Pick a Book for the President-elect to Read

While we are waiting around for the results of the election to come in here's a question to ponder: what book would you assign the President-elect to read? I was reading a recent LA Times article by Rights Readers favorite, Hector Tobar, in which he opines on the presidential candidates book picks,

[Romney choice] "Thunderbolt Kid" is a fun book you can read in a day, whereas the Iowa book on Obama's list — Robinson's "Gilead" — is a brooding work of serious literature that won the Pulitzer Prize. That pretty much sums up the difference in the men and their taste in books: In Obama's favorites the characters suffer, they philosophize, they struggle with and reflect on injustice, and they sermonize — the Bible is another book on Obama's list of putative favorites. 

In Romney's favorites young people go out into the sunshine and glide down rivers ("Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") and battle alien species ("Battlefield Earth" and "Ender's Game"). Apparently, Romney is like a lot of people: He reads for pure escapism. Good and evil are pretty clearly defined in most of the books he likes. Life is simpler.

That got me to thinking, what Rights Readers books would I assign to each candidate? Because immigration reform is said to be a priority for both candidates, I think Hector Tobar's The Barbarian Nurseries, which we just finished, would be a great way to explore the changing cultural landscape that immigration brings to our nation.  For Mr. Romney's struggle to understand the 47%, Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed is the obvious prescription. I might also suggest that he travel through Iran with Jason Elliot (Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran) before setting a foreign policy course. And perhaps a novel with a strong feminine voice like Louise Erdrich's Tracks or Toni Morrison's A Mercy would give him some new perspective. For Mr. Obama I'm thinking of Junot Diaz' advice to the President to tell the story of where we've been and where we're going. He needs a good yarn. Maybe Ella Minnow Pea, the free speech fable? That's as close as I can get to tweaking his executive overreach. Or perhaps he could join us in reading Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads this February as an aide to a relationship with China that isn't solely focused on trade wars. Or for a nonfiction pick, maybe we could help him 'evolve' his position on the federal death penalty with Jarvis Jay Masters' memoir That Bird Has My Wings. What human rights-themed books would you recommend?

In addition to our list of human rights-themed books, of note in the listmania department: Obama's reading list according to The Daily Beast and a list of reading recommendations to the president in 2009 from Washington Monthly.

MacArthur Awards and the Immigrant Experience

Last week a couple of our favorite authors, Junot Diaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) and Dinaw Mengestu (The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears), won prestigious MacArthur fellowships. As it happens, we are reading Hector Tobar's The Barbarian Nurseries, an immigrant odyssey through contemporary Los Angeles this month and in that context I found it very interesting to hear Diaz and Mengestu discuss the influence of immigrant communities (Dominican and Ethiopian respectively) on their work in these MacArthur introductory videos:



The Diaz video can be found here. As I mentioned in another post, Diaz has a new book out, (This Is How You Lose Her) already nominated for a National Book Award and it seems Mengestu's third novel will be out soon. Interestingly, Carolyn Kellogg and Hector Tobar chat about the significance of the MacArthur Fellowships for the Los Angeles Times in the video below. In addition to praising the work of Diaz and Mengestu (with additional nods to Rights Readers favorites Edwidge Danticat and Toni Morrison), Tobar talks about the life of the writer and the impact of such awards.

 

Authors Speak Out on Immigration

I thought I'd share this clip from Junot Diaz, (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) currently on a book tour for his latest novel, This Is How You Lose Her. He was asked about the politics of immigration and the DREAM Act, which provides an opportunity to gain legal status for undocumented students who entered the country before the age of 15, have been physically present in the United States for at least five years, graduate from high school, and/or complete at least two years of college or military service. Take action for the DREAM Act here.


As I am sure many of my Loyal Readers know, President Obama implemented the so-called mini-DREAM Act, allowing temporary relief to undocumented young people.  Edwidge Danticat writes,

There is a powerful photograph of a group of undocumented young people—DREAMers—lying in the sand in Miami, their joined bodies spelling out the words “DREAM ACT NOW”, as if hoping to be seen from the heavens.

“DREAMers” are just what they sound like: bright, hopeful, and optimistic young people. They came here as children and have spent most of their lives in the United States. Yet they have remained in legal limbo, with the specter of deportation hanging over their heads. ...

Earlier this year, the Obama Administration granted relief from deportation to between 800,000 and 1.7 million DREAMers and made it possible for them to try to find work and/or get an education. This new policy can be reversed at any time—especially by an administration that is hostile to immigration—and can leave DREAMers back in limbo, back in the sand.

Danticat wrote powerfully about the failures of our migrant and refugee policy in Brother, I'm Dying. Still on the case, check out her more recent New York Times editorial on immigrant detention here.

Finally, this month we are reading Hector Tobar's The Barbarian Nurseries, a novel layered with rich portraits of the immigrant experience in America. Tobar has also written a nonfiction book, Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States, so it's not surprising that he has insight to offer on the plight of young immigrants in the video below.

To learn more about how immigrants' rights are human rights and how you can get involved in supporting the DREAM Act and opposing abuses of immigrants in detention visit Amnesty International's campaign page.

Arizona Repercussions

Yesterday, Amnesty International responded to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Arizona immigration enforcement case welcoming the provisions that were overturned but referring to the provision that requires law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of anyone who has been stopped for questioning when there’s reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally, warned,

we are disappointed that the Court failed to draw a clearer line in the sand against racial profiling. This leaves the door open for continued challenges as ambiguities in implementation still exist.

So who is going to ensure going forward that racial profiling does not occur? Our old friend Sheriff Joe Arpaio! We've campaigned before on the horrendous conditions at the 'tent city' prison he has created in Phoenix and former Executive Director of Amnesty, William Schulz debated the sheriff on at least a couple of occasions. As it happens, Bill was back in town just a few days ago leading fellow Unitarians in an impressive vigil outside Tent City.  Radio station KFYI reports,

William Schulz, president and CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and former head of Amnesty International in the U.S., said, "International standards for the treatment of prisoners are simple and straighforward when it comes to the question of prolonged exposure to heat.  This is clearly a violation of those standards."

Schulz said when he was with Amnesty International, he saw prisons in countries around the world, and the conditions at Tent City are nearly as bad as some of the worst he has seen.  Sheriff Arpaio objected, "Don't ever compare my jails with those countries.  That's an insult."

After the Supreme Court ruling, Sheriff Joe, who is also currently targeted in a Justice Department lawsuit, was unrepentant in his response to the Arizona ruling. Arpaio was also one of the guests on KPCC's Air Talk coverage of the ruling yesterday.

It's good to see the Rev. Schulz still on the case. We enjoyed reading a couple of his books. Looks like he's written a few more. Check them out here.

Honest Conversation-- and Action-- on Immigration

In my last post, I announced our pick for October, Hector Tobar's The Barbarian Nurseries. Normally, I wouldn't start blogging about the author until closer to our 'due date,' but I thought I had to share this timely interview with the author. Tobar, in addition to his two novels that have caught our attention, has written a nonfiction book on immigration (Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States) and writes a column for the Los Angeles Times. After President Obama's announcement regarding relaxing enforcement of immigration rules for undocumented young people, the so-called mini-DREAM, the Times wanted to get his reaction (see above). Plus he has produced a column about the effects of the executive order for one young woman,

A shadow has been lifted — not from the life of Ana Venegas, but from American discourse. Like thousands of others, Ana is here, she's American, and she always has been. Now, perhaps, an honest conversation about immigration can begin.

(The video also gives you a little preview of what to expect from The Barbarian Nurseries.)

Keep the honest conversation going. Join Amnesty International in calling for passage of the full Dream Act here. 

For September: Enrique's Journey

For September, we have selected Enrique's Journey based on Sonia Nazario's Pulitzer-winning L.A. Times feature,


In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.

When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he can eat better and go to school past the third grade.

Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But she struggles in America. Years pass. He begs for his mother to come back. Without her, he becomes lonely and troubled. When she calls, Lourdes tells him to be patient. Enrique despairs of ever seeing her again. After eleven years apart, he decides he will go find her.

Enrique sets off alone from Tegucigalpa, with little more than a slip of paper bearing his mother’s North Carolina telephone number. Without money, he will make the dangerous and illegal trek up the length of Mexico the only way he can–clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains.

With gritty determination and a deep longing to be by his mother’s side, Enrique travels through hostile, unknown worlds. Each step of the way through Mexico, he and other migrants, many of them children, are hunted like animals. Gangsters control the tops of the trains. Bandits rob and kill migrants up and down the tracks. Corrupt cops all along the route are out to fleece and deport them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, they must jump onto and off the moving boxcars they call El Tren de la Muerte–The Train of Death. Enrique pushes forward using his wit, courage, and hope–and the kindness of strangers. It is an epic journey, one thousands of immigrant children make each year to find their mothers in the United States.

Angel Island Poetry

National Poetry Month is coming to a close and I thought I might raise a little poetic consciousness and at the same time spotlight the current immigration legislation controversy by journeying back to the days of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the detention of Chinese immigrants at Angel Island in San Francisco where they wrote poetry about their plight all over the walls of their barracks. Here's a great photo gallery. For a fun lesson for the linguistically curious and students (or former students) of Chinese language amongst us-- including audio readings in Mandarin and Cantonese-- try this link.
Scholastic has a nice account of children's author Li Keng Wong's (Good Fortune: My Journey to Gold Mountain) stay at Angel Island. A more adult, scholarly approach to the poetry can be found here.

Okay, enough history lesson! Read about Amnesty's concerns and take action on the pending immigration legislation!