DC Author Helps Adults Talk Tough Topics with Kids

Article edited by RootFolkz Poetz Press rootfolks@gmail.com

New book “Say Their Names” is a guide that contains gifts of hope and courage.

Caroline Brewer is coming home and she’s bringing her new book about 7-year-old Aliya who leads a community march to recognize and remember the fallen.

“Mama, daddy, I want to say their names. Get out the backseat. Put a pause on my games. Color outside the lines, and loudly proclaim love for myself as I say their names.”

Most people know the names of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, and Tamir Rice, but the Black women who’ve fallen are who Aliya first identifies: Aiyanna Stanley-Jones, Breonna Taylor, Eleanor Bumpurs, and Sandra Bland among others taken by senseless police violence.

The picture book “Say Their Names” was inspired by the author and literacy consultant’s 2020 visit to DC’s Black Lives Matter Plaza, in Washington, DC. Brewer said, “Say Their Names is poetry, history, and an invitation to a love-inspired future that comes with more than 30 ‘gifts’ for children, such as hope, courage, and empowerment.”

Talking tough topics with our children is a matter of helping them to stay safe while holding their heads high in self-pride and respect for their people. That’s what native daughter Caroline Brewer brings home two days after Thanksgiving, Saturday, November 26th, with a rousing Book Party hosted by PoADEC (People of Afrikan Descent Elders Council) from 2:00- 5:00 PM, at Historic Turner Chapel AME Church.

“As we have seen, especially since September 11, 2001, traumatic incidents, such as school shootings, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, racist and religious attacks, wars, pandemics, and the like, keep happening seemingly with greater frequency here and all over the world,” said Brewer. “In the face of the world’s ugliness, we’ll be counting on today’s youth to one day stand tall and lead our families, communities, and countries. So, it’s critical that we – and they -- are equipped with the confidence, language, empathy, mental and emotional stamina to handle the hard stuff.”

Brewer, who has discussed books about tough topics with children for 20 years, believes “Say Their Names,” and similar works, can help today. She said that the child’s voice in this story tells us it’s critical that adults help children process major social events and give them safe spaces to imagine the kinds of changes that can heal and unite us. The leadership presence of the child also reminds us of the roles that children have played in social justice movements. There were yesterday’s young civil rights leaders, such as then-6-year-old Ruby Bridges and the teens of the Little Rock Nine. In 2012, we had Malala Yousafzai, of Pakistan raising her voice, for the rights of girls to receive an education. Today there are climate leaders, such as Jerome Foster II, of D.C., Greta Thunberg, of Sweden, and Vanessa Nakate, of Uganda who inspire us.   

Brewer added that Aliya brings attention to the fact that police and racial violence have impacts on children in communities where these tragedies take place, and in society at large. Indeed, some recent victims have been children, such as 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones of Detroit, 12-year-old Tamir Rice of Cleveland, and 8-year-old Fanta Bility of Philadelphia.

A literacy activist, many of Brewer’s 13 books are available through the Allen County Public Library, and “Say Their Names” is in stock at Barnes & Noble at Jefferson Pointe and Glenbrook.

Brewer’s Book Party follows up to PoADEC’s October feature presentation of author George Middleton’s important work Kids Are Not Krayons. The Elder Council is emphasizing the importance of the clarity of identity for People of Afrikan Descent as the U.S. leaps to the political right. Today can easily be seen as a throwback to historical times when Black Lives were physically, psychologically, and emotionally endangered by jealous rampaging mobs of white supremacists. PoADEC will continue the Identity Project series in February with Elder Kétu Oladuwa’s Real Talk at the Crossroads.

For more information about the author, email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com.

For more information about PoADEC email poadec.comm@gmail.com or call 260.438.2929.