This month the local citizens group, Racial Equity Montana, teamed up with Hopa Mountain and the Country Book Shelf to sponsor a multicultural book drive. Why? Because 50 percent of the school age population in the United States is not white, but only 10 percent of children’s books that deal with humans have significant characters who are not white.
This imbalance presents young minds a distorted picture of reality. White children gain the idea that most of the world is like them, and it is not. Children of color get the message that they are not worthy of mention in school texts and library books, and that hurts.
Gallatin County residents were invited to drop off new and used multi-ethnic books in good condition at the Country Book Shelf and at the multicultural children’s story hour held at the Bozeman Public Library on April 2. The book drive ended with the donations of $4,000 worth of pre-school through middle school books which feature ethnic and racial diversity. These books are being donated to 22 public school and child care sites in the Bozeman-Belgrade area.
The members of Racial Equity Montana want to say thank you to the caring people who donated books and attended the story hour. We have been asked to repeat the multicultural book drive and the children’s story hour. We will.
