How I Resist by Maureen Johnson
Available At: Chinook Trail (MS)
Categories: Anti-Police, Anti-Religion, Cursing, Drug Abuse, LGBTQ+, Politics, Racism, Sexism, Sexual, Whiteness
Description: “The ultimate resistance guidebook”
YA Label?: Yes
Notes: Includes sexual, LGBTQ, anti-American, anti-white, anti-police, anti-conservative concepts, as well as drug abuse / spiking. Protested unsuccessfully at Chinook Trail Middle School, District Superintendent, & Board of Education. President of BOE stated his point of decision was based on sexual content, and that he did not notice any upon reading the book (see Snippets below).
Rating: 2
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The above scale indicates whether, in our view, the referenced book violates established and upheld Federal (Miller Test) and State (Colorado Obscenity Test) standards. Books that violate ALL established standards will have a table printed in red. Under Colorado Law, willful distribution of such material is deemed a Class 6 penalty carrying a fine and/or up to 18 months in prison.
Snippets
Page 1: “When I told people I was working on a resistance guide for teens, occasionally someone would ask me, ‘Why? They can’t vote.’”
Pages 5-7: “Could we please give the police departments to the grandmothers?…And there are no precincts. Just love temples that got spaces to meditate and eat delicious food…So give the police departments to the grandmas…The car is solar powered and carbon footprint-free, the grandmas designed the technology themselves…Grandma knows what oppression has done to our souls and is gonna change it one love temple at a time.”
Pages 19-22: “Sure, I was writing fiction about people that Trump would hate…We must fight against the threats of the Trump administration.”
Pages 47-48: “As I have learned about Palestinian history and culture, and have visited relatives in Palestine and Jordan, I have become aware of the day-to-day impact of oppression on my family members and of the ongoing domination of Palestinian society and economy, enthusiastically supported by the American government.”
Pages 64-67: “These white voters look out at the world and see people unlike them getting ahead while people like them have to work harder and harder just to stay in place…Pilipovic wrote in the New York Times, ‘It was mostly white men in charge, and it was white male experiences and norms against which all others found themselves contrasted and defined.’…Trump’s Make American Great Again slogan told those mired white guys and their daughters and wives that it wasn’t heir fault that they’d slipped, that a great American was one with them on top, and that Trump was the man that put them there.”
Page 79: “And the same dirty-ass Uncle Sam that was giving out cash, land, and pursuits of happiness to our fairer skinned siblings while fondling us inappropriately behind closed doors.”
Page 111: “Sometimes a hashtag isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to take action in the real world and you need something physical and real to make your statements. Maybe it’s putting together a little zine about birth control options because your school stopped teaching them. Maybe it’s taking some wood cuts you’ve made and converting them into a projection you’ll use to shine BLACK LIVES MATTER across the busy bridge in town. Maybe it’s building a huge Trump puppet sitting on a toilet with the words HOMEPOOPER eight feet high – please?? – that you’ll bring to a weekend march.”
Page 135: ”In addition to the ever-popular ‘My Lady Business is None of Yours’ T-shirts, we also have the ‘Make America Stop Being Such an Asshole’ hats, ‘Keep Your Laws Off My Gender Fluids; hoodies, and my personal favorite, the Delta Sigma Tau swimsuits with a shark crotch and the tag ‘Grab at your own risk’.”
Page 137: ”Unfortunately, the dress had been run off in the local print shop – ‘Guns, God, and Garments’ – so the image was upside down, which put Mitch McConnell’s dying turtle mouth right over Aunt Zippee’s Precious Portal. One the plus side, I’m sure it’s the closest Pence has been to some lady parts in a while.”
Page 138: ”Are you sure Mike Pence is allowed to be alone near your left rib? I said. ‘What if he accidentally makes a woman out of it?’.”
Page 140: ”Anybody got some spare Xanax? I used all mine to spike my uncle Bubba’s sweet tea. Judge me if you like, but it’s an open carry state y’all.”
Page 167: ”When the beast we call Trump was declared president-elect, I felt the call for community anew.”