# data[].attributes.headline
Does my Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

# data[].attributes.subject
Does my Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

# data[].attributes.body
A novel that follows a young girl and her choice to wear a hijab. The story shows the mixed reactions from the people around her and addresses stereotypes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Don't panic - I'm Islamic! Amal is a 16-year-old Melbourne teen with all the usual obsessions about boys, chocolate and Cosmo magazine. She's also a Muslim, struggling to honour the Islamic faith in a society that doesn't understand it. The story of her decision to "shawl up" is funny, surprising and touching by turns.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Don't panic - I'm Islamic! Amal is a 16-year-old Melbourne teen with all the usual obsessions about boys, chocolate and Cosmo magazine. She's also a Muslim, struggling to honour the Islamic faith in a society that doesn't understand it. The story of her decision to "shawl up" is funny, surprising and touching by turns.

# data[].attributes.headline
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

# data[].attributes.subject
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

# data[].attributes.body
A novel that presents two Latino boys and their seemingly different lives as they grow together and discover themselves. It addresses their struggles with identity, familial bonds and sexuality.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Benjamin Alire Sáenz is an author of poetry and prose for adults and teens. He is the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the American Book Award for his books for adults. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was a Printz Honor Book, the Stonewall Award winner, the Pura Belpre Award winner, the Lambda Literary Award winner, and a finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. His first novel for teens, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, was an ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His second book for teens, He Forgot to Say Goodbye, won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, the Southwest Book Award, and was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. He teaches creative writing at the University of Texas, El Paso.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This Printz Honor Book is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world.

# data[].attributes.body
This book addresses race relations and the problem with racial profiling as a young man that is considered “a good kid” seems to counteract the narrative given to black males.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Powerful, wrenching." -JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down

"Raw and gripping." -JASON REYNOLDS, New York Times bestselling coauthor of All American Boys

"A must-read!" -ANGIE THOMAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give

Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning #1 New York Times bestselling debut, a William C. Morris Award Finalist.
Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.

Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up-- way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.

"Vivid and powerful." -Booklist, Starred Review

"A visceral portrait of a young man reckoning with the ugly, persistent violence of social injustice." -Publishers Weekly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Powerful, wrenching." -JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down "Raw and gripping." -JASON REYNOLDS, New York Times bestselling coauthor of All American Boys "A must-read!"

# data[].attributes.headline
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story

# data[].attributes.subject
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story

# data[].attributes.body
This TED Talk introduces the idea of “single stories” in a personal approach to dismantling prejudice and ideologies that attack identity. Her speech emphasizes the individual and intersectionality.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

# data[].attributes.headline
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

# data[].attributes.subject
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

# data[].attributes.body
This book takes on the form of a letter to the speaker's son as it uses a blend of narrative and reports of events surrounding racism as a means to introduce racial injustice in a personal way. It presents characters that show the effects of racism through mindsets and works to combine modern and historical representations of racial injustice as a whole. An example from the text of Eurocentric beauty standards: “[she was] told as a young woman that she was really pretty for a darkskinned girl” (Coates 65).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST

Hailed by Toni Morrison as "required reading," a bold and personal literary exploration of America's racial history by "the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race" (Rolling Stone)

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN * NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review * O: The Oprah Magazine * The Washington Post * People * Entertainment Weekly * Vogue * Los Angeles Times * San Francisco Chronicle * Chicago Tribune * New York * Newsday * Library Journal * Publishers Weekly

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation's history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men--bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates's attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son--and readers--the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children's lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST Hailed by Toni Morrison as "required reading," a bold and personal literary exploration of America's racial history

# data[].attributes.body
This poem, especially when spoken aloud, introduces the power in ones voice. She talks about how Eurocentric beauty standards have overcome people's minds, including her mothers, as they attack curly hair.

# data[].attributes.body
When a black man is shot by a white man whose charges are dropped, the community shares their split opinions on the matter. It provides several points of view to reveal different accounts of the story as a means to prove that death’s effects are not singular.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white.

In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. Day by day, new twists further obscure the truth.

Tariq's friends, family, and community struggle to make sense of the tragedy, and to cope with the hole left behind when a life is cut short. In their own words, they grapple for a way to say with certainty: This is how it went down.

This title has Common Core connections.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Honor BookWhen sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white.In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up.

# data[].attributes.body
A slam poet addresses the nature hooked to stereotypes of Asians. He provides information regarding where these racist names come from and appeals to the idea that by generalizing, we are perpetuating oppression.

# data[].attributes.headline
Snapshots for Social Justice: Social Media for Advocacy

# data[].attributes.subject
Snapshots for Social Justice: Social Media for Advocacy

# data[].attributes.body
This video introduces the power of pictures. The speaker inputs images and works to show the power behind each one of these social issues and interactions. She presents images as a window into change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Snapshots for Social Justice: Social Media for Advocacy

# data[].attributes.headline
A Muslim and Jewish girl's bold poetry slam

# data[].attributes.subject
A Muslim and Jewish girl's bold poetry slam

# data[].attributes.body
Two girls, one Muslim and one Jewish, address the effects of prejudice in their slam poem while they discuss stereotypes and the similarities they share despite their differences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Muslim and Jewish girl's bold poetry slam

# data[].attributes.headline
The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons - The Sentencing Project

# data[].attributes.subject
The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons - The Sentencing Project

# data[].attributes.body
This is a report that includes statistics and current events surrounding racism and the prison system.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck in 2020, the world witnessed the most racist elements of the U.S. criminal legal system on broad display. The uprisings that followed Floyd's death articulated a vision for transforming public safety practices and investments. Almost one year later, Chauvin was convicted for Floyd's death, a rare outcome among law enforcement officers who kill unarmed citizens. The fight for racial justice within the criminal legal system continues, however. The data findings featured in this report epitomize the enormity of the task.

This report details our observations of staggering disparities among Black and Latinx people imprisoned in the United States given their overall representation in the general population. The latest available data regarding people sentenced to state prison reveal that Black Americans are imprisoned at a rate that is roughly five times the rate of white Americans. During the present era of criminal justice reform, not enough emphasis has been focused on ending racial and ethnic disparities systemwide.

Going to prison is a major life-altering event that creates obstacles to building stable lives in the community, such as gaining employment and finding stable and safe housing after release. Imprisonment also reduces lifetime earnings and negatively affects life outcomes among children of incarcerated parents. These are individual-level consequences of imprisonment but there are societal level consequences as well: high levels of imprisonment in communities cause high crime rates and neighborhood deterioration, thus fueling greater disparities. This cycle both individually and societally is felt disproportionately by people who are Black. It is clear that the outcome of mass incarceration today has not occurred by happenstance but has been designed through policies created by a dominant white culture that insists on suppression of others.

At the same time, states have begun to chip away at mass incarceration. Nine states have lowered their prison population by 30% or more in recent years: Alaska, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Alabama, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, and California. This decline has been accomplished through a mix of reforms to policy and practice that reduce prison admissions as well as lengths of stay in prison. Still, America maintains its distinction as the world leader in its use of incarceration, including more than 1.2 million people held in state prisons around the country.

Truly meaningful reforms to the criminal justice system cannot be accomplished without acknowledgement of its racist underpinnings. Immediate and focused attention on the causes and consequences of racial disparities is required in order to eliminate them. True progress towards a racially just system requires an understanding of the variation in racial and ethnic inequities in imprisonment across states and the policies and day-to-day practices that drive these inequities.

This report documents the rates of incarceration for whites, African Americans, and Latinx individuals, providing racial and ethnic composition as well as rates of disparity for each state. The Sentencing Project has produced state-level estimates twice before and once again finds staggering disproportionalities.

Key findings

1. Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly 5 times the rate of white Americans.

2. Nationally, one in 81 Black adults in the U.S. is serving time in state prison. Wisconsin leads the nation in Black imprisonment rates; one of every 36 Black Wisconsinites is in prison.

3. In 12 states, more than half the prison population is Black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

4. Seven states maintain a Black/white disparity larger than 9 to 1: California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.

5. Latinx individuals are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 1.3 times the incarceration rate of whites. Ethnic disparities are highest in Massachusetts, which reports an ethnic differential of 4.1:1.

Recommendations

1. Eliminate mandatory sentences for all crimes.
Mandatory minimum sentences, habitual offender laws, and mandatory transfer of juveniles to the adult criminal system give prosecutors too much authority while limiting the discretion of impartial judges. These policies contributed to a substantial increase in sentence length and time served in prison, disproportionately imposing unduly harsh sentences on Black and Latinx individuals.

2. Require prospective and retroactive racial impact statements for all criminal statutes.
The Sentencing Project urges states to adopt forecasting estimates that will calculate the impact of proposed crime legislation on different populations in order to minimize or eliminate the racially disparate impacts of certain laws and policies. Several states have passed "racial impact statement" laws. To undo the racial and ethnic disparity resulting from decades of tough-on-crime policies, however, states should also repeal existing racially biased laws and policies. The impact of racial impact laws will be modest at best if they remain only forward looking.

3. Decriminalize low-level drug offenses.
Discontinue arrest and prosecutions for low-level drug offenses which often lead to the accumulation of prior convictions which accumulate disproportionately in communities of color. These convictions generally drive further and deeper involvement in the criminal legal system.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons | The Sentencing Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This report details our observations of staggering disparities among Black and Latinx people imprisoned in the United States given their overall representation in the general population. The latest available data regarding people sentenced to state prison reveal that Black Americans are imprisoned at a rate that is roughly five times the rate of white Americans.

# data[].attributes.body
Based in the 70’s, this book introduces a young girl and her fight against racism in her Catholic school. She represents a strong and articulate woman fighting against prejudice in a world stacked against her.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Philly native Roberta Forest is a precocious rebel with the soul of a poet. The thirteen-year-old is young, gifted, black, and Catholic-although she's uncertain about the Catholic part after she calls Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite for enslaving people and her nun responds with a racist insult. Their ensuing fight makes Roberta question God and the important adults in her life, all of whom seem to see truth as gray when Roberta believes it's black or white.

An upcoming essay contest, writing poetry, and reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X all help Roberta cope with the various difficulties she's experiencing in her life, including her parent's troubled marriage. But when she's told she's ineligible to compete in the school's essay contest, her explosive reaction to the news leads to a confrontation with her mother, who shares some family truths Roberta isn't ready for.

Set against the backdrop of Watergate and the post-civil rights movement era, Malcolm and Me is a gritty yet graceful examination of the anguish teens experience when their growing awareness of themselves and the world around them unravels their sense of security-a coming-of-age tale of truth-telling, faith, family, forgiveness, and social activism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Philly native Roberta Forest is a precocious rebel with the soul of a poet. The thirteen-year-old is young, gifted, black, and Catholic-although she's uncertain about the Catholic part after she calls Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite for enslaving people and her nun responds with a racist insult.