Steal This Country by Alexandra Styron
Available At: Chinook Trail (MS)
Categories: Anti-Police, Anti-Religion, Illegal Immigration, LGBTQ+, Politics, Racism, Sexism, Sexual, Violence, Whiteness
Description: “Inspired by Abbie Hoffman’s radical classic, Steal This Book, author Alexandra Styron’s stirring call for resistance and citizen activism to be clearly heard by young people.”
YA Label?: Yes
Notes: Direct Indoctrination – Encourages support for six specific agendas (as described by leftists): Climate Change, Illegal Immigration, LGBTQ+, Racial / Social Justice, “Religious Understanding”, and Women’s Rights.
Rating: 1
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Snippets
Front & Back Covers: “A handbook for resistance, persistence, and fixing almost everything…Steal This Country equips concerned, questioning readers with a tangible sense of continuity and tools to better understand intersecting movements (Nate Powell)…Steal This Country is a real-world action plan for young citizens with a conscience (Carl Hiaasen).”
Page 19: “THE WHAT:…In this section, we take a deep dive into six issues we think are important and believe you might be interested in as well.”
Page 29: ”Women’s rights: But then……hallelujah……along came the feminist…What we can do – In school: demand access to sexual health resources…That includes HIV/AIDS curriculums, condom demonstrations, and accurate information about birth control.”
Page 67: “It can also be genuinely dangerous-for example, forcing a trans woman to use a ‘male’ restroom can put her in a potentially pretty scary situation.”
Page 89: “THREATS TO DACA: Treatment of refugees, xenophobia: One of the elments at the core of all these issues, be it restrictions against Mexicans and Latin Americans, or Haitians, or people from majority Muslim countries, is xenophobia, a fear of or prejudice against foreign people…Islamophobia: Travel bans…What we can do – In School: FIght to keep ICE out of your school.”
Page 106: “White privilege:…It refers to the biases in society that favor white people…What can we do: In school, fight to change your school mascot.”
Pages 117-122: “THE WHY:…Like practically everyone else, I had been certain that Hillary Clinton was going to win that night…Donald Trump, a reality TV show host who literally lived in a golden tower and knew nothing about policy or how most Americans lived…Donald had spent his career discriminating against minorities, demeaning women, and mocking the disabled.”
Pages 130-131: “THE HOW:…Are you coming from a position of privilege? If so, acknowledge it.”
Page 191: ”When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, a far-right faction of the Republican Party found their inner activist. They called themselves the Tea Party in honor of, well, you get the joke. Conservative, mostly Christian, and mostly white, the Tea Partiers vowed to fight not only Democrats, but even Republicans who supported legislation they didn’t believe in.”