With the latest atrocities in Atlanta, saying “Tut-tut” and shaking my head doesn’t seem to be nearly enough. I was delighted when the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators asked its members to join in speaking out on March 26 against Asian discrimination. A member of SCBWI since 1997, I gladly join my voice to this call from our leaders.
Words cannot express the horror and sadness we, at the SCBWI, have felt today, and each time, that a member of our human family has been senselessly murdered. We stand with Asian people everywhere, again, to say that the Society of Children’s Book Writers, Illustrators, Translators, Creators, Editors, Agents, and Publishers must support a world where this cannot be. We wield our pens and our hearts in defiance of moments like this to protect each other and the souls of children who have born witness to this; children who have lost family to this; children who live in fear of this.
In my own effort to do something more effective than a head-shaking “Tut-tut,” I thought of several things that I could do. Perhaps you will want to join me and maybe even have other suggestions to add.
I begin with one that brings me joy. I will cherish the friendships I’ve had with people of Asian ancestry. For fifteen years, I joined a couple of my friends to meet once a week with a mixture of students and student wives, most of them with Asian backgrounds, at the University of Southern Mississippi to help them perfect their English and learn American customs and observances. Our times were filled with laughter as they brought us to see our own world through different eyes, and they shared their worlds with us. I list a few special memories:
· On a regular basis, the babies and children who accompanied their mothers to the meetings and played on the side with the toys from the toy box.
· The holiday party we had planned at my partner’s home when our International friends surprised us by coming in their customary holiday dress-up clothes from their home countries.
· The mother who came from China to visit her daughter, speaking not a word of English, with me speaking not a word of Chinese. Her daughter carried the conversation for us, translating back and forth. I cherish the small Buddha the mother brought me – “for good luck” – her daughter translated.
· A dinner invitation to a small apartment in student housing that had us coming in time to watch the young woman make Chinese dumplings. What a treat in both the tasting and the demonstration!
· A delightful surprise ten years later when one of the six-year-olds, now an accomplished college student, called to say she was on her way through town with a carload of her friends and wanted to visit. What fun we had sharing memories and catching up as her multicultural friends listened, their eyes like pendulums swinging back and forth between us.
· Treasured gifts, pictured on a door in my writing she-shed, that bring back memories of those good times.
· In more recent days, our Sunday church services have been blessed by a accomplished pianist often joined by his wife with four hands on the piano and their capable elementary school daughter participating with scripture readings and prayers. I look forward to continuing our friendship when this family when the pandemic is over.
· I could go on, and I do continue in my mind. How I treasure what these friends have added to my life!
Come to think of it, the next thing to do brings me joy as well. I can read a book written or illustrated by an Asian author – and introduce those books to children. I’ll mention a few of my favorites. You will want to add to the list from the many other Asian writers who have a way with words and read more of these authors’ works since they are addictive.
· For adults: Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club); Celeste Ng (Little Fires Everywhere); Paul Yoon, (Run Me to the Earth)
· For young adults and middle school: Linda Sue Park (Newbery Award winner, A Single Shard); Cynthia Kodahata (Kira-Kira or Weedflower); Thanhha Lai, (Inside Out and Back Again); Lisa Yee, (Millicent Min) and Grace Lin with children’s books from board books to her middle grade Newbery Honor Award winning When the Moon Meets the Mountain; Gene Luen Yang, a master of graphic novels – American Born Chinese and the paired Boxers and Saints.
· For younger children: Allen Say (Grandfather’s Journey); and Salina Yoon’s not-to-be missed treasures in Be a Friend, Penguin and Pinecone, Penguin and Pumpkin, and Tap and Play.
Another idea I have borrowed (or stolen) from fellow SCBWI member and writer Heidi Stemple. She is putting these books in her own Little Free Library and other little libraries on her traveling route.
So often I hear horror stories on the news that cause me to shake my head and say, “Tut-tut,” wondering what one lone person can do. Perhaps I need to think a little harder.