Sonja Cherry-Paul - Stamped (for kids) : racism, antiracism, and you

To January Hartwell, my great-great-great-grandfather

JR

To the lives they said dont matter

IXK

To Big Ma and Bully for all youve sowed

SCP

To Bridgette, my mom, always

RB

Dear Reader,

You may be wondering, What is this book, exactly? Because youre used to reading fictional stories. Fairy tales, fantasies about heroes and monsters, or sleepy stories about funny-talking times way before any of you were born. Youve probably read several nonfiction books, too. Books about the solar system, cool animals like wolverines, historical events such as the Revolutionary War, and biographies of trailblazers like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, or Martin Luther King Jr. When youve read books about people and events from the past, you may have thought, What does this have to do with my life today? Well, this book includes the past and is directly connected to our lives as we live them right this minute.

As you read this book, youll come across lots of people. You may already know about some of them, but this book may make you think about them in a whole new way. In fact, you may even look at your own life differently.

See, this is a present book. Not like a birthday present book, but like an everyday present book. Or maybe just an everyday book. A book about the here and now. A book that can help you understand, for example, what the Black Lives Matter movement today is all about. A book that can help you to better understand where we are in this moment as Americans and how we got hereespecially when it comes to race.

Uh-oh. The R-word. You may have been told not to talk about race. Or been made to feel like you cant, as if its some kind of bad word. But its not. It shouldnt be. It cant be. So lets all just take a deep breath. Inhale. Hold it. Exhale and breathe out:

See? Not so bad. Well continue to take time to pauseto breathe and feeland unpause as you read, think, and talk about race. Besides, talking about race is one of the most important skills you can learn. Think about the coolest thing you can do. Being able to talk about race is that, times two. And three times as important. Heres why:

Until we learn to talk about race, the poison of racism wont go away.

As you read and think about race, also think about rope. Sometimes rope can be a lifeline. It helps climbers safely move upward and protects them from falling. Sometimes rope can be a weapon. It can be used to control and cause harm. Rope can also join people and things together in powerful ways. Like jumping double Dutch brings all your friends together in the summer. Or like a swing connected to a play set or the branch of a tree that takes you sky-high.

Rope can be used to tie, pull, hold, and lift.

How do people become tied to racist and antiracist ideas? Who are the people pulling at each end? How do racist ideas hold people down? How do antiracist ideas lift people up?

How did things get so tangled in the first place? And who are the people working to unravel this mess?

As you hold on to the image of rope, also keep three words in mind. Three words to describe the people well be exploring and the ideas theyre tied to:

SEGREGATIONIST

ASSIMILATIONIST

ANTIRACIST

There are serious definitions to these things, but Im going to give you mine.

Segregationists are haters. Like, real