Hi all,
Welcome to February. It’s Black History Month, and I’ll start by offering this, from the NAACP: “Black people’s accomplishments and gains deserve a place in history outside of February. It’s time to invest in Black history all year long.”
What does that look like in action, to invest in Black history all year long? The NAACP, which is the organization that Ideas Over Drinks will be contributing to in February, spells out some tangible steps here, and I urge you to take a look and decide if you can enact any of them, especially if you’re in a position of relative power in whatever work space you might inhabit. Companies started talking about stepping up their Diversity & Inclusion efforts en masse last summer, and now is the time to keep the pressure on these companies to walk that talk. Now is also the time for people—myself included—to step up and work towards racial equity beyond just the moments when it’s trending online. It shouldn’t take another murder, another Black life that gets turned into a hashtag, to get everybody fully attuned to race and racism.
All that said, if you are doing some work in getting attuned to race and racism, or if you just need a place to start, know that 1) you’re not alone, and 2) I have a book for you. It’s called The ABCs of Black History, and it’s by Rio Cortez, with pictures by Lauren Semmer. It’s a children’s book, and yet like all my favorite children’s books, I think adults could learn from it just as much if not more than the kids they’re reading it to.
This book takes the usual ABC format—A is for apple and astronaut, B is for bath and blah blah blah—and elevates it to the next level. Here we have lines like “B is for beautiful—I’m talking to you! Your voice, your height, your hair, your hue,” and “D is for diaspora—pulled from our homes, we were carried away in ships on the foam…” The ABCs of Black History is filled with Black changemakers from across generations, from Nefertiti to MLK to DJ Kool Herc. I read it to my daughters earlier this week, and while 5-year-old EJ can usually stay focused on a book of its length without any problem, her little sister Juni often dips out before the halfway point to go make some pretend waffles or something. But Juni stayed locked in on it all the way, which I think is a testament to Cortez’s rhythmic and vibrant verse, and how well it interplays with Semmer’s bold, colorful artwork.
To me, one of the most powerful entries is for the letter U. It begins: “U is for United States—this story is tough. The birth of a nation was deadly for us. We the people? In the land of the free? No one who was enslaved would agree.” A few lines later, it concludes with “So U is for unfinished, this American tale. With courage and strength, we will prevail!” I love this, the way the text takes the myth of the universal American Dream and recasts it as a tragic and yet ultimately hopeful story that is still being told. The book is packed with activists who have worked to rewrite that story, with their lives and accomplishments detailed in a robust back matter section.
The extensive terms and figures section at the end of the book can also help equip parents and caregivers for the task of explaining complex events in truthful language that kids can understand. This task might feel daunting, especially if you haven’t talked much to your kids about race. As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, we have talked quite a bit about race in our family, and yet that doesn’t mean it was easy for me to explain the transatlantic slave trade and the African diaspora to my young daughters. It wasn’t. But I did it anyway. I tried to unpack some of these stories that no one ever told me the whole truth about when I was younger. I’m not saying did an exceptional job of it, but because of dynamic books on Black history like this one, with the help of authors like Rio Cortez, I at least have a chance to try.
Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope you’re getting something useful out of this newsletter. If you are, please share it with friends! If not, you can go ahead and keep it to yourself :) Seriously though, the comments below are open to everyone, so please, drop me a line if you like; I’d love to hear any feedback or questions you have.
And just in case you’re new to the cadence here: the first email of the month (or the first two if you’re a subscriber) is usually ideas/books-focused like this one; the second one (or last two for subscribers) lands a bit more on the drinks side of things. Like I mentioned above, the organization we’re contributing to in February is the NAACP. This means 20% of the profits from subscriptions, along with 20% of commissions from the Ideas Over Drinks Bookshop.org page, will go directly to them.
Until next time, when I’ll be playing around with some new concoctions later in the month, I hope you’re eating and drinking well. Which reminds me: if anyone made the honey turmeric syrup for the mocktail from last month (which I thought was delicious), I strongly advise you not to make an egg white Whiskey Sour with it. I made one for Jenny and I last weekend, and it tasted like a damn cough drop. It was… well, it was just not tasty.
Yours in humility,
J.
Outstanding J! Should be a must read for all young parents. Attitudes and values form early. Honest story telling at an early age will carry on Into adulthood and help create a true “United States”
Indeed, we need to invest in Black history month all year long. I actually reviewed all the books I read in 2020 and noticed a pattern: a majority of the English books I read were written by white men. I wasn't aware of this when I was reading these books - I just read the books that sounded good at the moment. This year, I'm doing something different - I made a list of books I want to read and focused on books that are written by minority groups, especially women of color. Just finished listening to Hood Feminism yesterday and boy, it was powerful! Definitely gave me a new perspective on feminism - thanks for the recommendation. Love that you are having these uncomfortable conversations with your daughters early on. Taking notes!