of public health and its crucial role--from opioid addiction to global pandemic--and an inspiring story of Wen’s journey from struggling immigrant to being one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. "Public health saved your life today--you just don't know it," is a phrase that Dr. Leana Wen likes to use. You don't know it because good public health is invisible. It becomes visible only in its absence, when it is underfunded and ignored, a bitter truth laid bare as never before by the devastation of COVID-19.Leana Wen--emergency physician, former Baltimore health commissioner, CNN medical analyst, and Washington Post contributing columnist--has lived on the front lines of public health, leading the fight against the opioid epidemic, outbreaks of infectious disease, maternal and infant mortality, and COVID-19 disinformation. Here, in gripping detail, Wen lays bare the lifesaving work of public health and its innovative approach to social ills, treating gun violence as a contagious disease, for example, and racism as a threat to health.

FILM SUMMARY

A story about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr and his mother Debbie Davis — a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE 9.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use I’m Free, Now You Are Free to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this resource envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and actively listening to one another.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

FILM SUMMARY

In the projects of Watts, Meryland Gonzales, a twelve-year-old female boxer trains to be crowned the 2019 Junior Olympics champion after losing at the 2018 competition all while reliving a past medical trauma that forces her to fight for her life. Meanwhile, her parents, immigrants from Michoacán, Mexico work tirelessly to give their miracle child a shot at achieving her dreams

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Team Meryland to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit communitynetwork.amdoc.org.

LETTER FROM THE FILMMAKER

I made Team Meryland because I truly believe in the power of family and the miracle of second chances. I grew up the youngest of seven kids in a tight-knit Filipino family raised by a single mom. Throughout my own journey, I’ve learned the strength of my siblings, the sacrifices my mom made for us, and our teamwork as a family to get a miraculous second chance. When I met the Gonzalez family and learned of their story, I knew immediately that this was a narrative I needed to champion. It’s a story I wish my family and I had seen when we were looking for hope.

The family’s ability to fight together through hardship spoke to my core. Team Merylandis a portrait of a young girl from Watts, South LA with a second chance to achieve greatness through boxing. Despite suffering from a severe medical trauma, growing up in a tough area of South LA, and being a first generation American, Meryland never gives up on her dreams, truly embodying the image of a “rose emerging from the concrete” as her father so eloquently describes her.

After a year-and-a-half of filming and another year of post-production, it is a privilege that my team and I share this film with you today. Living through the hardships of 2020 and 2021 which have broken many of us, I now realize that this goes beyond a film for my family. It’s a story the world needs to hear. We hope the Gonzalez family shows us how to heal, find joy, and get back in the ring with loved ones in your corner. There isn’t a better time like today to fight for your dreams.

Gabriel Gaurano, Director Cinematographer & Editor, Team Meryland

This list of fiction and nonfiction books, compiled by kYmberly Keeton of ART | library deco of Austin, Texas provides a range of perspectives on the issues raised by the POV documentaryUnapologetic.

About Film: After two police killings, Black millennial organizers challenge a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. Told through the lens of Janaé and Bella, two fierce abolitionist leaders, Unapologetic is a deep look into the Movement for Black Lives, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Adult Non-Fiction

Alexander, Michelle.The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, New Press, 2010.‌
This powerful text highlights the racial dimensions of the "War on Drugs." The author argues that federal drug policy unfairly targets communities of color, keeping millions of young, Black men in a cycle of poverty and behind bars.The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.

‌Bennett, Michael, and Dave Zirin.Things That Make White People Uncomfortable. Chicago, Haymarket Books, 2019.
Bennett adds his unmistakable voice to discussions of racism and police violence, Black athletes and their relationship to powerful institutions like the NCAA and the NFL, the role of protest in history, and the responsibilities of athletes as role models to speak out against injustice. Following in the footsteps of activist-athletes from Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, Bennett demonstrates his outspoken leadership both on and off the field. Written with award-winning sportswriter and author Dave Zirin, Things that Make White People Uncomfortable is a sports book for our turbulent times, a memoir, and a manifesto as hilarious and engaging as it is illuminating.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi.Between the World and Me. New York, Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
Between the World and Me unfolds as a six-chapter letter from Coates to his 15-year-old son Samori, prompted by his son’s stunned and heartbroken reaction to the announcement that no charges would be brought against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder.

Collins, Patricia Hill.Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Contradictions of Modernity). 1st ed. vol. 7, University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
In Fighting Words, Collins investigates how effectively Black feminist thought confronts the injustices African American women currently face. The book examines poverty, mothering, white supremacy and Afrocentrism, the resegregation of American society by race and class, and the ideas of Sojourner Truth and how they can serve as a springboard for more liberating social theory.

Day, Susie.Brother You Choose: Panthers, Politics, and Revolution. 2020.
Paul Coates and Eddie Conway met as young men in Baltimore in the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. When Conway went to prison in 1970 based on flimsy evidence, Coates advocated for him. Coates (father of Ta-Nehisi) founded Black Classic Press and maintained his friendship with Conway despite the 44 years the latter spent in prison. Day has compiled and edited their wide-ranging conversations.

Haga, Kazu.Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.Parallax Press, 2020.
Activists and social change agents, restorative justice practitioners, faith leaders, and anybody engaged in social progress and shifting society will find this mindful approach to nonviolent action indispensable. Nonviolence was once considered the highest form of activism and radical change. And yet its basic truth, its restorative power, has been forgotten. In Healing Resistance, leading Kingian Nonviolence trainer Kazu Haga blazingly reclaims the energy and assertiveness of nonviolent practice (utilized by the Women’s March and Black Lives Matter), and proves that nonviolent civil resistance remains the most effective strategy for social change in hostile times. With over 20 years of experience practicing and teaching Kingian Nonviolence, Haga offers us the practical approach to societal conflict first begun by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, which has been developed into a fully workable, step-by-step training and deeply transformative philosophy. Kingian Nonviolence takes on the timely issues of endless protest and activist burnout, and presents tried-and-tested strategies for staying resilient, creating equity, and restoring peace.

hooks, bell.Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. 1st ed. Routledge, 2003.
In Teaching Community bell hooks seeks to theorize from the place of the positive, looking at what works. Writing about struggles to end racism and white supremacy, she makes the useful point that "No one is born a racist. Everyone makes a choice." Teaching Community tells us how we can choose to end racism and create a beloved community. hooks looks at many issues-among them, spirituality in the classroom, white people looking to end racism, and erotic relationships between professors and students. Spirit, struggle, service, love, the ideals of shared knowledge and shared learning - these values motivate progressive social change. Teachers of vision know that democratic education can never be confined to a classroom. Teaching - so often undervalued in our society -- can be a joyous and inclusive activity. bell hooks shows the way. "When teachers teach with love, combining care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust, we are often able to enter the classroom and go straight to the heart of the matter, which is knowing what to do on any given day to create the best climate for learning."

Lorde, Audre.A Burst of Light. 2nd ed. Ixia Press, 2017.
Winner of the 1988 Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award, this path-breaking collection of essays is a clarion call to build communities that nurture our spirit. Lorde announces the need for a radical politics of intersectionality while struggling to maintain her own faith as she wages a battle against liver cancer. From reflections on her struggle with the disease to thoughts on lesbian sexuality and African-American identity in a straight white man's world, Lorde's voice remains enduringly relevant in today's political landscape.

Lorde, Audre.Sister Outsider. 1984. Reprint, Penguin Random House, 2007.
In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde’s philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published. These landmark writings are, in Lorde’s own words, a call to “never close our eyes to the terror, to the chaos which is Black which is creative which is female which is dark which is rejected which is messy which is . . . ”

Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds.This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 4th ed. State University of New York Press, 1981.
Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, "the complex confluence of identities--race, class, gender, and sexuality--systemic to women of color oppression and liberation." Reissued here, nearly thirty-five years after its inception, the fourth edition contains an extensive new introduction by Moraga, along with a previously unpublished statement by Gloria Anzaldúa.

Parenti, Christian.Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis. New York, Verso, 2001.
In this important book, Parenti surveys the rise of the prison industrial complex from the Nixon through Reagan eras and into the present. Why does the United States currently have one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, with over 1.8 million Americans living behind bars? Why are only 29 percent of all prisoners violent offenders? Parenti, a former radio journalist and now a professor at the New College of California, argues that capitalism implies and demands a certain amount of poverty; the powers that be then respond by incarcerating drug users, the underclass, and other relatively powerless persons.

Rankine, Claudia. Citizen :An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.
Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV-everywhere, all the time. Including personal stories about the weight of racism, Hurricane Katrina, the denigration of Serena Williams, police killings and more, “Citizen” plunges readers into a world of pain, but softens the blow with writing so beautiful that my breath caught in my throat.

Reagan, Michale Beyea.Intersectional Class Struggle.AK Press, 2021.
This innovative study, explores the relevance of class as a theoretical category in our world today, arguing that leading traditions of class analysis have missed major elements of what class is and how it operates. It combines instersectional theory and materialism to show that culture, economics, ideology, and consciousness are all factors that go into making “class” meaningful. Using a historical lens, it studies the experiences of working class peoples, from migrant farm workers in California’s central valley, to the “factory girls” of New England, and black workers in the South to explore the variety of working-class experiences. It investigates how the concepts of racial capitalism and black feminist thought, when applied to class studies and popular movements, allow us to walk and chew gum at the same time—to recognize that our movements can be diverse and particularistic as well as have elements of the universal experience shared by all workers. Ultimately, it argues that class is made up of all of us, it is of ourselves, in all our contradiction and complexity.

Saeed Jones.How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir. Cengage Gale, 2020.
As a teenager growing up in Texas, Jones had wrestled with the feelings provoked by other men’s bodies. The murders of James Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepard taught him that “[b]eing a black gay boy is a death wish.” Yet Jones endured and embraced his sexuality. His relationship with his Buddhist mother forms the backbone of this affecting story.

Samaran, Nora.Turn this World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture.AK Press, 2019.
As Nora Samaran writes, “violence is nurturance turned backwards.” In its place, she proposes “nurturance culture” as the opposite of rape culture, suggesting that models of care and accountability—different from “call-outs” rooted in the politics of guilt—can move toward dismantling systems of dominance and oppression.
When communities identify and interrupt systemic violence, prioritize the needs of those harmed, and hold a circle of belonging that humanizes everyone, they create a foundation that can begin to resist and repair the harms inflicted by patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. Emerging from insights in gender studies, race theory, and psychology, and influenced by contemporary social movements, Turn This World Inside Out engages today's crucial questions, helping move us beyond seemingly intractable barriers to collective change.

Smith, Clint.How the World is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.Little, Brown, and Company, 2021.
Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.

It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation–turned–maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.

Smith, Mychal Denzel.Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching : A Young Black Man’s Education. New York, Bold Type Books, 2017.
How do you learn to be a Black man in America? For young Black men today, it means coming of age during the presidency of Barack Obama. It means witnessing the deaths of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, and too many more. It means celebrating powerful moments of Black self-determination for LeBron James, Dave Chappelle, and Frank Ocean. Mychal Denzel Smith chronicles his own personal and political education during these tumultuous years, describing his efforts to come into his own in a world that denied his humanity

Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta, editor.How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Haymarket, 2017.
The Combahee River Collective, a path-breaking group of radical black feminists, was one of the most important organizations to develop out of the antiracist and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s. In this collection of essays and interviews edited by activist-scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, founding members of the organization and contemporary activists reflect on the legacy of its contributions to Black feminism and its impact on today’s struggles.

Taylor, Renee Sonya.The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power Of Radical Self-Love.Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018.
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.

The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world—for us all.

‌Ward, Jesmyn.Men We Reaped : A Memoir. London, Bloomsbury, 2018.
Jesmyn's memoir shines a light on the community she comes from, in the small town of DeLisle, Mississippi, a place of quiet beauty and fierce attachment. Here, in the space of four years, she lost five young men dear to her, including her beloved brother-lost to drugs, accidents, murder, and suicide. Their deaths were seemingly unconnected, yet their lives had been connected, by identity and place, and as Jesmyn dealt with these losses, she came to a staggering truth: These young men died because of who they were and the place they were from, because certain disadvantages breed a certain kind of bad luck. Because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle.

This list of reading resources to accompany North By Current was compiled by Veronda Pitchford of Califa Group, a non-profit library consortium, in San Francisco, California.

ADULT NON-FICTION

Anderson, Seth. LGBT Salt Lake. Charleston, South Carolina, Arcadia Publishing, 2017
LGBT Salt Lake recounts the history and survival of the LGBT community in Salt Lake City, Utah. From the early 1970s when a discernible "gay community" had emerged in Salt Lake City, laying the groundwork for future activism and institutions through the 1980s, amidst the devastation from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, marginalized communities valiantly worked to fight the disease and support each other. By the 1990s, LGBT Utahns had gained traction legally and politically with the formation of the first gay straight alliance at East High School and the election of the first openly gay person to the Utah legislature in 1998. In 2008, Salt Lake City’s transgender community became more visible in this new century that also included the community’s battle to gain marriage equality.

Bakker, Alex, et al. Others of My Kind: Transatlantic Transgender Histories. Calgary, Alberta Canada, University of Calgary Press, 2020
From the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, a group of transgender people on both sides of the Atlantic created communities that profoundly shaped the history and study of gender identity. By exchanging letters and pictures among themselves they established private networks of affirmation and trust, and by submitting their stories and photographs to medical journals and popular magazines they sought to educate both doctors and the public. The book draws on archives in Europe and North America to tell the story of this remarkable transatlantic transgender community. This book uncovers threads of connection between Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands to discover the people who influenced the work of authorities like Magnus Hirschfeld, Harry Benjamin, and Alfred Kinsey not only with their clinical presentations, but also with their personal relationships. Others of My Kind celebrates the faces, lives, and personal networks of those who drove twentieth-century transgender history.

Campbell Naidoo, Jamie, editor. Rainbow Family Collections: Selecting and Using Children’s Books with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Content (Children’s and Young Adult Literature Reference) by Naidoo, Jamie Campbell (2012) Hardcover. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2012
Research shows that an estimated 2 million children are being raised in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families in the United States; that the number of same-sex couples adopting children is at an all-time high; and that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) couples raising children live in 96 percent of all counties in the United States. Today's educators and youth librarians therefore need guidance in choosing, evaluating, and selecting high-quality children's books with LGBTQ content.

Gray, Mary, et al. Queering the Countryside. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Amsterdam University Press, 2016
The rural queer experience is often hidden or ignored, and presumed to be alienating, lacking, and incomplete without connections to a gay culture that exists in urban communities elsewhere. Queering the Countryside offers the first comprehensive look at queer desires found in rural America from a genuinely multi-disciplinary perspective. This collection of original essays confronts the assumption that queer desires depend upon urban life for meaning.

Kolk, Van Bessel der, MD. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Reprint, New York, NY, Penguin Publishing Group, 2015
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores numerous treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

Ostler, Blaire. Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction. Newburgh, IN Common Consent Press, 2021
For most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its theology is only ever viewed through the authorized lens of Church Correlation. The book looks at the basic tenets of the religion through the eyes of a queer church member and starts with the premise that Mormon theology is inherently queer and always has been and, therefore, better suited than most religious traditions to embrace and celebrate the queerness of the individuals who, collectively, constitute the Kingdom of God.

Winfrey, Oprah, and Bruce Perry. What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. 1st ed., New York, New York, Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book, 2021
The book offers a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” to those who are experiencing trauma. In conversation throughout the book, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry focus on understanding people and behavior to create a subtle but profound shift in approach to trauma, to understand the past in order to clear a path to the future—opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.