BOOKS ARE WINDOWS into other worlds and glimpses of experiences not our own. One of the most powerful ways books have worked in my life is to illuminate the truth that the world is a very unequal place. It started at a young age for me, my childish mind consumed with stories such as that of Helen Keller (and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who for several years lived in a “poorhouse”) and missionary biographies of people such as Amy Carmichael and Gladys Aylward, who worked with children who had been trafficked or orphaned in other countries.
Even as a child I puzzled over why some children suffered so greatly and others didn’t. It wasn’t fair.
As much as I loved stories with fairy-tale endings, such as The Secret Garden or The Little Princess, I returned constantly to narrative nonfiction that exposed me to a wider, morally complex world. And this drive never left me.
Today, there are many books that address the topic of inequality in fresh, insightful, and provoking ways.
For Children
Where Will I Live? by Rosemary McCarney. Few situations highlight as many forms of inequality as the refugee crisis. The lack of access to safe housing, food, water, and your own country are concepts that are both devastating and yet easily understood by even very young readers. This book is full of images of refugee children and the questions they ask about their present lives and immediate futures. An excellent way to introduce children to the reality of many children around the world and to begin the conversations about how they are our neighbors and what it means to love them.
When I Get Older: The Story Behind “Wavin’ Flag,” by K’naan. A short picture book that gives elementary-aged children a glimpse into what it is like for people to resettle in a Western country (Canada, in this case). Written by Somali-Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter, and former refugee K’naan.
The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles, makes explicit connections to both how recent the story of Ruby Bridges is—she was the first African-American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, in 1960—and how it continues to affect our schools. It will open discussions regarding school inequity, segregation, and the civil rights movement.
READ: Sojourners Recommends: Life Shaping Books for Kids
Visuals for All Ages
What the World Eats, by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio. As an educator, I love all the books by photojournalists Menzel and D’Aluisio. I regularly use What the World Eats in the English language classes I teach in refugee and immigrant communities because it simply and succinctly uses images to capture the beauty of differences between cultures while highlighting disparities—from the bare-bones sustenance of refugee camps to the overflowing budgets and countertops of families in the U.S. Even the types and varieties of food are fascinating to discuss—from families who only eat what they farm to those that buy mostly premade and packaged food.
Where Children Sleep, by James Mollison. Photographer Mollison’s seemingly simple conceit reverberates with consequences: He traveled all over the world to take pictures of children and where they slept at night. From straw mats to rooms stuffed with toys, the wide variety (and sometimes stark contrasts in security and wealth) of the conditions children find themselves in is hard to turn away from.
A Beautiful Ghetto, by Devin Allen. Allen was born and raised in Baltimore. His photos of his neighborhood—both the mundane and beautiful everyday scenes and what took place after the killing of Freddie Gray at the hands of the Baltimore Police Department—show the culmination of decades of tension and demands for equality. Allen is a perfect example of why we need artists to illuminate their own places—his photos carry the love and attention to detail of a true neighbor. This book gave me chills in how it highlights an inequality that many white Americans are still coming to grips with, and does it in a beautiful, honest way.
Narrative Nonfiction
My favorite genre is narrative nonfiction—especially the kind that evokes empathy and self-reflection to the point of change. In short, stories that transform the way we view our world, invite us to consider people very different from ourselves to be our neighbors, and examine how we might be obligated to show love to them in an unjust and unequal society. Here are a few of my recent favorites, both for their writing style as well as the people they profile.
City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp, by Ben Rawlence. As someone who works with refugees and immigrants, I appreciated Rawlence’s deep dive into the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya to give us an immersive experience in the lives of nine of the inhabitants. Refugee camps exist in their own world—no citizenship, no rights, the basics barely provided. The humanity on display in this book is impressive, even as most of the stories are both deeply sad and implicate the lack of concern worldwide for the plight of millions seeking safety and security in a time of war. To give a faceless “mass” specific names, hopes, fears, and tragedies is to speak to how connected we are to the stateless wanderers of the earth.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond. Desmond, a sociologist, spent considerable amounts of time in precariously housed communities in Milwaukee, talking to white families in trailer parks and African-American single mothers searching for apartments, as well as predatory landlords. His resulting work shines a light on a crisis that punishes the most vulnerable and remains largely unseen by many Americans. Anyone with a stable roof over their heads will certainly feel discomforted at the knowledge that the stories revealed in Evicted are happening throughout the U.S. As I write this, the housing shelters for families here in Portland, Ore., are full to bursting. Desmond brings home the point that inequality (be it housing or otherwise) doesn’t simply just happen—inequality is on the rise because other people profit from it.
Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives. This collection of oral histories, edited by Peter Orner for the Voice of Witness series, is eye-opening for the sheer diversity of stories represented. In public discourse the phrase “undocumented immigrant” conjures up a specific narrative. Here, that idea is shattered, as is the belief that the U.S. immigration system is built upon justice or equity. From au pairs to cooks to day laborers, the stories compiled in this volume are incredibly complex and not easily defined—except by the singular truth that to be undocumented in the U.S. is to live a life of suffering and exploitation. To be born in a place and given citizenship automatically is a privilege that many of us never question; this book requires readers to do so.
Learning that the world is unequal is a rite of passage, particularly for U.S. Christians. But scripture is full of stories of the struggle to right wrongs, to bring justice where there has been injustice. From the Magnificat to the poetry of Isaiah to the sermon on the plain in the gospel of Luke, we see that inequality is never far from the mind of God, and that it is a consistent theme pressed onto the people who struggle to love God and their neighbors as themselves.
I hope that we all continue to seek out books that ask the same questions of us, help our children to ask these questions, introduce us to neighbors and neighborhoods that we are unaware of, and compel us to consider our personal responsibility to them. Reading can be a form of contemplative activism—and can bring us closer to a truer definition of righteousness, and equity, in our world.
D.L. Mayfield is a neighbor and writer in Portland, Ore. Their book, The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power was released in May 2020.
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