Isn’t that a huge cultural blind spot?
It has been speculated that the white race will not be a majority anymore in 2040 in the US!
It has also been speculated that in the next century, most people will be bi-racial. What an incredible change if you know that 17 states had laws against bi-racial marriages still in the sixties!
So, it’s time to face our blindspots.
The way I look at this fabulous picture (see up) is asking myself how many books should actually be represented knowing the percentage of US ethnic groups in 2010?
Native: 1% (books represented: 0.9%)
Latinx: 17% (books represented: 2.4%)
Asian: 5 % (books represented: 3.3%)
Biracial: 3% (n/a)
African-American: 13% (books represented: 7.6%)
White: 61% (books represented: 73.3%)
What this chart does not show is that a good number of the books were actually written by white people, through the eyes of a white person. Now, these writers might live with minorities or know them well (at least they thought about our diversity and tried to include it in their books, which is wonderful), but minorities and #ownvoice are still under-representated.
This month many bloggers, publishers, and book lovers are gathering to review multicultural books. You can too!
They are giving a FREE diversity children's book to anyone who will review on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or blog.
As for me, I am very excited about the wonderful book I have been assigned!
Here is more info about the event:
“Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.”
Join the fun!
RESOURCES:
The Brown Bookshelf. <https://thebrownbookshelf.com/>
Miss T's Book Room. <https://askmskt.blogspot.com/>
Skipping Stones Magazine. <http://www.skippingstones.org/>
Changing Faces." Nationa Geographic. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-text>
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Multicultural Book Day. <http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/multicultural-childrens-book-day-sponsorships-2017-are-open/>
Hashtag: #ReadYourWorld.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalChildrensBookDay
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MCChildsBookDay