Tag: Black Lives Matter

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Don’t Believe the Hype – Since George Floyd’s Murder, Some Things Have Changed

Don’t believe the hype. In the four years since George Floyd was murdered, things have changed. Not nearly as much as we want, but people and communities all over the world are different now because of what we witnessed and challenged and vowed to fight even harder against. You can’t always measure change with statistics, laws, proposals, or studies. You can, however, always measure change through the stories of people.

In the four years since George Floyd was murdered, SAY THEIR NAMES was born (as were many other books that have explored themes of peace, justice, and protest in response).

Countless numbers of people, including children pre-school to college, have read SAY THEIR NAMES or have had it read to them, and have listened to my talks and performances.

They have learned about George Floyd’s life, and legacy.

They have said his name and the names of so many other Black men, women, and trans who have lost their lives to police brutality, and understood that we say their names.

We say their names to,
As Curtis Mayfield encourage,  “keep on pushin’
And move up a little higher…”
We say their names to paraphrase John Lennon in his lyrics, “Imagine, if you can,
A simple brotherhood of man.”

Through SAY THEIR NAMES (and other works), countless numbers of people have been encouraged to imagine and work toward a better world.

They have been invited to tap into the more than 30 gifts that Aliya brings to us in this story.

They have confessed to understanding that if they walk into a room or situation and there is no peace, they will bring and embody the peace. If there is no justice, they will bring and embody the justice. If there is no community, they will bring and embody the community. If there is no joy, they will bring and embody the joy. If there is no love…you get the picture… (WE bring and embody the love. We can predict the future by being the future…)

SAY THEIR NAMES is now a 2024 Anna Dewdney Read Together Award Honor Book. It is a 2024 selection of the Teaching for Change social justice literature curriculum. Countless lives are being touched. So, don’t believe the hype. Four years is a blip on the landscape of time, on the thrust of history. Some things have changed because many of us changed. And we have vowed to keep fighting for a world where Black lives matter.

(Pictured: Father of three young children sharing his excitement about SAY THEIR NAMES with local artist at The Well at Oxon Run in August 2022. Photo by Caroline Brewer)

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Taking Nature Black Came Back Strong, as We Said Their Names!

It’s been three years since we were able to gather in person for a Nature Forward Taking Nature Black Conference, so this year was bound to be special, extra-special! And it was. With two virtual days, and two in person days, I gathered with hundreds of environmentalists from around the region to share in uplifting our stories of Belonging – the conference’s theme.

I was grateful to provide a welcome on Friday and moderate the panel, Belonging: What Healing and Wholeness Might Look Like. I also was honored to give a keynote Thursday evening titled: The Environment: A Love Story and a Reason to Say Their Names. My speech was peppered with spoken word, traditional poems, and snippets of songs. An opening excerpt laid the foundation for the connection between what’s traditionally thought of as the environment and what scientists, Indigenous people and healers have come to understand is the real environment — all of us, humans, plants, animals, insects, waterways, air, and land. We’re all elements of nature and the environment, and, as such, and how we treat each other morally manifests materially, so we’d be wise to treat nature, which includes us, imperially, serially.

And this is where Say Their Names comes in. Say Their Names, on its face, is about 7-year-old Aliya’s quest to create a love-inspired movement in response to the George Floyd murder and protests. And with that, we’re surely blessed, the child met the test. Yet with a closer look, I must confess. Aliya reveals the 5 things we need to change the game not only to save lives from police and racial violence. She gives us the blueprint to save lives in the so-called natural world and helps us understand, like the scientists, how they/we are inextricably tied.

Aliya’s Blueprint includes these 5 Elements:

  1. Recognize that we’re in a love story – Give Mother Nature the glory.
  2. Gather our gifts – such as courage, hope, truth, and let it be swift. Gather our gifts of friends, family, community. Peace, grace, and unity.
  3. Tap into the one super-power that can change the game at any hour – LOVE.
  4. Become peerless when it comes to being fearless.
  5. Fight – All day, all night, harder and smarter until we get it right

I’ve created an entire professional development training and strategic campaigns training that delve deeply into how we can use the blueprint in Say Their Names to accelerate victories in campaigns for social, environmental, and climate justice. Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for details. 

Photo: That’s me at the Conference with U.S. Forest Service Sponsor Beattra Wilson, in the middle, and Singer, Storyteller, and Cultural Historian Karen Wilson Ama-‘Echefu, who spoke (and sang a bit) on the Belonging panel and provided outstanding support during my book signing.

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Children are Embracing Priceless Gifts in SAY THEIR NAMES

 Media Opportunities December 6 & 7

Immediate Release – December 5, 2022

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information

Washington, D.C. – When Children’s Book Author Caroline Brewer speaks to children about her new picture book, Say Their Names, she brings priceless gifts. Some are on the backs of a bookmark, or a special card, inside a gift bag printed on paper, or made of sparkly icing emblazoned on a sugar cookie. The gifts are words, such as hope, courage, peace, love, and light – representing some of the 30+ “gifts” readers can find inside the story of Say Their Names. The new picture book by Reycraft Books features the fictional 7-year-old Aliya on her quest to lead a love-inspired Black lives movement. Aliya’s gifts, Brewer says, are the elements of a positive identity, which researchers say can lead to smoother transition to adulthood. “A positive identity is what Say Their Names is all about, and it’s a gift that couldn’t be more appropriate given the challenges our children face today,” she added.

Children, parents, and educators agree.

“And what I really like about it is how you put a little kid on there and you made (Aliya) strong and brave and independent to do what she got to do and she’s wonderful,” Andreya, a 5th grader at Simon Elementary in D.C., wrote after Brewer’s author visit in November.

” Teaching the value and dignity of all is at the heart of our school’s mission and this book says to our scholars that their lives matter and that  they, even in their youth, are powerful and can transform the world,” said Nicole Peltier Lewis M.Ed, Principal of Annunciation.

Brewer, a DC resident and literacy consultant, will visit two schools this week to offer gifts that children can make their own:

9:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Tuesday, December 6, 2022 – Annunciation Catholic School, 3810 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C. 20016

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. – Wednesday, December 7, 2022 – Truesdell Elementary, 800 Ingraham St. NW Washington, D.C. 20011 (Pen-Faulkner Author Visit)

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NEWS: George Floyd Protests Inspired Picture Book from Child’s Perspective

News Alert – June 6, 2022

Picture Book from a Child’s Perspective inspired by George Floyd protests
“Say Their Names” is about imagining and working toward love-inspired change

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com, or Eileen Robinson, Editor, Reycraft Books, at erobinson@reycraftbooks.com for more information

Washington, D.C. – Reycraft Books and D.C. Author Caroline Brewer have announced the cover reveal and promotional launch of Say Their Names, a new 32-page picture book written from a child’s perspective. “I wrote Say Their Names because of my 20-year-educational journey with children,” said Brewer, a literacy activist, former elementary school teacher, and author of 13 books. “ I know children are suffering and being traumatized by police violence and racial violence – as studies have shown – along with all others in their communities. I wrote it because children have been leading and engaging in protests movements all over the world, especially in recent history, and I wanted to center them and their voices as part of our healing work and conversations.”

“I wrote Say Their Names from a child’s perspective because children give us the gifts of their imaginations. I wrote the book because imagining is one of the most important technologies that humans possess, and challenges such as police and racial violence require powerful imagining to defeat,” Brewer added.

Brewer, who wrote a children’s book in 2005 in honor of a friend’s son who was killed by police, noted that Say Their Names emphasizes this one powerful act,  “because saying their names is a ritual observed by communities the world over and is an important cultural ritual for African Americans; because remembering helps keep loved ones alive and assists in the healing process; and because this book, more than anything, is about imagining and working toward a future free of police and racial violence.”

Say Their Names is published by Reycraft Books and due out August 22, 2022. Media can contact the author or publisher for a digital ARC and more details.  Say Their Names can be PRE-ORDERED here.

Follow Caroline Brewer on social media here:
facebook.com/carolinebrewerbooks *** instagram.com/carolinebrewerbooks ***  twitter.com/brewercaroline

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Say Their Names, New Children’s Book, Expands Movement for Love

Say Their Names, New Children’s Book, Expands Movement for Love, Justice, Peace

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I hope I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything You gave me.'” -Chadwick Boseman

And to that I would add, not a single bit of courage, conviction, peace, or love. I used ALL that You gave me. Say Their Names, my new children’s book about a 7-year-old Black girl’s response to police killings, is one example of how. It’s written through the eyes, courage, and convictions of a child — in the voice of a child.  I hope you’ll join the Reycraft Books team, Illustrator Adrian Brandon and me on this journey. You can pre-order the book on Reycraft’s site here. And please like, share, comment, tell teachers, parents, librarians, your family, friends, and neighbors. The whole world is needed. Thank you so much!

-Caroline