This particular young children’s book grapples with the theme of justice vs. vengeance. The characters are tested during various social situations that address sexual identity, divorce, racial inequalities, and age discrimination.
This book weaves in topics that are not usually prevalent in children’s books. Because of this, this book would be another one that would lead to important conversations of inclusion in the classroom.
The author, Varian Johnson, experienced racial profiling first-hand when he was just a boy. He was meeting his twin brother at the airport. An undercover police officer ended up searching their vehicle, and bags, because he said he “suspected” them to be drug dealers based on their unconvincing hug. Ultimately, the search came up empty and the police officer went along his way, not offering up an apology. You can read more about this encounter here: http://varianjohnson.com/books/the-parker-inheritance/story-behind-parker-inheritance/
Unfortunately, there are still some questionable police encounters that occur today. Most recently, the Amber Guyger case. If you’re unfamiliar, she is a, now, ex-cop who shot an unarmed black man in his own apartment. She claimed that she thought she was in her own apartment and therefore it must be self defense… right?
Well, one of the star witnesses of this case, one who testified against Amber Guyger, has now been killed as well, also in his home. This happened just ten days after he testified in court in the Guyger trail. Police have made no comments about whether or not his death is linked to his testimony, but we can all agree that it’s a little suspicious. If you are interested, you can click this link and read some more about this incident: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/05/us/botham-jean-neighbor-killed/index.html
The case of Sandra Bland is another controversial one. She was arrested at a traffic stop and later she was found hanged in her cell. Ultimately, her death was ruled a suicide. However, some of the public had questions. The article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/sandra-bland-video-brian-encinia.html, further explains the story and brings attention to how African Americans are sometimes treated by white police officers.
Below is a picture of an excerpt from a leadership guide for police officers. It addresses racial profiling and how a race or ethnicity should not determine whether or not a cop performs/follows certain procedures.
In The Parker Inheritance, Candice and Brandon are racially profiled in the high school. They were conducting some research in the memorial room. Upon walking out, they ran into the principal of the school, who was unmoving in his adamant nature that they were stealing. Like the undercover cop from Varian Johnson’s own story, the principal did not apologize when he realized that he was wrong, he only explained that it was a misunderstanding. Tori, another character in the story, is constantly worried about being racially profiled by a police officer while she is driving. She always drives under the speed limit, has both of her hands on the steering wheel, and she is constantly facing forward. She doesn’t want to give a cop any reason to pull her over.
As a white citizen, this made me think a lot about privilege. I drive with one hand on the wheel, I talk on the phone while I’m driving, and I usually set my cruise control to 5 mph over the limit, knowing that 5 mph over will not get me pulled for speeding.
Not only does this book make you think about white privilege, but also privilege that comes with being straight, privilege that comes with being male, and also privilege that comes with having money. This book is a gold mine of minorities. Therefore, it is a great book to have available to your students, or even a book that you could consider having as a read aloud. According to Boyd et al. (2015), if students do not see themselves in literature, they may believe that their lives/stories are not important enough to be portrayed in books. Since this book addresses many topics that are not typically in children’s literature (racial inequalities, sexual identity, poverty), some of your students who may be experiencing these challenges may be able to somewhat identify with the characters in this book.
“The state of literature for young readers in terms of cultural diversity today has both pros and cons. One con
is that
—although gains have been made—
there are still not enough books being published that are outside of the white, middle- class, heterosexual world. To educate all children appropriately, teachers need more books that depict diverse lifestyles, opportunities, beliefs, choices, and worldviews in addition to books that focus on the
status quo. ” – Boyd et all, 2015.
Authenticity: this book avoids stereotypes- in fact, it addresses/mentions stereotypes. (ex: in the chapter where Candice and Brandon are stopped by the principal)
Evaluating Diverse Literature
Visual/Verbal Sensitivity: the “n” word being discussed in the book might be too much for some readers
Ideologies: racial profiling is an ideology that is prevalent in this book, Tori driving slow and super focussed is in order to prevent an occurrence of how she believes the world works
To wrap up this blogpost, I want to leave you with my favorite quote/ question from The Parker Inheritance. It is one that will leave you thinking about your own experiences, or thinking about how lucky you are to not have to think about your own experiences when faced with this question.
“How did it feel to listen to things like that every day, knowing the people you worked with thought horrible things about who you really were?”
-The Parker Inheritance, Page 309
Johnson, V. (2018.) The Parker Inheritance. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Boyd, F., Causey, L., & Galda, L. (2015.) Culturally Diverse Literature: Enriching Variety in an Era of Common Core State Standards. “The Reading Teacher”, Volume 68, Issue 5. (p. 378-387) Print.
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