As two individuals who are either first generation immigrants or have immigrated ourselves from a foreign country to the United States, we have experienced marginalization in our very own lives, such as in the TV shows we watch, the books we read, and many other things that we see everyday.

There are many different places where voices are not heard in society. There are voices such as immigrants, the disabled, and homeless people. It is essential that these voices are heard because they will start to feel as if they are not important in society, even though that definitely is not the case. We desire to give the voiceless a voice, and to give people an opportunity to see themselves reflected into society so they can appreciate themselves more.

There are a number of voices represented in this anthology, ranging from people with autism, people who are homeless, immigrants, African-Americans, disabled people, Muslims, people in poverty, and LGBTQ community. Our mission is to represent these voices in a good light so people can appreciate those categories a lot more, and we hope our anthology can help many different people.

Sincerely,

Janardhan and Vivan

Agarwal gives hope to all of the people in the world that are in poverty or in a bad place in life by describing how his life turned around once he started to work very hard to get what he wanted. The message here is very inspiring and everyone who is in the same situation can benefit from the piece. Agrawal shows representation because he is representing the people in poverty and the struggles that they experience by showing how the things that he went through affected his entire life, and he even says, “Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.” He also shows how in society, the people with the money have the power over the people without the money, and how the powerless get beat up by the people with the power. This is very important because people all over the world are struggling with money issues, while we are spending away on things that are not necessary for our lives, and we do not even acknowledge the people who are struggling.

Tourville’s work is very important in society. When young children start growing up and start having to interact with people that are different from them, they may not understand and they may act the wrong way towards them which is why they need to understand these things at an early age. Tourville does a great job representing the people with autism in a good way which is important. There are not many books that have people with autism, so this book belongs in this anthology.

In this story, Bunting does a really good job representing people who are struggling with finding a home. It shows how frustrating it is to find a home in this society and how to survive. It also shows how hard it is to find help because in the story, the father is working with an extremely low pay and cannot even find another job to sustain the family. Bunting also shows the how the powerless are struggling. In this story, the other people in the airport have power over the people who are homeless because they can send them home very soon just by figuring out that they have been living there. Also, it shows how they have the power when the boy sees the people who get off flights and talk about how they are “happy to be home”, and the boy got angry. They are a lot more privileged, and it is shown very well in the book. This story belongs in this anthology because homeless people are not represented in society enough, and they are ignored even though they are struggling a lot in society.

Rudder’s social commentary about how immigrants are being treated in America is very prominent here because he is explaining how Americans are turning against immigrants and how society is a lot less accepting of immigrants as well. Also, Rudder’s use of juxtaposition in the song is very powerful too. He talks about what America is doing wrong with immigrants and then goes on to say what should be happening and how immigrants are going nowhere. This song belongs in this anthology because immigrants are not represented in society enough, and this song is very empowering.

Tukamushaba represents women because she is standing up for what she believes is right for women in her village and that is very important. Women around the world struggle for some of the same problems that Tukamushaba is facing in her life, so this story is very empowering for them. Also, the Tukamushaba is showing who has the power and who has the privilege in this village. It is clear that the males in this community have the power over the women, which is shown when she talks about how the men abuse the women and when she explains how men sometimes steal the women’s crops and sell them as their own. This shows how the men are a lot more privileged than the women because they can get away from doing these things, 

And Tango Makes Three is a really good story for children even though it is an actual event that took place in real life. The authors represent the LGBTQ community in a very good way by showing how being different from other does not make you less capable of doing anything. Roy and Silo were able to raise their own kid just like any other couple which is very empowering for the LGBTQ community. Since this is also a children’s book, it is putting the idea in their minds that being different does not make you less capable at an early age which is very good because they will grow up to be very accepting of these things. The LGBTQ community does not get represented that well in society and there is still a lot of problems in society regarding them to this book belongs in this anthology.