Hi Reader,

It has been horrific watching ICE tear families apart, devastate immigrant communities, and unleash violence on immigrants and allies alike.

The pain I feel comes not only from watching what is happening in Minneapolis, but also from learning from activist friends in Memphis about what ICE's presence is doing here (though it doesn't make many headlines.)

Since September, at least 1,500 federal agents, along with several hundred National Guard and 300 state troopers have turned my city upside down. State troopers and sometimes local law enforcement are racially profiling drivers. Once they are pulled over, ICE swoops in and arrests people. Bystanders who try to film are sometimes harassed and threatened. The day in, day out pace of it all is heartbreaking and exhausting.

As I read people's reactions to ICE's devastation of Memphis and Minneapolis and so many other places, one response comes up fairly often: "this is not who we are."

Now, I understand the intention behind this statement. The violence in speech and action. The cruelty towards immigrants and People of Color and even to white people if they push back at all. This doesn't fit with the idealized way we often describe America.

It isn't who we want to be. And for most of us who are white, this has not been our experience of what America is.

But if we look at U.S. history, it becomes clear that there is a long and consistent pattern of tearing families apart.

• Having no regard for families and selling enslaved children away from their parents was foundational to slavery.
• U.S. policy towards Native Americans forced children into boarding schools, where they faced violence, cultural erasure, and often didn't see their parents for years at a time.
• Mass deportation campaigns are also not a recent phenomenon in the United States. Under the "Mexican Repatriation" policy of the late 1920s and early 1930s, approximately two million people - including many U.S. citizens - were deported to Mexico.

It's important that we talk with children about what is happening right now to immigrant families and those who stand up with them.

It's also important that we connect the present with the past. Both the cruelty - and the resistance by brave people to that cruelty - have a long history.

Sometimes finding the right words or a good starting place is hard. In my experience, sensitively written children's books have helped get hard conversations started again and again.

In my guide From the Margins to the Center: A People's History of the United States Told Through Children's Books, you'll find engaging non-fiction and historical fiction books that are truthful about injustice and that shine a light on people and movements that resisted.

These books will teach kids about events, people, and movements including:

• Wong Kim Ark, who successfully pushed back against U.S. officials who said his Chinese ancestry meant he was not a citizen, despite having been born in the U.S. (His case is so important to know about as Trump is trying to end birthright citizenship.)
• How Underground Railroad member William Still used meticulous interviews and records to reunite families after escaping slavery.
• Solidarity between the Choctaw Nation and enslaved Black people in Mississippi that allowed some enslaved people to find freedom on Choctaw land.
• The ways that the "Mexican Repatriation" policy and immigration raids of the 1930s affected children and families.

I created From the Margins to the Center to help children understand the patterns and themes of U.S. history, especially when viewed through the perspective of groups like People of Color, immigrants, women, disabled people, and LGBTQ people.

But this isn't just learning about the past for its own sake. I hope that young people - and the adults who nurture them - will apply what they are learning to right now. Stories can inspire them to find their own ways of speaking up and resisting, as well as support others who are doing so.

That's why during February, I am donating 25% of the proceeds of From the Margins to the Center to Vecindarios 901, the leading group responding to the immigration crackdown here in Memphis.

​Vecindarios 901 is a rapid response network in Memphis that sends out volunteers whenever they receive calls about immigration activity. Thousands of people rely on their social media posts and reporting system to avoid areas that are "hot" with ICE activity. Volunteers' presence sometimes causes ICE to disperse without detaining anyone. When people are arrested, V901 helps connect them with a variety of support services.

The painful truth is that what is happening in the United States right now is a reflection of how the powerful have shaped our nation for a long time.

But it is also true that like brave and visionary people who have come before us, we can push our nation to become a more just and compassionate place.

With solidarity and hope,

Rebekah

Rebekah Gienapp (she/her/hers) | rebekahgienapp.com | Connect on Instagram | Coffees for Gaza |