I’VE
BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU by David
Chariandy is a letter written to his thirteen year old daughter. This short text,
just 91 pages, is sure to be compared to Between the World and Me and Dear Ijeawele,
both of which are in our collection. An award-winning author, Chariandy grew up
in Toronto (and now lives in Vancouver) with immigrant parents from Trinidad so he offers a unique perspective. There are times when this thoughtful and
very emotionally powerful letter is less critical of a single group (or nation other than Canada) and speaks directly to all of us: “We live in a time, dearest
daughter, when the callous and ignorant in wealthy nations have made it their
business to loudly proclaim who are the “us” (those really “us”) and who are
the alien and undeserving “them.” But the stories of our origins offers us a
different insight. The people we imagine
most apart from “us” are, oftentimes, our own forgotten kin.”
Chariandy also contemplates
the experiences of each generation, reflecting on how his daughter’s childhood
is different from his own and on the lives of his own parents who “experienced
many indignities and deep body aches, sacrifices and shortages, but they worked
hard and they managed to raise a writer who is also a professor of literature,
a fact of which they are proud but also, at times, perplexed.”
Very poignantly he
notes, “children always sense more than their parents are willing to say. Children read stories in pauses and silences,
from irritation and sadness, from the grief and fear behind brave faces. And
children sometimes choose silence.” That reinforces the importance of sharing and
discussing texts like I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU with our students, especially as we strive to explore
social emotional learning this next school year.
