We Are Not Yet Equal

September 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-Prolific and celebrated author Bolden has adapted Anderson's White Rage for YA audiences. The text guides readers through an analysis of the relentless attacks on the protected rights and social mobility of black Americans by white people through legislative and judicial acts. It outlines the repeated obstructions, from their passage into the present decade, of the 14th and 15th amendments, and the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of 1960s. The work details countless cases and includes paths to further research in its establishment of the undeniable legislative and judicial roots of systemic racism, including the criminalization of black people in the 1980s during the crack epidemic. Students are also presented with an account of the Southern Manifesto in 1956, when just two years after Brown vs. Board of Education, 101 members of Congress "stalled and defied" educational equity. Teens will gain insight into the roles of dissenting Supreme Court Justices, like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in speaking out against blatant attacks, state after state and case after case, on equitable education, nondiscrimination, and voting rights. Using this easy-to-follow informational text with a robust list of citations, readers can witness 150 years of continuous systemic racism and deeply understand the mechanism by which federal protection is given then taken away by special agency, state, or local political action. VERDICT A needed resource for YA nonfiction collections.-Sara Lissa Paulson, City-As-School High School, New York City

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