from the shelf to 14000 14,000 volumes and represents more than 4,000 nebraska authors. >> we begin our special look at lincoln. >> the american west has long been this tableau. love, loss, recovery, redemption, courage command failure perseverance, integrity, honesty all of these traditional literary themes that begins to start to congeal at this intersection of american history and things start to happen that have not happen before. standing there becomes this unwitting hero in a courtroom drama that he had

never envisioned when he was trying to walk home. end. his beloved son. chief standing there was a middle-aged chief of a very docile, peaceful tribe i was living on land that not one u.s. senate treaty but to on this beautiful us homeland where it empties into the missouri river. he was one of the principal chiefs of the tribe who had lived in this lush beautiful, gorgeous river valley for several centuries they were living in their winter camp i call january 1877. lo and behold out of the blue a strange white man appeared and came into his camp and gave a remarkable

pronouncement the standing there and the 750 peaceful that read a great my father wanted sending their final 750 to pack up as fast as they can and to move to vacate their homeland and go to what was then called indian territory and eventually became the state of oklahoma. and oklahoma. and it's almost impossible to re-create what that message must've meant's. because these were people who were so attached to the land and the land went crazy horse once was asked where is your land from his response was a lens will of others are buried.

his brother 64250 pounds said no. and they began to withhold water from the tribe. they began to withhold food. after four or five days the very old and young began to weaken. the chief that word that some of the very old and young among his tribe's were dying. he reluctantly agreed to go to the indian territory. it's. >> the track from the border down to the indian territory

was dramatic. absolutely dramatic. number of people died. it was very cold and i started. the red by tornadoes. standing there lost his brother. very early on. by the time they struggled across the into oklahoma was july. the weather was hot, humid, they had no preparation. they were herded in tikrit bottoms. there were no doctors and within the 1st year the people leaving their beloved homeland in the north and being forced to survive on their own in the scorching plains of oklahoma in that one-year timeframe july 1877 1 3rd 1 out of every three who had gone south was dead. one 3rd of the tribe died

of malaria the 1st year. and on christmas week of 1878 standing there is only son, the 16 -year-old boy was curled up in a fetal position on the bottom of the chief army dying of malaria. but before his eyes closed upon his death his father would take his remains' and we bury him in the sacred homeland. he saw this boy his only son who would one day become chief has the cultural bridge that would allow the people to keep 1 foot in the past their cultural identity that would also be able to keep 1 foot in the

new world order. the cultural bridge. retain their identity but they would also know enough about the new world order that they could see. he had been sent to school. evidence at heaven sent to school to learn about the white man's political system sixteen -year-old boy was the cultural bridge a cultural bridge to help save the people and was dying they did that. on the afternoon of january 21879 standing there is only son wrapped up in the buffalo roam can't put him in the back of a rickety wagon and he and 29 others began this almost biblical

track in the dead of one or walking 550 miles with virtually no money for virtually no food for virtually know winter clothing in an effort to keep the promise that he had made to his sons. the day they left it was 19 below zero. the 3rd day out a blizzard is coming from canada dropping the windchill in january 24 to 77 below. dig tunnels in the haystacks open fields and put the young and is haystacks, ravage and they would go one day at a a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. within two days of the sacred burial ground there standing there, going to fulfill the obligation to his son. and they were marched south back to fort omaha.

there is this whole parade of characters that really don't when until the lead domino this drama falls. and perhaps the most intriguing character and this shakespearean play happens to be the highest-ranking military officer west of the mississippi, a brigadier general by the name of george kirk. he was the commander at fort omaha in late march of 1879 he watched his 29 parker come into the lower parade ground. he was shocked at what he saw. he saw horribly sick and weak women who had clumps of flesh like charred bacon hanging off of their wrists and elbows. skin that was so severely dead's that it was just

hanging". and he was shocked at how bedraggled and deftly and sickly this group of 29 were and george kirk has to make a key decision. he telegraphs his superiors in chicago philip sheridan had famously said the only good indian is a dead indian they had arrived in his command. his immediate order was to turn their faces south. and brigadier general george kirk, the highest-ranking military men who looked at this group and new that order was tantamount to a death sentence. you think how many times in history military commanders have been given orders by superiors that initiate this

fierce battle between the military conscience and their civilian customs. and you can envision george kirk pacing in his home trying to decide how do i honor my commanders orders? or do i honor i honor my conscience? and you can imagine that at some.that neil flitting back and forth's it landed ever so slightly on the civilian. he decided he couldn't go ahead. he gets on his horse. he rides 3 miles south and knocks on the door.

the megalomaniac crusading journalist for the name of thomas and rituals opens the door. and he says in effect of got a story i think you be interested in. so this doesn't happen all that often in journalism. high-ranking military men tip off reporters. it happened in the spring of 1879. he went out and eventually interviewed standing there and some of the other headmen of the tribe and is the story and love story. he starts pounding out story after story about this middle-aged peaceful man from this peaceful tribe's that have never done anybody any harm i just wants to go today's from this stockade

to bury his son and the government won't let him. and his stories at 1st appear in omaha's and then to boston, philadelphia the stories start to gain its momentum. there are hundreds, thousands of reformers on the east coast, people involved in the abolitionist movement and now there looking for new cars and reading in the newspaper's about this peaceful man who can bury his son. they are unhappy's. in a lawyer in omaha if you were in trouble in omaha nebraska know matter what the offense was committed you would want a lawyer by the name of andrew jackson problems and to represent you, the 1st lawyer's admitted to the bar in the

state of nebraska. the general counsel for the union pacific railroad which ironically have probably done more to destroy american culture than any institution. in the spring of 79 a reason the paper about standing there and decides is going to represent this chief and a federal courtroom for free because he is so intrigued with the legal possibilities in this case that he wants to make new law. he believes in his client's innocence and believes that he has been wronged by the federal government. it makes it makes it known that he is going to represent standing their for free. there's only one federal judge nebraska to maddie he loves to go out hunting for grizzly bears, and that's what is doing. they have to send out runners to get this judge in

the courtroom to answer's some of the legal petitions that have been drawn up by the most prominent lawyer in the state of nebraska at the time. i find them bring him back. jewish people and omaha the spring of 1879 read about standing there and come out of the woodwork. you have jewish martins heading up white citizens. it's that didn't happen every week in the american west but it happened in omaha the spring of 1879. so ultimately standing there sues the government of the united states for illegally imprisoning him and his people. his argument is that they have done nothing wrong. so this case goes to trial. it goes into a federal courtroom's. the trial begins on

may 11879 and the judge is listening to arguments command he hears from the government prosecutors. more than 20 years earlier in a case involving an african-american, a slave who had gone the federal court seeking his freedom. the supreme court of the united states had overwhelmingly denied his freedom. and the chief justice in that case justice roger taney, famously wrote that a negro has no right to a white man is bound to respect. twenty-two years later on the corner of 15th and broad this limestone building getting that --

using that same argument. this writ of habeas corpus. standing bear's lawyer noted that the law says that any citizen of the united states or any person can file for a writ of habeas corpus. a legal document that forces the government to justify why it is jailing somebody. and so the judge says well, apparently the only real case performing his mother and not standing there is a person.

he takes the case under advisement. he writes an opinion that is unique. and he rules and standing there is favored. he rules that this middle-aged pocket indian chief is protected because of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment that the government cannot legally deprive this american indian chief of life, liberty, or property without due process and this has never been done before in the 103 year history of the united states but the united states sees, what its citizens see is for the 1st time in american history and american indian

has walked into a courtroom sued the government of the united states the person of brigadier general who had to be the defendant in the case and he walked out of the court victor having successfully sued the government of the united states for his freedom. and that was a landmark legal decision the standing there and never intended to participate in. he just wanted to bury his son. because of the judge landmark legal standing bear was free to leave the courtroom and to continue his journey to bury his son and their sacred homeland which is exactly what he did all all of the legal issues have been resolved. standing bear asked the judge if he could speak you can have the same court.

and late at and late at night on the last day of the trial the judge earlier that they had agreed to let standing there be the last speaker. it was about 10:00 o'clock at night. the courthouse is packed. the story have been in the paper for weeks. everyone knew was coming. there were lots of other lawyers and judges, citizens in the courthouse want to see what was going to happen to this remarkable case of an american indian chief suing a brigadier general of the united states army to become a free person. and in the judge agreed to let them speak. and as the very last speaker in this long, exhausting day he walked up to the front of the courtroom with the judge was. bright eyes was with him command he held out his hand for a long time and he said to the judge and a very low voice that was interpreted that hand is

not the color of years but if you pierce it should feel pain. the blood that will flow from my hand will be the same color as your's. i am a man. the same god made us both. and after he got done this talk it was so eloquent when it ended women began to cry. even the defendant in the case, the brigadier general was so moved by his oratorical powers and by the heartfelt message that he was trying to get to the courtroom that the defendant in the case got up from the defense table and went over and shook his hand. that wasn't all that common in the 1870s either.

but from all accounts it was a pretty magical moment. i think if you ask people what standing remains to the speaking to a lot of different answers. ending their is again to the martin luther king native americans. he was in the minds of many in the minds of many native americans the 1st civil rights hero that this country is produced. and many see him in that vein. they they see him as a civil rights warrior for civil rights hero who went into the white man's court cannot beat the white man at his own game got his freedom and started the native

people on the path that eventually led to indian rights and to indian citizenship and becoming a part of the dominant culture >> lincoln nebraska we talked to and ritual is but the selective letters is a collection of the pulitzer prize-winning author. >> given almost every literary award possible in her lifetime before she died except for the nobel prize. when the 1st american won the nobel prize he went around town. she was known for some of her masterpieces like my hands in the act of the professor of death death

comes to the archbishop, loss lady command many others. also important to nebraska lincoln, and her hometown because she went to the university of nebraska lincoln. she wrote about nebraska and many of her works including my anthony one of ours, etc. and she had been a huge influence on literature both in the united states and abroad. many well-known writers continue to cite or as a primary influence. a few restrictions in it, one of which was she did not want her letters to be published. to want her from adopted. she wanted control to some degree how people experience to work in one of her novels

to be the way she was known to the public. this meant for years that people didn't know about her letters, what they said and if they did and had the opportunity to some scholars did they really couldn't write about a very clearly. i can summarize her letters but they cannot ever quote them and this has been a huge problem in understanding who she was awash is about. she left behind at least 3,000 letters that we know about now. those letters are all over the world and different repositories that were fortunate enough. furthermore should have one other important thing. left it to the soul and uncontrolled discretion for executors and trustees to decide whether or not to enforce a preference. it's a partnership of two

educational organizations for the university of nebraska foundation and they believe as educational organizations that they belong to the shared heritage and we ought to know more about her. respected her wishes for over 65 years. for now we let her speak for herself through her letters. interpret what they can reading archives. outside of her family outside of those who received a letter originally these words should be part of what we know about how she articulated her work had herself. famous, herself. famous, well-known because they will mean something to

people. many, many letters. in fact, we did a we did a selection for this book and wanted another 566 letters. one that i particularly like that i think gets of the power of letter writing is a genre is an intimacy to. some of the letters are quite refined, but this one has a roughness to it. she writes for brother. being a writer and what is given her the strength in her style. she writes this.

she loves this place. she would go and visit all the time. 1938 on the heels of the death of her brother. have done most of my best work. the proprietors are so kind to me. i finished me. i finished anthony a year finished the last lady and began the archbishop. the best part was written here. isabel 1st brought me here you cannot imagine what her death means to me. it camps for months after diagnosis death. no other living person cared as much about my work as she did. i've cared too much about people and places like her too hard. it made me as a writer, but it will break me in the end. i feel as though i can't go

another step. people say i have a classic style. the heat under the symbol for his account. i learned that if you love it enough you can be as mild as in when morning and still make of it. it's the one thing, that simple caring for an old anything. a woman who worked. never cultivated it. i did all i could repress it that gave me a fairly good style the writer, the person himself. there are other letters. there's also a different tone. this one my different time of her life when she's feeling some of the 1st rush of success as a writer an artist. came out in 1918. she loves to share the good reviews with her brother and family. she liked to tell her family

holidays are going well for her. on thanksgiving day. i'll just read part of it. your letter deserved a speedy answer. i'm so glad that you liked this book. most of the most of the critics seem to find it the best book that i've done. all the critics find it so artistic. it exists in an atmosphere of its own men atmosphere. atmosphere. beauty. nonsense. the atmosphere in my grandmother's kitchen and nothing else. it's simple as a country prayer meeting and is beautiful. there are lots of these people. it's true for all people as long as one says people -- you either have to be utterly commonplace. because it has not yet been invented. no new and

original thing is wanted. people have to learn to like these things. i like that too. for independence. a little girl. did not want to wear the silly dresses. she cut she cut her hair short and called herself william candy. that was true for her as an artist as well. we did this book raised book, arranged a chronologically so people can read it somewhat like an autobiography. we want people to get a sense of this person and what it's like to be a woman who was an independent artists in the late 19th and 20 century. you can learn about her life, her work, her friends,

our family but you can get a sense of somebody having the wherewithal and grit to make it professionally. anyone to tell her she could never do. they listen then listen to. thank goodness. a real sense of strength. she said the great people are wonderful. in particular but for the way they give us the courage to be honest and free. can get from her the kind of courage to be yourself. she wrote to a little girl is named after. you should like me because you named after me. it's a real richness.

>> drying book tv recent visit to lincoln, nebraska we visited margaret jacobs to discuss the creation of the indian child welfare act in her book on the subject of a generation removed. >> and 2,013 the supreme court decided a case called adoptive couple versus baby girl that is no more popularly as the baby veronica case which involved a mother who had given up her child for adoption to white south carolina couple without really informing the father of the child. the father of the child learned of the surrender of his daughter for adoption about five days before he was to be deployed. when he learned of it he took steps to try to regain custody of his daughter. it turns out that eventually the south carolina court gave custody of veronica to

her father command this deeply upset the south carolina couple and the reason the south carolina court gave custody was that he is a member of the cherokee nation command and the cherokee nation is covered by the indian child welfare act. they sued to regain custody. and that led to the supreme court actually sort of deliberating about the constitutionality of the indian child welfare act or the applicability of it to this particular case, and they ended up reversing the earlier court or lower court's decision and remanding it to lower court. the lower court then they reassigned custody back to the adoptive couple. so i open my book with this

incident because the history and telling is still very fresh. it it is still very current and relevant, not something from the distant past, still very much affecting people's lives. this court case was a real blow to indian people who have really reviewed the indian child welfare act as a tool for them to help reclaim the care of the children and to regain children have been lost to them. there is a long history of the us government and eventually state government interfering in indian families. i would trace this at least back to the 19th century when the us government decided that it was the best policy to remove children from there environment and place them in boarding schools. they thought this would be a way to assimilate children so that they would no longer follow the dictates of their

cultures and that they become less dependent on the federal government. but this policy was in place until around world war ii. at that time the federal government changed course. they still thought it was beneficial to bring children away from their indian community but they had kind of lost faith in the boarding schools as a way to do this. gradually in the 50s the federal government moved away from trying to help indian families regain the children and trying to sort of do general children from the boarding schools and put them back with their families. they more and more moved to this policy of promoting the fostering and adoption of children an era when the federal government was transferring responsibilities to the state.

in the 50s and 60s who was encouraging the states to become responsible for indian children command many of them are promoting the fostering and adoption of children. they really started to have a sort of series of policies when they were removing indian children without good cause. they would say it was because the child was being neglected because an indian woman who had a child was unmarried and had given up her child freely but i found in my research there was a lot of coercion. young indian women who were having babies and social workers were putting a lot of pressure on them. i also found that authorities were often removing indian children without true evidence of

neglect or abuse but often because the family was poor they might not have indoor plumbing a child might be taken care of by grandmother instead of its nuclear family, and especially a lot of pressure that this should be a mother and father taking care of the children not ants uncles grandparents. and so there is as long history that i am covered post-world war ii of state authorities intervening in indian families so much so that by around 1970 probably 25 25 to 35 percent of all indian children were living away from their families. it seems to me that a lot of white middle-class families can interested in adopting american indian children. and some of this was because the popular culture at the

time really talked a lot about how much neither was friendly and children to be adopted, they lived in great poverty. this was also an era of great liberalism among some americans where they really building colorblind society. very progressive christian couples who wanted to adopt american indian children as a gesture of goodwill and racial harmony and reconciliation. there were two ways in which children might be adopted. one was that one was that within the state some state governments were placing indian children with families that already lived in the state. that was the easiest.

but a national program called the indian adoption project the bureau of indian affairs started early 50s was promoting interstate adoption, promoting the taking of children from arizona and new mexico colorado and placing and families in the east coast. i thought this would be best because the child would probably never reconnect with the family of these authorities •-ellipsis was the best way to assimilate indian children. if if they never had any contact with the families are other indian people they thought they would become just like the rest of the population, and that difficult indian problem that they call it for so many years would be resolved finally. the indian problem from the american government side indian peoples have become so dependent on the federal government. they could not make there living.

they really wanted them to become independent. independent. they did not want them to be affiliated with tribes anymore. they did they did not want them to have the claims on particular land or particular unique status with the federal government anymore. what i found in my book, there were many cases of indian women who had lost their children primarily through social workers intervening and taking children away and starting in the late 60s you have these indian women that start to fight back. i found they found an ally in an organization called the association on american indian affairs. this organization developed a legal defense fund for indian families and they assigned one of their staff members and attorney to defend any and families. hundreds across the country,

a small number of other primarily non- indian lawyers get involved in this finally there was a way for indian families, especially indian women to have some recourse when the children were taken from them. and so they went to court, challenge these things. gradually those people who were involved in these cases, whether they were travel advocates, social service providers within the indian communities by the association of american indian affairs began to feel like a case-by-case basis. this is a systemic epidemic problem. living apart from the families this is a crisis. they started promoting the idea of legislation.

the very act that dustin brown was trying to use to get back his daughter. since then the department of justice has really shown itself to be interested in strengthening the indian child welfare act rather than doing away with it. so so that supreme court case was a setback, but i don't see it as the sort of deathknell of the indian child welfare act. in some ways it mobilized indian communities to really want to defend the indian child welfare act. it mobilized people like me. i thought, wow it's important for people to know it's kind of a notion. isn't it nice when people

who have financial means taking children who are in difficult circumstances. but. but i felt like there was an important history to be told here that is more than meets the eye. sometimes state was using the promotion as a tool to undermine indian people and providing the resources that indian communities needed to thrive in for indian families who are struggling to get back on there feet. over time they just undermine the communities through moving the children. if you move the children it will persist. services such a great issue

for indian families. >> you're watching book tv on c-span2. this weekend we are visiting lincoln, nebraska to talk with local authors and tour the city's literary site the help of our local cable partner. next we visit the bennett marty libraries from nebraska authors. >> we are in the heritage room of the best authors in the lincoln city library. this is the main library and in downtown lincoln. we're on the 3rd floor and this is a special collection the purpose is to collect and celebrate and promote the work of nebraska authors we began the collection in 1949. she originally had just one bookcase where she would put books. and we represent more than

4,000 nebraska authors. the most prominent command most famous the best author. some of her contemporaries. and many of the early writers established this literary heritage. the nebraska writers guild and began the tradition of writing about literature. these are some of our early writers. interesting writers who wrote some of the pieces of nebraska history, land surveys they wrote about the farming life more nonfiction approach to the nebraska settlement. we have some early books from famous nebraskans part of the collection that was not necessarily published in nebraska became part of our collection. william jennings bryan and

some of the books that he wrote and also some of the books in his collection. some of the books that are representative of her early collection efforts. some of the things we collected early on were books that were the property of famous to brascan's. and this is examples of both of those things. this one is republican empire written by william jennings bryan. very delicate. william jennings bryan and his signature and this is part of his personal library published in 1899. in this book is one of our more valuable books because of its provenance. this one is called nebraskans about nebraska life and these are nebraskans. part of the territory of nebraskans.

this was owned by j sterling norton. and he gave it to the father belonged to him in 1872 and it was donated to our collection. this is from his library in nebraska. so this is one of our more valuable pieces and one of our earlier pieces. this book is a little book early poetry. some of the details that make this book valuable the gold on the outside and it has a lot of pictures and things. and also it is representative of the early works of 1st nebraska settlers. and so this is really valuable in understanding the heritage and the settlement and the trials and tribulations.

in nebraska authors with the finest someone who is either born here educated here. the university and someone who has lived here for more than ten years. so we look at these authors and try to have a representative example. our collection our collection space is small. and so we don't exhaustively collect books from present-day nebraska authors, authors, but we do have an exhaustive collection of the early nebraska authors that are famous for their nebraska literary contributions. one of the things that are patrons like to see is the scope of literature throughout the past hundred hundred 50 years. many people come to see the books. using it as an example this is the 1st printing. it has the original

autograph and inscription from october 191919. we have these early editions and actually have about 35 copies from its earliest publication in 1915 through present-day publications. looking at ourselves you can see how the dust jackets have changed and also you can see how the readership is changed. will come in with notes from readers. in some cases notes from the author. this one, for example, is the property of wired and she donated this but our collection after she had sent a letter asking about her signature and books and

this is the letter that was written back to her explaining why that is difficult to do. one of the reasons this room is so important as we are a public archive. anyone can come to this room and do research. closed stacks which means that our staff has to retrieve materials that they are available to anyone. patrons can stay and look at them, and one of the most important things is it is available to everyone. it is important we have the space because we can promote the works. we have what is called the aims reading series will we allow authors to come and read from their books that they are writing and to promote their books and we promote them as authors and celebrate the contributions to nebraska literature. >> we continue our visit to

lincoln, nebraska with author of the middle of everywhere which examines the lives of refugees who have been relocated to nebraska from all over the world. >> a refugee is a legal definition. and what it means is a person who cannot stay in the country of origin because of the danger to themselves or there family. to become a refugee generally there has to be some kind of adjudication process that allows a certain group peaceful -- people to be called refugees i just are on national public radio today that there are 39 million internally displaced refugees. this is people who are in their own countries that no longer have homes. the most people in the history of the world that are internally displaced.

i don't know the number for this place to other countries, but sure it is an all-time high. libya and that people are risking their lives trying to cross the mediterranean. people leave because of war. likely to be killed for their political beliefs. come to many come to many cities across america selected in a process that no one understands. for example, fargo north dakota is a refugee committee. des moines lincoln, where i live. these cities are no doubt picked in part because they have good social services and available employment.

that is probably one reason places like that i picked. on the other hand the federal government does nothing to help refugees. meet the man airport usually in san francisco or jfk new york and hand them a ticket. people have no control. i don't even no necessarily until they open up the envelope. usually families are together, although not always. often friends people from a small village have escaped together and then friends is the beginning of their lives are separated across the country. if they are handed a ticket to buffalo, new york together buffalo. the handed a ticket to lincoln, nebraska, that's where they come. people land where they are sent. and not only did they get no help from the federal government they have to pay

their plane ticket back to the money for the plane ticket back. as soon as they get some money their wages are garnished. and if you think about this and a family that speaks no english coming year with seven or eight children that's eight or $10,000 in debt before they even get off the plane. so the people who helped refugees our community service agencies local community service agencies our church groups. the catholic social services has been very important here family services have been important here. one of the arguments i make is that every refugee the concern is a cultural broker as a person that can help

them deal with extraordinarily complicated technological culture. so for example when i was a cultural broker i did this work back in 1999 and 2,000. at at that time lincoln, nebraska had 54 different languages and is public schools. we had refugees coming in from all over the world because we were designated official refugee resettlement community. and so my background is anthropology and psychology, but i got interested in working with this population because i realized that i can learn a lot about families and teenagers and geography and history and language and then i can go home and sleep in my own bed i didn't have to travel. so i wrote the middle of everywhere at that time and became involved in the lives

of many of the refugees. and i'm still friends with many of them. but when i 1st i 1st started being a cultural broker for people and helping introduce them to other people get jobs one of the most complicated things is simply buying a car and getting a drivers license and understanding car insurance. that was a very big project. plus many people come from places where there were no vehicles. just the most basic car maintenance, my husband, i don't know how many people he taught to check the oil in the car. refugees did not know things like one of the risks and nebraska's hypothermia. you have to stay warm. the denial what a nice. people -- i would visit a home and refugees from some parts of the world that were not industrialized would

have there canned goods in a refrigerator and a milk in the cupboard. how to cross streets using red light green light yellow light command is a parking meter. everything was new. segue with major american systems like healthcare schools business those are all enormous issues. medical care many of the country for refugees come from have a totally different idea about the cause of disease, treatment of disease and so on. and so helping people learn the basics about the american medical system and how to interact with it for my going with people, one of the rules i had was 1st time. in other words, anytime someone has their 1st trip to the department of motor vehicles, the 1st trip to the dentist, the 1st application the 1st visit

to a dr., the 1st visit to the school someone needs to go with them and talking through that. i remember taking a young woman from afghanistan for an mri. she had been tortured locked in small cells. and when we got to that mri machine she was overwhelmed. we need to do a little therapy now spot to calm her down to the.that she could get through to my. anonymous challenges the language synonymous challenge. the children of refugees pick it up very quick. women pick it up faster than men. the people who have the hardest time picking it up actually are older people. the kids can pick it up. and no one is in charge of

the family because the parents don't understand what's going on well enough to intervene with our children. for example when i was working at lincoln high school there was a boy i was in the office. the principal told the call home. he called home and told his mother the principal said needed to bring a jacket. the mother was happy and say sure, yes. in any missing school. eventually a translator went through all that. the problems are enormous. in other words people value

good writing of course, but that's not what i i asked my writing. i asked my own writing what is good for what impact will it have in the world. that's what i want to do. i want to write advocacy writing. so with every book, for example when i wrote that book i had a strong sense that teenage girls were being misunderstood. and. and i wanted to write something that allowed the adults in their lives to help them in a more intelligent, compassionate way. the. the same way with this book a lot of misinformation about refugees, a thorough lack of understanding of the enormous problems that they come from an enormous problems they face our country. and so at the end of this book the main thing i encourage readers to do is become a cultural broker get involved in your community work at a literacy center, work through your church. if you see a refugee walking down the str