One Person, No Vote By Carol Anderson

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).

ONE PERSON, NO VOTE discusses various attempts to limit voting, particularly by African Americans and Latinos, since the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court ruling.  Of course, as a voter, I had experienced the increase in verification and request for ID.  What honestly shocked me about Anderson’s work was the systematic effort to disenfranchise certain subgroups with new laws passed by over 20 states since that time. She thoroughly documents (a third of her book is devoted to footnotes and sources) the discriminatory voter ID practices, voter roll purges, “rigging the rules,” and subsequent resistance. Citing “the fallacy about rampant cheating at the polls,” Anderson recently contributed to The New York Times an op-ed piece about voter fraud which she had adapted from ONE PERSON, NO VOTE.  That text lists over two dozen organizations that are doing "the heavy lifting of democracy" by registering voters (see end of this post) and/or fighting disenfranchisement.

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.

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

Vox by Christina Dalcher

In a week after we were told that “Truth isn’t truth,” publication of the new book VOX by Christina Dalcher seems chillingly apt. It is a dystopian novel set in the near future where women must wear a counter bracelet and are only allowed to say 100 words a day (versus the 16,000 which is the estimated current average).  They and their daughters are not allowed other activities which we would take for granted: to travel out of the country, to read a recipe or the mail (or any book other than a women-only version of the Bible), to work outside their homes (of course, that means essentially no female political representatives). Dalcher even has a character asking: “How could this happen in less than a generation?”   

Yes, her premise does stretch credibility; plus, there is an uncomfortable element of religious zealotry (with members of the Pure Movement in power) and the ending reads more like a spy thriller. On balance, though, the beginning of VOX is both relevant and well-done and the “zingers” that appear near the end of almost every chapter are very clever, cynical, and even shocking:

“What do they study now, our girls? A bit of addition and subtraction, telling time, making change. Counting, of course. They would learn counting first. All the way up to one hundred.”  

“Signing defeats the purpose of what we’re trying to do here. … there are people researching the new – you know – devices. They’ll be more like gloves.”

Looking for some near-term real world connections? In addition to the #MeToo news, review the recent Pew Research poll on attitudes towards more female Congressional candidates where 12 percent of Republican men are opposed although most Americans (61%) think it is a good thing. New York Times has also just published a video (some graphic and offensive language) about difficulties which women candidates face. Or look at this scholarly analysis which was summarized in The Washington Post showing which states are most sexist.

Dalcher’s debut, VOX, is a LibraryReads selection and received a starred review from Library Journal.

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik

SONG OF A CAPTIVE BIRD by Jasmin Darznik received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal. This debut novel definitely deserves attention and it will entertain, shock, and inform readers about the history of Iran and about the life of controversial poet Forugh Farrokhzad. Darznik herself was born in Tehran and uses Farrokhzad’s writings, films and interviews to illustrate her feminist spirit in this fictionalized account.  Farrokhzad’s loneliness and rebellious nature in the face of an oppressive society are evident throughout the book:  “‘Besooz o bezaaz’ went the timeworn injunction to brides.  Burn inwardly and accommodate.  If I told anyone my troubles, I would have been met with exactly this phrase.” Ultimately, Farrokhzad’s story is both sad and hopeful:

A day will come when your eyes

will smart at this painful song.

You’ll search for me in my words

And tell yourself: my mother,

That’s who she was.

                -from “A Poem for You”

     (Dedicated to my son, Kamyar, with hopes for the future)

Although Farrokhzad died young (just 32) in a car accident in 1967, her writing lives on and was banned in Iran for at least 10 years after the 1979 Revolution. SONG OF A CAPTIVE BIRD could be a very interesting book group title (publisher’s reading guide), especially given its feminist theme and many connections to other cultures and works like the poetry of Sylvia Plath and the current day Landays of Afghanistan.