Important books exist. They are written and published every day. There are people dedicated to creating and publishing work that changes and educates people. Sometimes, they put out important work that is accessible and educational and aimed at helping the youth in Iowa understand their home and their histories. (Re)Present: Racism & Resistance in Iowa (Past Present Future Publishing, 2024) was compiled by “A Collective of Iowa Activists, Educators, Historians and Community Leaders” with this in mind.
The book is written for young adults (though I didn’t feel like it was “too young for me” and I think a middle grade audience would be receptive) and motivated by the recent legal restrictions placed on educators in Iowa. It is divided into sections including: Why This Book? Common Myths about Iowa and What Next? It is one of those rare books that wants to be a textbook but is too friendly and too beautiful. It is what a textbook should be.
The opening text of the book is inviting and open-ended, “Every story about the past has more than one possible beginning with no clear ending. When we dive into history, where we decide to start and stop, what we choose to pay attention to — all of these choices shape how we come to understand the past. And because our lives are woven together with everyone who has come before us and everyone who will come after, this matters for our present and future, too.” It leads into a snapshot of the state of affairs in Iowa and the catalyzing events that led to the book, but never stops being in conversation with the reader. This is what makes this book so accessible.
While it is important that the book is authored by a collective of people who had a shared mission but had to work out disagreements and priorities together — thus making the book more holistic and reflective of the community it aims to serve — it is more important that it never antagonizes its readers. There are notes to the reader that, from whatever background or experience the reader has, the histories and myths exposed here may be incredibly difficult to absorb, and the book asks the reader to both take breaks and to either interrogate their reaction or to tend to their emotions.
(Re)Present: Racism & Resistance in Iowa is already working to educate readers on pieces of history that are left out of classroom curriculum and because so many voices participated in creating this book, it is inherently more inclusive than a book authored by fewer people or people from singular backgrounds. When it interrogates myths, it takes into account how the myths came to be (“Iowa Nice prevents racism” is one. Another is “Following the rules protects people from racism.”) and why they are pervasive, before dismantling them.
This tactic, and the careful execution of it, is everything. As recently as mid-October, a major Iowa publication published an op-ed promoting tribalism and race-essentialism (the overtly racist idea that different races — something invented by humans based on skin color — have inherent characteristics) and defending and denying that racism is a problem in our state.
Bigotry of all manner perseveres when we deny it, when we defend it, when we don’t interrogate it. This book looks into the marginalized groups that have been specifically targeted by our state and gently provides information (and cites sources) while leading the reader to come to their own conclusions. This text is a gift we have needed for a long time. Our communities deserve this.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s November 2024 issue.
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