From the Bookshelves: Social Justice Holiday Reading Gift Guide: Understanding Immigration

Elizabeth Gibson, Staff Attorney, New York Legal Assistance Group and Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow, offers some thoughts in the Huffington Post on a social justice education holiday gift — “the gift of literary empathy.”

When politics differ, and this year there has been a lot of differing, how do you push back and educate without the entire meal exploding? Surely, there is a healthier method than twisting your napkin in knots under the table?

This year, consider a sneak attack in the form of literature. Infiltrate the book shelves of your familial adversaries with holiday gifts that make the recipients think. Distract them with engaging plots while slipping in social justice morals.

Here are Gibson’s suggested books:

1.       In the Country We Love: My Family Divided, by Diane Guerrero (Non-Fiction)

2.       Americanah  by Chimamanda, by Ngozi Adichie (Fiction)

3.        Outcasts United by Warren, St. John (Non-Fiction)

4.       Brooklyn: A Novel, by Colm Toibin (Fiction)

5.        Do They Hear You When You Cry, by Fauziya Kassindja and Layli Miller Bashir (Non-Fiction)

KJ