Noteworthy N.E.W.S. (NorthEastWestSouth)
Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March) Greetings!
To observe the Black History Month and Women’s History Month, we are pleased to share the poem Resilience (by Arianna Shaprow, age 12, Nevada) and a photo (by Carleen Clifton Bragg of Chicago, Illinois). You can read the poem by clicking on it.
A Happy New Year to all our readers, contributors, subscribers, and supporters, both here and abroad!
(Jan. 9, 2024) Did you read that 2023 was the hottest year for as long as human beings have been on the planet? According to research 2023 was the HOTTEST year in at least the last 100,000 years! Don’t get confused just because there are a few regional cold spells—like the upcoming Deep Freeze in much of North America later this week and the recent Arctic Blasts in Scandinavia and Northern Europe!
Common Dreams and other news media report (on January 9, 2024) that global average temperature in the year 2023 was 14.98°C—that’s 0.17°C warmer than 2016 (the previous warmest year), 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average, and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 (pre-industrial) level, according to the scientists at the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. And, the prediction is that this year, 2024, will be warmer than 2023! The Paris COP agreement was to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C over the pre-industrial levels. Obviously, most countries will not meet that target because we continue to depend greatly on the use of fossil fuels—coal, oil, natural gas (fracked gas).
Unfortunately, the recent COP 28 international conference (like most of the previous ones) was not much more than a hot air balloon, and the next one—COP 29 is likely to be no different. So disappointing! What can we expect when these climate conferences are dominated by oil producing countries and thousands of black gold lobbyists?
We need hundreds of thousands of nature educators, activists and nature protectors of all ages, like the late Rachel Carson (author and marine biologist, USA), Sir David Attenborough (of UK), Bill McKibben (Co-founder of 350.org, USA), Greta Thunberg (from Sweden), Ilyess El Korbi (from Ukraine, Morocco, and now Germany), Elizabeth Wathuti (of Kenya), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Native American from USA), Maria Reyes (of Mexico), Amma (from India), Tahsin Uddin (in Bangladesh) and Leah Namugerwa (of Uganda), people from all over the globe to wake us up from our slumber—to educate us and demand a change in the ways our industries, businesses, systems, people, and governments have been damaging and destroying the planet’s natural systems.
Won’t you become a change maker in your school, community, region or nation—wherever you are?
News report and opinion presented by Arun Toké, editor.
Happy International Day of Peace! Read an article about the Day of Peace, Sept. 21st here.
(Aug. 17, 2023) We have announced the winners of our 2023 Youth Honor Awards.
(6/9/23) Greta Thunberg has graduated from high school today! We invite you to read this informative article on the famous youth climate activist of our times published on CommonDreams.org: https://www.commondreams.org/news/greta-thunberg-graduates-from-climate-strikes/
May is the annual API (Asian and Pacific Islanders) Heritage Month. Cinco de mayo (May 5th) was the deadline for Youth Honor Awards and also Asian Celebration Haiku/Tanka Contest entries. We have received many outstanding entries. We have begun reviewing the entries; we will announce our selections in August.
Happy Earth Day to us earthlings—plants, animals, birds, insects and yes, us human beings, as well as to the air, rocks, minerals, fossils, soil, mountains, oceans, lakes and all other water bodies that make life on the planet possible! Enjoy the weekend with some outdoor activities…hikes and walks, organizing a city park or beach cleanup with your friends and family, working in your backyard garden, working on protecting a nature area or planting trees…whatever brings you joy, pleasure, and a sense of belonging.
We have recently added several pieces of writings to this website for your reading pleasure. For example, A Letter to My Grandchildren by Dr. Charles Ross. When you have time to read, enjoy this food for thought! Have a peaceful weekend!
Beneath A Tree
April is National Poetry Month! It’s a celebration of poetry that began in 1996 and is organized by the Academy of American Poets with an intention to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the U.S. The Academy of American Poets’ website (Poets.org) also offers information about poetry events during the month. They provide free educational resources to teachers for classroom celebrations and activities. Beginning in April 1998, the National Poetry Month is also being celebrated in Canada. Want to read a poem written by a youth?
As you know Skipping Stones publishes children’s poetry regularly. We are holding our 2023 Haiku and Tanka Contest as well as the 2023 Youth Honor Awards at present. Entries for both of these programs are due by May 5th. Why not consider sending us your poetry creations during this National Poetry Month or soon there after?
February 6. FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH! To observe this annual opportunity to gain a better understanding of the nation’s history and new perspectives on slavery and its role, LEARNING FOR JUSTICE has recently published an insightful online article, Talking to Children About the History of Slavery in the United States: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers. The article offers recommendations for discussing the history and legacy of slavery and race with children. It also provides age-appropriate information to emphasize in conversations with the young. Click on the title to read this educational resource.
International Day of the Girl Child, Oct. 11th, 2022. National Public Radio reports on their segment, Goats and Soda, that “It’s a bleak ‘Day of the Girl‘ because of the pandemic. But no one’s giving up hope.“
* Celebrate America 2022 Creative Writing Contest Winners Announced by American Immigration Council. Read the winning entries here.
* Uvalde Victim Lexi Rubio’s Parents Say: “As Her Voice, We Demand Action!”
According to a www.CommonDreams.org news report, Ten-year-old Lexi Rubio was among the 21 victims (18 of them were children!) of the mass shooting last week at Robb Elem. School in Uvalde, Texas. Lexi’s mom, Kimberly Rubio, with tears in her eyes, told members of the U.S. Congress at the Gun Violence Epidemic hearing on June 8th, 2022 that “We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number,” describing her “intelligent, compassionate, and athletic” daughter who aspired to become a lawyer and “would have made a positive change in this world.”
“So today, we stand for Lexi, and as her voice, we demand action. We seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines,” she said. “We understand that for some reason, to some people—to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns—that guns are more important than children, so at this moment, we ask for progress.”
“We seek to raise the age to purchase these weapons from 18 to 21 years of age,” Mrs. Rubio added. “We seek red flag laws, stronger background checks. We also want to repeal gun manufacturers’ gun liability immunity.”
There have been close to 300 gun shootings in the nation’s schools in since 2009. Compare that with only a handful (5 or 6) in five other industrialized countries taken together—Canada, UK, France, Germany and Japan! Why this huge gap?
As a forum for young people all over, Skipping Stones encourages our readers and their parents to contact their representatives in the government to pass strict gun safety laws. About 45,000 people die annually as a result of gun violence in the country. The U.S. Constitution was written with the intention of “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness” for the citizen, and the lawmakers have so far failed to deliver on that promise. The first priority of all lawmakers must be to protect lives of people. We depend on the governments—local, state and national—for our safety. Lawmakers must act to make our schools, streets, communities, and public spaces safe. Demand that our representatives—Senators and Congressmen from all political parties—take every action to minimize gun violence in our country.
* May is the annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the country! It is also called API (Asian and Pacific Islander) Heritage Month. We are pleased to offer two articles for your reading pleasure on this topic.
Discrimination Against Asians in the United States by Fanny Wong, New York
The Internment of Japanese Americans During WWII by Fanny Wong, New York
* Happy Earth Day! The very first Earth Day was celebrated in the U.S. on Sunday, April 22, 1970. It is considered as the beginning of the modern environmental awareness movement in the country.
Sunflowers and Thoughts of Ukraine
“Our sunflowers were done as our way of warming up to paint, but so much more: we painted and in our quiet moments of feeling the paint to paper, the qualities of our painting we silently thought of others in our world facing difficulties of war. The sunniness of our flowers and the blue sky behind them resembling the Ukraine flag, and how this is a hopeful sign to all. Especially a room of artists quietly painting and meditating while doing so.”
—Lori Eslick, Children’s Book Illustrator/Author. www.EslickART.com. The art was done by participants in a “Children’s Book Illustration” class conducted this month by Ms. Eslick in Lowell, Michigan.
* March is Women’s History Month! See a quick introduction to three influential women here.
* February is Black History Month!
Did you know that the Oregon Secretary of the State’s office hosts a website which has a number of historical exhibits? We thought these two exhibits were of special interest this time of the year (February and March): Blacks in Oregon and On Her Wings.
Blacks in Oregon. This exhibit uses archival records to illuminate the courage and resilience of black pioneers who built lives for themselves and their families in Oregon despite the many barriers they faced. The exhibit puts their experiences in context with chronologies and related resources before telling their stories augmented by photos and original documents.
On Her Own Wings: Oregon Women and the Struggle for Suffrage. This exhibit explores the history of voting rights in Oregon and the U.S. and covers the early republic to the present, but its focus is on the tumultuous opening of the 1900s. Beginning decades earlier, Oregon suffragists battled for a woman’s right to vote. They fought until their efforts were recognized in the 1912 state suffrage proclamation and the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Still, it would be years before Native American and Asian American women were granted the right to vote. The exhibit showcases people, events, and symbolism crucial to this cause, as well as the entrenched powers acting to prevent access to the vote.
Countless women and men, both in Oregon and nationally, advanced the cause of woman suffrage over the decades. Their efforts culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The names of some of the leaders listed below, such as Susan B. Anthony and Helen Keller, are familiar. But many others toiled in relative obscurity for decades to further the movement. This list is not comprehensive but it does provide a taste of the skills and experiences of some of the leaders fighting for woman suffrage.
“[T]he Negro Women of America must become the teachers of the white race. In this interracial program there will grow up a strong sisterhood between white and colored women which will be the safest protection of the ideals for which the NAACP stands.” —Beatrice Morrow Cannady
Beatrice Morrow Cannady, undated. (Public domain image, Courtesy of Barbara J. Redwine).
Ms. Cannady is considered one of Oregon’s most prominent civil rights activists. She edited The Advocate, the state’s largest African American newspaper. Cannady was also a founding member of the Portland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1913. It was the first NAACP branch west of the Mississippi. She was a fierce advocate for equality, and regularly protested against segregation in business and government. In 1927, she represented Oregon in the Pan African Congress in New York City, and was a candidate for U.S. Congress in 1932.
* National Association for Multicultural Education on Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory may not bring us to the promised land. But banning efforts to engage in multicultural education goes against the very purpose of the National Association for Multicultural Education, NAME, and all of its members, including Skipping Stones magazine. Now is the time, as always, to stand up, to defend the right of educators to help prepare future generations of children to ensure the U.S., and the world, are more kind, loving, respectful and reflective of our beautiful range of racial, gendered, cultural and linguistic strengths. Read the full Critical Race Theory statement issued by NAME here.
* Late December was HOTTER in Alaska than in San Diego!
Parts of Alaska hit 65 to 67 °F. on Dec. 26th! And much of Alaska was 40 °F. above their average temperatures for late December. A study published last month in Nature Communications noted that “as the Arctic continues to warm faster than the rest of the planet, evidence mounts that the region is experiencing unprecedented environmental change.
*Archbishop Desmond Tutu No More!
The Nobel Peace Prize winner left behind a legacy of fighting for oppressed people in South Africa and around the world. He was an advocate for human rights, health equity, economic justice, and nonviolence, who helped lead the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the nation after President Nelson Mandela was elected. He died in Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 26th, 2021 at the age of 90.
*TAKE ACTION. Urge the U.S. Government to Protect the Oceans!
“Our oceans are in trouble — facing incredible threats from overfishing, offshore drilling, habitat loss, and plastic pollution. Along with climate change, these threats are altering our oceans in many ways.
Fish populations are declining around the world and more than a third of all marine mammals — including Southern Resident orcas and North Atlantic right whales — are threatened with extinction. While some areas off our shores are protected from certain human activities, only 3% of U.S. ocean waters are fully protected. We need to do better.
The Biden-Harris Administration has launched a nationwide effort to conserve and restore 30% of all U.S. lands and waters by 2030. This new “30×30” goal has the potential to establish a lasting, coherent approach with strong and meaningful protections for our oceans!” —Oceana.org
* World Car Free Day, Sept. 22. Our friend from India, Mr. T. Vijayendra, age 77, has been a ‘dedicated’ cyclist all his life, meaning, he neither took a driving license nor did he ever drive a fossil fuel based vehicle. He recently wrote an article about sustainable transportation for CounterCurrents.org:
“Today, September 22 is the World Car Free Day. It is celebrated in many cities around the world to create awareness about how our locality will look and feel like without cars. It started on an ad hoc basis after the 1973 oil crisis. Only in 2000 it became a self-standing day held on September 22. On this day a large number of cities around the world are invited to close their city centers to cars. Pedestrians, bicycles, public transit and other forms of sustainable transportation are encouraged on this day. People can reflect on what their city would look like with a lot fewer cars, and what might be needed to make this happen. Advocates claim that over 100 million people in 1,500 cities celebrate International Car-Free Day, though on days and in ways of their choice.”
You can read his complete article at: https://countercurrents.org/2021/09/world-car-free-day/
Thank you, Mr. T. Vijayendra, for your dedication and commitment to the sustainability issues of the day!
*We wish you a very happy Autumn Equinox and National Hispanic American Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct.15)!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) served as an associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court for 27 years. She was appointed by President Clinton and became the second woman to serve in this important judicial capacity after Sandra Day O’Connor. Justice Ginsburg was a well-known champion of gender equality and women’s rights. She died on September 18th, 2020, at the age of 87, after her battle with pancreatic cancer. You might like to watch RBG (2018), a documentary about her life to learn more about her.
Portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg by artist Alix Mosieur of Loraine, Oregon.
NEW! Welcome to a new school year! The 2021 Skipping Stones Awards issue featuring 2021 Book Awards, Youth Honor Awards and the Asian Celebration Haiku Contest has been released on Sept. 1st, just in time for the new school year. You can read it here. We will also be uploading a few Noteworthy entries (that we wanted to include in the new issue, but couldn’t do so for a lack of space) in the Contents Section later this month. Visit the website as often as you can.
NEW. The 2021 Skipping Stones Book Awards have been announced. You can download the 2021 Skipping Stones Honors List here. Our hearty congratulations to all the authors, illustrators and producers of these wonderful multicultural, international and nature awareness books. You can download the reviews of all the 2021 Skipping Stones Book Award Winners here. Thank you.
• June 21. Happy Summer! In the northern hemisphere, the days are the longest this time of the year. In the southern hemisphere, it is winter time, and the nights are the longest.
• May 26, The Netherlands: Climate activists everywhere are celebrating a Dutch District court’s verdict in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday that ordered fossil fuel giant Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions 45% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels. This is a historic ruling that activists hope will become just the beginning of holding the oil and gas industry accountable for driving the global climate emergency. The oil company expects to appeal the decision as expected. (Source: CommonDreams.org)
• May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! The Oregon Asian Celebration which had been planned as an outdoor Friday evening event for this month has been postponed until end of July due to the current high case load of Covid-19 in Oregon. While our Haiku Exhibit will be held as planned as a Window Front Exhibit at the Eugene Public Library for the month of May, we are also planning to have the exhibit during the Asian Celebration in July. Skipping Stones will publish select haiku and tanka poem entries in our next issue (to be published in September). The issue will also feature the annual Youth Honor Awards and the 2021 Book Awards.
• April 22. Happy Earth Day 2021. We have much to do if we want to change the ecologically destructive course that human society is on. Climate Crisis is here and we must act NOW to avoid this impending emergency. Read our editor’s Earth Day message here.
• April 15. A coalition of 36 organizations and 64 experts in child development and the impact of technology have appealed to Facebook with their concerns and asking that the ongoing development of an Instagram specifically designed for children ages 12 and younger be scrapped. The letter was written by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). Facebook and Instagram are officially restricted to users ages 13 and older, due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA. Although Instagram requires users to be at least 13, many younger children have lied about their age to set up accounts. (Source: commondreams.org)
• To help address the global economic inequality, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed support for a wealth tax on the world’s wealthy elites whose fortunes have soared during the coronavirus pandemic. He delivered his remarks at the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development. The coronavirus pandemic has already claimed the lives of more than 3 million people and it is far from over according to Mr. Guterres. He cited the “global vaccine gap,” and said there was a dollar figure on that inequity. He said the cost might be more than U.S. $9 trillion. “To end the pandemic for good,” said Guterres, “we need equitable access to vaccines for everyone, everywhere. (Source: commondreams.org)
• The month of April is celebrated as the National Poetry Month. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world that observes poetry’s important place in our lives. Skipping Stones publishes poetry by youth around the world. This week, we plan to publish two poems by Mohammed Faisal, a 19-year-old Rohingya poem living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Read some of the recently published poems on our website.
April 6, 2021: We must Act! For the first time in recorded history, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) surged past 420 parts per million (PPM) this past weekend, according to a measurement taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research station began collecting CO2 data in the late 1950s, the CO2 concentration was around 315 PPM. On Saturday, the daily average was 421.21 PPM. World leaders MUST take a note of this RED FLAG! (Source: commondreams.org)
• Replacing fossil fuel-based heating and cooking systems with electric technologies in our residential and commercial buildings in the country over the next 30 years would lead to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions—equivalent to removing 65 million cars from the road, according to a new study published by Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, and Frontier Group. The report—entitled Electric Buildings: Repowering Homes and Businesses for Our Health and Environment—documents how cutting fossil fuel usage out of homes and offices through electrification would decrease the carbon emissions driving the climate emergency, lower utility bills, and improve public health. (Source: commondreams.org)
• For years, plastic caught by fishermen on the Kollam coast in India’s southern state of Kerala was thrown back into the water, damaging aquatic ecosystems and killing fish. But fishermen are now helping clean up the ocean—along with their daily hauls of fish, they pull in and collect the waste that gets enmeshed in their nets. Bottles, ropes, toys, shoes, discarded fishing nets and plastic bags are sorted, washed, shredded, before being recycled into material added to asphalt to help to build local roads. In 2017, the Kerala state government launched its Suchitwa Sagaram (Clean Sea) initiative, providing nylon bags to the 1,000 or so fishing boats to collect the plastic rubbish. The plastic is processed onshore and fed into a shredding machine, then sold on to road-builders. Nearly 3,000 fishermen and boat owners in Kollam are participating in this GREEN initiative. (Source: HPI, Hindu Press International).
April 1, 2021: Youth climate leader Greta Thunberg expressed frustration with inadequate climate response by world governments, given the urgency of the climate crisis. Commondreams.org, a nonprofit news website, reported that in an interview published on 31 March, Greta told the Financial Times , “We need to stop focusing on dates and numbers and actually accept and acknowledge the fact that we need to reduce our emissions right now,” and “We can talk about 2030 or 2040 as much as we want. But it is what we are doing (right) now that really matters.” (Source: commondreams.org)
Spring Equinox Greetings!
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Wings of Freedom
By Rohan Pathikonda, age 8, Karnataka, INDIA -
Winged Kookaburra
By by Rohan Pathikonda, age 8, Karnataka, INDIA
March: Women’s History Month; March 8th: International Women’s Day
Noteworthy N.E.W.S. (NorthEastWestSouth)
• March 22. Thousands of Experts Urge World Leaders to Put Marine Ecosystems at the Heart of Climate Policy. A healthy ocean, teeming with life, is vital to tackle global heating. The oceans are under threat like never before. Written by the Environmental Justice Foundation, and endorsed by more than 3,000 scientists, politicians, and other public figures, the open letter urges national governments to recognize the critical importance of our oceans in our fight against the climate emergency. It is now open to public signature and will be presented to governments before November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. —CommonDreams.org
• March 19. Fridays for Future youth climate strikers returned to streets around the world to demand urgent, ambitious action on the global climate emergency. “The first step must be to start treating it like a crisis and to just take in the full picture, to see this in a holistic point of view,” Greta Thunberg, age 18, who began the youth movement, said. “Science says that we can still avoid the worst consequences. So it’s possible, but it’s not possible if we continue like today.” —CommonDreams.org
• March 17. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), during the last six months, over 12 million people were displaced internally, and over 80% of these forced displacements were due to disasters, mostly caused by climate and weather extremes. Asia had more climate related refugees than any other region in the world. —CommonDreams.org
• March 12. Now that the United States has joined the Paris Agreement, the government is preparing to unveil a new domestic emissions reduction target. The U.S. is expected to announce its Paris Agreement pledge for 2030 prior to a climate leaders’ summit which will be held at the White House on Earth Day 2021 (April 22). To meet its long-term target of net-zero emissions by 2050, the United States must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 60% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Climate Action Tracker (CAT) found that in order for the U.S. to do its fair share to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C by the end of the century, the country must reduce at least 57% to 63% of its emissions by the end of the decade and provide financial support to developing nations striving to transition away from climate-destroying fossil fuels.
The tropical forests, including the Amazon Rainforest, could soon stop serving as our carbon sinks. A new study that takes into account other greenhouse gases (as the Carbon dioxide is not a lone actor) suggests the world’s largest rainforest may already be contributing to the warming of the planet. The outlook from the Amazon is that the impacts of human activities will be worse than we realize. —CommonDreams.org
• March 12. A report from leading economists including Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Spence (released by the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s Commission on Global Economic Transformation) rebukes the “ugliness of vaccine hoarding” by some wealthy nations and calls for a suspension of pharmaceutical companies’ patent rights to counter the unequal access to vaccine doses and thus help end the coronavirus pandemic. The authors point to the glaring deficiencies in our global debt regime and frame their proposals as immediate measures that would foster robust recovery. There have been “unseemly and unfair vaccine grabs by the governments of some of the advanced countries,” the report says. —CommonDreams.org
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, says that although Black History Month has ended, Black History should be celebrated all year long. NAACP works all year long to improve their life, and to empower the community to harness their full potential.
• February was celebrated as the Black History Month in the nation, but we needn’t stop! Let’s continue learning our multicultural history.
We invite you to explore a few thought-provoking writings, poems, plays, art, and/or movies by African American authors, artists and/or directors. Need ideas? Start with some famous authors like Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovani, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, or others. You can ask your school teacher/librarian, your parents, or a reference librarian at your public library for book recommendations.** The poem Hill We Climb (see below) is also a great start. Several issues of Skipping Stones* have poems and writings by African American authors, both aspiring and established. There are also some excellent educational and entertaining films pertaining to this subject. Ask your librarian about a few recommendations.
• The current issue of Skipping Stones features an essay: Muted: Fifth Grade Conversations About Slavery by Iris Haq Lukoyo, a ten-year-old African American girl. Julianne McShane, a freelance journalist working with the Lily, the gender-focused publication of the Washington Post, saw it online and wrote a thought-provoking article featuring Iris’s experiences that enabled her to write the essay. We highly recommend this wonderful article by Julianne in The Lily. Click on the link below to read it! https://www.thelily.com/shes-the-only-black-kid-in-her-fifth-grade-class-she-spoke-up-when-slavery-wasnt-included-in-a-lesson-plan/
** Here is one such book on this topic Have I ever told you: Black Lives Matter by Shani Mahiri King (Tilbury House Publishers, Tilburyhouse.com). This book affirms the message repeatedly and tenderly throughout its 80 pages. It honors many Black role models and celebrates their achievements in all walks of life… arts, literature, music, sports, theater, science and more. Short biographies of 116 featured role models follow the short, bold main text of the book. A great read for all ages!
• Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center for the last three decades, has a new name now: Learning for Justice! Please visit them at www.learningforjustice.org
• The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman, California:
Washington, DC. Jan. 21, 2021: Amanda Gorman, the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate from California, was invited to recite her poem, The Hill We Climb, during the January 20th inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, in Washington, DC. Amanda has received high praise for her presentation. As a multicultural magazine for today’s youth, Skipping Stones is pleased to share the profound words she shared in front of a national audience of millions of people. Amanda’s dream is to become the President of United States in January 2037. Click on the link below to read the poem. https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/2021/01/22/the-hill-we-climb/
You can also watch Amanda’s January 20th presentation on Youtube.