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This is an archived article

This archived book from 2017 list has been updated to a Family Action Toolkit – you can check out out here.

Ages 3-7

We hit the breaking point with this one

Maybe it’s because the story is mild and non-violent, like something my 4-year-old could experience today. The anxiety, stress, and fear finally hit home about segregation and how far we have left to go.

If there must be a boogeyman in his closet, let it be the institution of racism.

If parents of children of color are forced to teach their 4-year-olds how not to get shot by those who have sworn to protect us, then we’ve got to do our part too – we can’t shield our White and East Asian kids from reality if there’s any hope to pop our bubbles.

When Q asked if the fence from the book still exists, I had to answer honestly. Yes.

I told him about our government’s current fight to build a wall between us and Mexico – and how just like Clover’s fence, it’s about the colors of our skin, our religion, about creating an us and a them and how those in power tell us, just like Clover’s mother – bad things will happen if we each cross to the other side.

—

That night, Q had a nightmare. He cried that our president had built a huge wall, and forced his grandfather (who is both brown-skinned and a greencard holder from Dominica) to leave so we’d never see him again. I wasn’t able to promise that this wouldn’t happen.

I was able to promise that if they did build a wall – we would fight until Papa could come back home.

I told him there was no wall high enough that we couldn’t defeat together.

The next day we watched videos of the falling of the Berlin wall – videos I remember watching as a little girl, crying with joy to see crumbling. We looked at pictures of people sitting atop it, just like Clover and Annie did in the book. Then I showed him the thousands of people I photographed at the Women’s March, and pointed to them one-by-one (until he got bored).

As I scrolled through each image, I told him:

“She will help us protect Papa. Her too. Him too. He will help us. That lady there will help us. They will all help us. You see all of these people? All of us will protect each other.”