In this YA version of White Rage, Carol Anderson illustrates a history of racism in America. From the Civil War to the election of Barak Obama and just beyond (this book was published in 2018), Anderson discusses how race has impacted culture. Even when society seemed to be moving in a new direction, in Brown vs. The Board of Education, for example, the (white) rage from those not willing to accept the changes got in the way. This is written for a teen audience, so it is palatable in comparison to other heavily researched works. However, Anderson does not shy away from the horror of the times; instances of lynching are detailed for the reader. The text of the book is short, there are photos throughout and several pages of notes at the end that make up the page count, but it is impactful. Both teens and adults should read this one.

Excellent young readers version of the original. Every teen should read this. I believe it will inspire young people to start seeing how they can affect change in their communities

Dense at points, but well-written and educational, and a great shelf edition as we try to bring anti-racist texts in the classroom.

Timely, important, and clear, this book provides easy-to-understand, yet pull-no-punches information about our racialized past in the United States, how it's still affecting us today, and some of what to do about it.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees we need so many more books like this in the world. i"m so happy this exists.

Before sharing my thoughts on this book on being black in America, I want to give a trigger warning, there is some very violent and graphic content about some of the atrocities committed to African Americans throughout history.

"Racism is a topic so fraught, so taboo these days, the very mention of it causes instant discomfort for most people."

We Are Not Yet Equal is a nonfiction book about the oppression of black people in the United States throughout history, and how it is still happening today. Even though this book is technically YA nonfiction, it is an important book that everyone can learn from. The authors describe racism in America from Reconstruction to present day.

This book, and the content of the book NEEDS to be taught in schools. We learn about the general events in grade school, but we only hear the positives about the steps forward our country took during desegregation. This book shares more of the context surrounding it. I learned about Brown v the Board of Education, but I never learned about the many other cases before Brown, or the hateful response the case got. I never learned about how some schools around the country SHUT DOWN because they would rather close than integrate.

"Education can be transformative. Education reshapes the health outcomes of a people. Education breaks the cycle of poverty. Education improves housing conditions. In short, education strengthens a democracy"

I've heard for so long that our history textbooks are written by the "winners" in this case by white men. To make themselves sound good, we get a glossed over version of historical events, instead of the full story. One president I always hear being discussed in a positive light is Abraham Lincoln because he freed the slaves. In this book Anderson and Bolden discuss how Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation, but before that he wanted to expel black people from the U.S. to "save" the nation.

Some of the more recent content discussed in the book is what went on during the Obama administration. This section was completely new to me, especially about the beginning of Obama's first term because I was too young/not interested in politics (which I realize is very privileged). Even though this information is relatively new, I was surprised at how much I didn't know before.

"Just as in the past, black respectability or 'appropriate' behavior doesn't' seem to matter. If anything, black achievement, black aspirations, and black success are construed as direct threats."

I think this is a book everyone should read. It's very informative and gives an accurate representation of what went one during these times, and discusses how our country and society is still oppressing black advancement.

As we memorialize September 11th, it seems fitting to review two new books that deal with democracy and equality. Both are written by Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University and recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award for her earlier best-selling work titled White Rage (multiple copies available in the book club section at the public library).

WE ARE NOT YET EQUAL by Carol Anderson with a foreword by Nic Stone (Dear Martin) is a young adult adaptation of White Rage. Here, Anderson reiterates the facts about discrimination against people of color and also describes how poor whites, students, and the elderly have become "collateral damage" due to "one of the most harmless-sounding changes in the requirement to vote:" government-issued photo IDs. She explains that "in Texas, more than one million student IDs [are] ineligible while concealed weapon permits are valid."

In a related example, Anderson notes that the state of Georgia requires three separate categories of documentation to obtain a government-issued photo ID: proof of citizenship (usually a birth certificate or expensive passport); documentation of Social Security number (via the original card or a W-2 which assumes the applicant has a job); and proof of residence (two addressed pieces of mail like a bank statement or utility bill). Think for a moment just in terms of gender (stay-at-home Moms) and how potentially discriminatory the assumption that one holds a job or has a utility bill in her own name is. The same could be said of young college students or older Americans living in communal residences. And these requirements clearly impact African Americans whose unemployment rate in Georgia is roughly 50% higher than that of whites (and was shown to be almost 5 times higher in Atlanta). Anderson goes on with numerous other examples like the scarcity of mobile registration units in rural Pennsylvania and Florida's various attempts at changing early voting practices. WE ARE NOT YET EQUAL received a starred review from Kirkus; School Library Journal also praised this new book, calling it "a needed resource for YA nonfiction collections."

It is absolutely critical to make sure that you are registered to vote and participate in democracy. For more information, look online at When We All Vote or League of Women Voters or Rock the Vote. We will also have displays in the Library and Library Commons listing the requirements for Illinois since the League of Women Voters will be on campus during the lunch periods on September 25, National Voter Registration Day, to register students and staff.

ADDED INFO:
LOCAL APPEARANCE: Please note that Carol Anderson will be speaking
Monday, Oct. 1, 2018, 7:00 PM at
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60201
More info available through Family Action Network at https://www.familyactionnetwork.net/

This is an absolute must-read! It is a Young Adult adaption of Carol Anderson's adult book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. It is relatively short (288 pages) but full of so much history that Americans must know about (but probably don't). The text is easy to understand, well-researched, and articulate. I am sure it will motivate young people to learn more about what is going on in today's headlines and to think critically about what it means to be an informed citizen.

This short and very readable history of race should be required reading for all high school students in the US!

I wrote two different versions of my reviews. Here they are:

Version 1: 4 reasons you should read "We are not yet equal":
1. Holy timeline, folks! I always thought I was pretty well-versed in American history. My history book was worn, the pages delved into with care. So, I honestly really didn't understand WHERE all of the cries of racial inequality were coming from. I honestly thought it was so dependent on where a person lived in the U.S. For example, in my neck of the middle of nowhere, I don't see a lot of racism. Mostly, the value is on working hard around here. However, this book opened my eyes to a lot - especially on the national scale. Policies that are either intentionally or incidentally perpetuating inequality are brought to light. Had it not been for the timeline presentation, I'm not sure I would have connected to the material as much.
2. This next reason is very personal to me. People should read this book because it hurts. The oppression of our fellow man should always make your heart hurt. The harm done by folks like me who assume policy changes = actual every day changes can't be excused. We assumed that life instantly changed when the laws were. Then we decided it wasn't our problem because it wasn't us - it was our ancestors. This 'just deal with it' attitude isn't working. We need to consciously change our attitudes and work together towards equality - and that will involve a LOT of being uncomfortable, a LOT of 'that's not me' and 'that's not true of me', and a LOT of grassroots changes.
3. It's an adaptation of "White Rage" by the same author for young adults so it has a wide range of audiences. I would like to see high school students reading this book (for those interested, yes, my high school library will be carrying a copy of this book), but I would also really like to see adults reading it. The conversations that can take place would be valuable for everyone. I have a short list of teachers and friends I am going to ask to read it so we can talk about it together.
4. It seeks to inform and educate - not point fingers and preach. Now, if you feel preached at, that's something that is hitting home with you. I had moments that really had me shaking my head in disbelief. I couldn't believe that what I was reading actually happened! But it is documented and fact-checked. I even did a little bit of my own double-checking and digging into a few things. I appreciated the author's approach because, well, it was more comfortable and aligned with what I perceive as professional. I put the book down feeling like I just went to school. It's up to me how that makes me feel.
For me, "We are not yet equal" was a call to higher perception and an ability to see more where people and movements are coming from. I still don't condone violence and rioting. I have always loved a good protest. Now I at least see where the anger comes from and how desperately we as American citizens need to claw for equality of all types. The sooner we are all truly equal, the sooner we can fulfill our dreams to pursue life, liberty, and happiness together.

Version 2: High school blog review
Having been a person who enjoys reading history, I believed I had a realistic and reasonable view on the timeline of race in America. There was so much information in this book that I didn't know - and, be still my librarian heart, it has citations! Despite its heavy research, the book is a flowing, accessible read which means really anyone can pick it up and get something out of it.

Having a narrative timeline connecting the events to each other was really helpful in getting my brain to process everything and develop a more rounded mindset. I may not always personally agree with things the author poses as cause and effect, purposeful vs incidental, etc. However, just getting the chance to have the information and how it let to the current mindset presented to me was an experience I am very glad to have had.

I understand more now that the history as I learned it is not history as it was carried out. Freedom in policy does not mean freedom in every day life and attitudes. It hasn't changed as much as we would like to think it has and making the actual movement to equality is going to result in EVERYONE digging deeper into themselves, admitting and re-training themselves regarding personal prejudices, and a society that consciously works towards those goals.

I'll leave you with a particularly haunting thought from the epilogue of the book. It's what has kept me thinking about this book long after finishing it. The author says, "Imagine if, instead of continually refighting the Civil War, we had actually moved on to rebuilding" What a statement! What would our country look like if policy had become attitudes and reality for racial equality?

What could our country look like in 50 years if we decided to start right now?

"We are not yet equal" is a valuable book to read. I recommend it to everyone, but especially teens who are getting ready to enter adulthood. You are our best hope for an amazing, truly equal future!

This is a great book for helping students understand history and it’s implications today! This is a great addition to any middle or Hugh school classroom!

I keep starting this review only to delete what I wrote and start over because I can't find the words that are right to start this off. Instead of allowing myself to get caught in an endless loop of rewritten intros, let's start with a quote from the epilogue of this book.

"Imagine if, instead of continually refighting the Civil War, we had actually moved on to rebuilding..."

This quote basically sums up the entire book. Every chapter is full of examples of (white) people going out of their way to keep people of color down, even though doing so hurts everyone. Where could we be as a country if we built everyone up and let people succeed instead of letting racism run unchecked and tearing people down for our own bigoted amusement?

There was so much in the early chapters of this book that I had never heard before, and it's depressing to realize how much of history has been whitewashed and retaught as something less shameful than what it actually was. It's equally frustrating to read about the presidencies immediately following the Civil War and realize...things are basically the same today. The idea that equal treatment of minorities is somehow favoritism, for instance. The attitude of, "Fine, we'll grant you these rights so you can be 'equal', but do you really need to exercise all of them? Can't you just be happy with the scraps we already gave you?" Definitely still going on. Ugh.

This book is well-researched, well-written, and a great adaptation of White Rage. If you're wondering whether you should read it, the answer is yes, you should. Full disclosure: it will make you mad. Hopefully we can all use that anger to make things better.

In 2016, Carol Anderson shocked readers with her book White Rage which revealed the insidious and often hidden racism underlying laws and institutions in the United States. Here, she and Tonya Bolden have adapted the book for a young adult audience. The well-written and engaging book begins in the aftermath of the Civil War and continues through the Obama Presidency and traces the lost opportunities for providing equality to all. Over and over again, the United States reaches a fulcrum, a moment in history, where inequities could be redressed: the Civil War, Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Era, the Obama Presidency. Rather than use those watershed moments to boldly and justly address past wrongs, the government, supported by a large swath of white citizens, undermines the gains to maintain the status quo of white supremacy.

For example, instead of holding Civil War rebels to account, the federal government under Lincoln and Johnson prioritized reunification. Oppressive Black Codes went unchallenged by the federal government. Johnson in particular stymied efforts of Congress to redress the evils from centuries of slavery. Though Congress overturned his vetoes of legislation of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill in 1866, Johnson’s pardon of Southern rebels meant that their elected representatives were leaders from the Confederacy. Poll taxes and unfavorable decisions by the Supreme Court undermined efforts to provide rights to blacks.

After reading this book, I feel completely and utterly gutted and outraged at the lack of justice and compassion reflected in the actions of the country’s leaders, lawmakers, and many citizens. Although there was a time that new racism was disguised by an ideology supporting color-blindness, under Trump, spewing hate based on race has become acceptable once more.

I learned so much. While I knew that Southern states were resistant to the Brown decision, I didn’t realize the lengths to which they went to prevent integration. Several students were without education for years while local and state governments delayed implementation. Though I was aware of the challenges to voting rights through voter ID laws, many of the specific examples presented here were new to me.

Sadly, I became disillusioned with Presidents Lincoln and Eisenhower, Lincoln for failing to name slavery as the cause of the Civil War and Eisenhower for failing to use the power of his office to enact the Brown decision. Nixon and Reagan’s racist policies disguised as tough-on-crime stances were not surprising. I also didn’t know the extent of the Supreme Court’s role in undermining progress. With some exceptions, like Brown, their rulings weakened protections of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, undercut the Voting Rights Act, and rang a death knell for affirmative action.

I regret not reading White Rage before We Are Not Yet Equal because I can’t compare them. I can attest that the latter is an important stepping-stone to dialogue on ways to halt this chain of oppression. Although written for a young adult audience (and seems appropriate for such an audience in terms of content and language), adults will find it enlightening as well. The material presented in the book is important and necessary.

Although I have few criticisms of the book, I did find the chapter on the Voting Rights Act more technical and less engaging than the other chapters, though the information was important. I thought the weakest chapter was on Obama’s administration. Though it related the rancor and disrespect Obama faced, it seemed to be less grounded in research than the rest of the book. Perhaps my biggest complaint though is that there is no guidance on where to go from here. The author ends with hope that knowing about white rage can lead to a challenge of its racist consequences, but offers nothing beyond that. Maybe it will be the subject of her next book–and I would definitely read it!

This book delves into the history of racism in the United States and it pulls zero punches. Early on the book starts with the statement that Abraham Lincoln lacked "clarity" "humanity" and "resolve" when it came to post-Civil War/reconstruction and moving the U.S. forward. The authors go in on a number of founding fathers and at first, I was genuinely surprised at the tone of the book. Was it all right, I wondered, for a history book for teens to be written in such a manner? Then I wondered why I, a woman of color, felt obligated to defend white men who died 150+ years ago, that did little to nothing to ensure the safety and prosperity of black people in America? With that mentality, I continued reading the book and though the outrage in the book very much comes through in the writing, they have the hard facts to back up every claim. What Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden have done is clearly lay out in chronological order the myriad steps politicians, police enforcement, and the judicial system took to undermine the chances of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for black Americans. It also makes clear that the collateral damage was the American education system. Sometimes brutal to read (I almost had to stop reading at an explicit description of the lynching and mutilation of a pregnant black woman and her unborn child--yes, they mutilated the child too), I learned a tremendous amount. At the end of the book I wished it weren't so bleak, I wished there were more of a call to action to save the United States. It is not up to people of color to improve the lives of people of color in America, no, this book makes apparent that there are systems in place built exactly to prevent that. What then, do I take away from this book? I suppose it's the relief to see the problems in our nation and be able to understand and articulate the how and the why. Maybe that is a start.

This should be recommended reading for all high school students in US History courses. It is another eye opening read that has helped me educate myself about the oppression that POC have faced repeatedly from the beginning of time.

As I read each chapter one constant word kept coming to mind - FEAR. White people, and more often than not, white men are so fearful of people of color. I don't understand why we fear POC so much that we continue to try to "keep them down" and treat them like slaves or second class citizens. Our politicians and Supreme Court have continued to create laws knowing that they allow discrimination and segregation of POC.

It is disheartening that in 2018 we still live in a world where people are racist and in complete denial of how to treat others equally.

This is a well-researched breakdown of where politicians got it wrong and steered our country in the wrong direction (spoiler: usually backward) from slavery to present day.

I somehow missed reading White Rage when it came out, so reading We Are Not Yet Equal, which is White Rage adapted for younger readers, enticed me to read White Rage next.

Basically everything we were told in history class about United States history, especially where the rights and citizenship of African Americans are concerned, was completely wrong. Everyone needs to read this book, especially if you're white. Too many Americans think that schools integrated at the same time, that racism only looks like a white man in a hood, and that voting is a guaranteed right with easy access for all citizens.

Not true.

In order to move forward as a society that values everyone we have to learn about our past and how racism has--and still does--disenfranchise millions of Americans because of the color of their skin, Before we can address serious political and civil rights problems, we need to know what they are and how hundreds of years of racist politics (among other things) has led to a system that greatly favors white people.

I recommend this for adults and teens alike.

We Are Not Yet Equal, from the author of White Rage and Tonya Bolden, is a look at our historic Civil Rights milestones and the persistent racism that still exists in this country.
We Are Not Yet Equal will help librarians and library staffs to open discussions that support inclusivity whether it’s racial or gender based. This is a difficult subject in our divided country, must one that needs to be a part of our everyday conversations.

This was such an empowering read. As a young black girl, I felt completely touched by this book. The writing was just spectacular and I can't wait until I comes out!

THIS is what our students should be reading in history textbooks. I can't even fathom the amount of research required to put this together, but I highly applaud the persistence. This is quality nonfiction; facts that we either don't know, or do know and have previously ignored. Anderson put so much into this and I came out the other end of it feeling honestly educated and informed. Amazing.

This was a really strong read that outlined race relations in a very understandable way. It provided a great balance between current context and media events and historical background. That balance was really good because it helped younger readers see the link between American history and modern racism. I will be using this book to teach my homeschooled daughter and I will encourage for any young reader.