While the focus of the CCHRC is on human rights in our own community, it’s also good to be aware of global concerns. Media attention on hotspots such as Darfur and Burma/Myanmar is a timely reminder that these issues are being played out everywhere, often with deadly consequences.
International human rights:
Books:
Not on our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond
(Paperback) by Don Cheadle (Author), John Prendergast (Author)
Good background on the Darfur genocide, with anecdotes from the authors’ visits there. Also provides concrete tips on how anyone can support efforts to stop crimes against humanity in Darfur and elsewhere (e.g., northern Uganda and Congo).
Human Rights Watch World Report 2008
(Human Rights Watch World Report) (Paperback) by Human Rights Watch
“World Report 2008 prioritizes events in the most affected countries during the year. The backbone of the report consists of a series of concise overviews of the most pressing human rights issues in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, with particular focus on the role-positive or negative-played in each country by key domestic and international figures.”
Video:
A Journey to Darfur
Actor George Clooney and his journalist father Nick traveled incognito and unaccompanied to Darfur in 2006, with only a cameraman to record the journey. Their documentary shows both suffering and courage, and can be used to engage teens and young adults in conversation about human rights. “100% of AmericanLife TV’s proceeds on the sale of this DVD go to www.notonourwatchproject.org. NOOW was created by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub to support existing humanitarian relief efforts and to ensure the protection of civilians in Darfur.”
Voices in Exile
Rating UNRATED Tibet and Tibetans are often portrayed in film by outsiders; this is one of the first documentaries produced by a Tibetan director. Tenzin Wangden Andrugtsang bravely chronicles his people’s struggles against brutal repression by the Chinese governmnet.
Domestic human rights and civil rights:
Books:
From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice
(Politics and Culture in Modern America) (Hardcover) by Thomas F. Jackson
Winner of the 2007 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award of the Organization of American Historians for the best book on “any historical aspect of the civil rights struggle in the United States from the nation’s founding to the present.”
This book explores Martin Luther King Jr.’s less well-known contributions to social and economic justice, and his influences, which were drawn from socialism, Gandhian philosophy, and other liberal movements.
Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign
(Paperback) by Michael K. Honey (Author)
MLK died in Memphis, where he was working in support of a sanitation workers’ strike in 1968. His involvement in labor issues signaled a broadening of his interests, from primarily civil rights to include the antiwar movement and class struggles.
Hear Us Out!: Lesbian and Gay Stories of Struggle, Progress, and Hope, 1950 to the Present
(Hardcover) by Nancy Garden (Author)
Local author Nancy Garden has written a collection of essays and stories about the political and social struggles of gay and lesbian youth beginning in the 1950s.
For children:
The Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21 Activities
(For Kids series) (Paperback) by Mary C. Turck
“Grade 4-8-A comprehensive history and guide to one of the defining movements of the 20th century. Beginning with the early days of segregation and ending with civil rights today, readers discover not only the work and speeches of the notable leaders, but also how children participated in the struggle. Activities include reenacting a lunch-counter sit-in, organizing a workshop on nonviolence, and holding a freedom film festival.”
If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People
(Hardcover) by David Smith (Author), Shelagh Armstrong (Illustrator)
Gr. 3-5, younger for reading aloud. To make the idea of a world of 6.2 billion people more understandable, Smith suggests that children imagine the population of the world as a village of just 100 people. That’s one person representing 62 million people in the real world.
Rights in the Home (What Do We Mean by Human Rights?)
(Paperback) by Emma Haughton (Author)
Looks at the issues of homelessness and domestic relations from the point of view of universal human rights.
Give Me Shelter: Stories About Children Who Seek Asylum
(Hardcover) by Tony Bradman (Editor)
Featuring stories from youth based in trouble spots around the world including Kosovo, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Eritrea, Zaire, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, and Kurdistan ‹ this collection of stories spotlights people who have been forced to leave their homes or families to seek help and shelter elsewhere.
Also of interest:
The Civil Rights Movement: Striving for Justice (Social and Political Reform Movements in American History)
(Hardcover) by Tim McNeese (Author)
Mine & Yours: Human Rights for Kids
(Paperback) by Joy Wilt Berry (Author), Nicole Richardson (Illustrator)
Child Labor Today: A Human Rights Issue
(Issues in Focus Today) (Library Binding) by Wendy Herumin (Author)
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