Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice

My Thoughts:

This graphic novel is reminiscent of the three graphic novels by the late Senator John Lewis, March. Taking place in a similar time, Dr. Smith's childhood in poverty as the son of a sharecropper is interspersed with the lead up to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico where Smith and his teammate John Carlos stood on the winner's podium after their track victory and raised their gloved hand in protest as the American flag was raised. This is an iconic photo usually seen in college history books with Smith and Carlos sharing one pair of black leather gloves. 

What needs to be learned from this book, and that is not talked about enough, is the backlash that these athletes received because of this silent protest. Although it is not true that their medals were stripped from them, when readers understand how these athletes were treated, then it is easier to understand why Kapaernick has never played in the NFL since his own silent protest.  This is a great time for this graphic novel to come out. Despite our seeming lack of progress in social equity and anti racist movements, despite our overturning of rights and our continued segregated schools, we need to find hope in these stories that the fight continues. 

From the Publisher:

On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.

Black-and-white illustrations throughout

Author: Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes

Illustrator: Dawud Anyabwile

Publisher: Norton Young Readers

Pubication date: September 27, 2022

Fine: A Comic About Gender

 

Publication date: April 5, 2022

My Thoughts:

This comic starts with the author/ilustrator's own niggling question about gender and how gender is defined. As they went further into collecting stories from a diverse group of people in the American Midwest, Rhea moved from outsider researcher to insider participant. The initial question moves from a scientific curiosity to a personal quest for self. 

What I appreciate about this is that like the anthology Growing Up Trans: In Our Own Words, this comic's power is in Rhea's ability to be a participant in their own truth seeking. This kind of honesty around grasping complexity, including going further into culture and diversity to further complicate simple answers is helpful for young students who are themselves trying to identify and define themselves beyond the binary markers that are set forth for them in the home, in the school, even in society.

As teachers, if we do not have a book like this or Growing up Trans in our classroom, the message we are sending is that it is not important. Even if we are well meaning and have just not thought about it or seen something like this as a gap in our classroom library, we are in fact making a statement.  As part of our social equity agenda as teachers, we need to diversify our bookshelves and bring forward stories that address more than just race. This is a great start. 

From the Publisher:

As graphic artist Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in which they eagerly approached both friends and strangers in their quiet Midwest town for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, this project exploded into a sweeping portrait of the intricacies of gender expression with interviewees from all over the country. Questions such as “How do you Identify” produced fiercely honest stories of dealing with adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns—and how these experiences can differ, often drastically, depending on culture, race, and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own story of growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager, and ultimately finding themself through art—and by creating something this very fine. Tender and wise, inclusive and inviting, Fine is an indispensable account for anyone eager to define gender in their own terms.

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American

 

Publication date: March 8, 2022

My Thoughts:

Messy Roots is a funny, self-deprecating coming of age and coming out memoir of Chinese immigrant, queer, Wuhanese American Laura Gao. Born in the idyllic countryside in Wuhan, "Laura" and her family move to Texas where she literally is the unctious stinky tofu in a land of McDonaldʻs french fries. 

Gao does a great job in her memoir of being both a timeless story as well as a timely story. For example, she has the typical immigrant experience of moving from Asia to the heart of America, where even in Texas there are a few Asians in her school, but none of them from Wuhan. She takes on a more American name, plays sports at school (basketball), realizes that she likes girls and comes out to some of her friends and her brother, all the while being afraid to disappoint her parents. That part of her story is timeless. 

But when COVID-19 hits, Wuhan and being from Wuhan, even looking Asian becomes a traumatic experience for Asian Americans, and Gao does not shy away from that timely story in this memoir. I appreciate how this soon to be released graphic memoir does not shy away from the difficulty, nor does it show Gao as a victim, but as  a strong, resilient artist. 

From the Publisher:

After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars—at least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name.

In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.