Books, and story telling in general, are a central part of childhood.[1] Stories play a central role in developing formative experiences in the lives of many children.[2] “[C]hildren’s books, because of their mythic power, because of their capacity to instill resources that echo throughout our life, are a crucial point of origin for [the] life-long practices [of adult life and law].”[3] By promoting literature to children at a young age—particularly from the transitional stage of toddler to student—within the private and public sphere encourages the beginning of independent reading.[4] When children experience literature at this transitional stage, they are distinguishing between parental rules and the rules of society, thus they are simultaneously exerting greater influence on their own lives while naturally and forcefully adopting to the existence of social rules.[5] One source of literature that influenced children’s perception of human rights is Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss would use comic illustrations, nonsense words, and outrageous plot elements to entice children; however, the stories possess real life aspects that children encounter, such as “discrimination, exploitation, loneliness, fear, and abandonment.”[6] Further, Dr. Seuss depicts a child with individual rights as the protagonist rather than as a person attached to a parent.[7] Many of these narratives have reoccurring themes that teach, “Core human rights principles and reinforce the idea that one should respect the rights of others.”[8] But beyond human rights and the “canonized white males,” works by minority authors can “yield valuable contrasting views of cultural artifacts.”[9] If children’s literature were to use picturesque images of Hispanic characters in real life situations, rather than stereotypical roles such the hot-blooded sexy characters, macho men, gang-members, drug dealers, or illegal immigrants, then perhaps children may not have the false dichotomy of what it means to be Latino.[10] Promoting these stereotypes creates a stigma that signifies that that person "is not quite human."[11] Further, enforcing these stereotypes as the norms carries a deeply negative reaction. Research suggests that media distortions negatively impact the self-esteem of African-American children from achieving their academic potential in American society.[12] Like Dr. Seuss, the characters in the children’s books can explore real life situations by surveying Latino history, cultural contributions in American society, or important Latino leaders in America, like Cesar Chavez or Nydia Velasquez.[13] By creating picturesque literature for children that promotes Hispanic characters doing non-stigmatic things, the paradigm of the perception of human rights, and the way children view the law, would shift toward an equilibrium that facilitates and promotes participation. Moreover the dynamic of storytelling between parent and child cannot be undervalued. Studies have shown that parental involvement with a more-involved structure at home correlates with a child’s grade improvement and higher self-esteem.[14] Further, the poverty rates in Latino are high; studies conducted have shown disproportionately high rates of illiteracy linked to children in poverty.[15] Some professionals view a lack of parental involvement by Latino parents as not caring, but other factors, like the parent’s own educational level, language deficiency, or unfamiliarity within the school system, lead to this lack of parental guidance.[16] Therefore the role of the proposed picturesque books should have an emphasis on different languages, such as English and Spanish, which would encourage the reading dynamic at home to continue. But even if only one language is spoken at home, studies have found that “young children who hear more than one language spoken at home become better communicators.”[17] Ideally, the practicality of picturesque books with minority-driven protagonists should not be exclusively for Latino children. All children should be exposed to different cultures in literature as some authors have suggested that children stories offer a way to imagine other worlds and differing “suppositions.”[18] To children, “the real and the imaginary are not always distinct categories, but rather closer points on a continuum; children easily pass back and forth between real and pretend, factual and fictional.”[19] By exposing all children to these imaginary tales, it enables children to get immersed in alternative realities and emerge as slightly different people.[20] Thus by creating applicable children’s books that enable a different culture could serve as a catalyst to “operate as the origins for social rituals, ideological creeds, and legal principles about justice, legal autonomy, punishment, and rights” among all.[21] Creating literature tailored for Latino children can alleviate some of the issues that Latino face. But such creation can only exist if the general public is made more aware of Latino literature and movements. The Chicano movement in the 1950s and 1960s was largely successful to the general public directly in part to the influence of the African-American fight for social justice.[22] As Latinos progress in the age of technology and social media, Latinos again have to look at today’s successful movements to make the general public more aware. More importantly, Latinos have to fully understand their identity of “being Latino” and understand how history has hindered and distorted Latinos perception of the law. To get a grasp on such knowledge would not promote Latinos to “overthrow the United States government” or “promote resentment toward a race or class of people”, but encourage Latinos to build a better future for their children.[23] BIBLIOGRAPHY: [1] See Johnson, supra note 1, 5, 5 n.12; see also e.g., Paulo Freire, The Importance of the Act of Reading, 165 J. Educ. 1, 8 (Loretta Slover trans., 1983) (reflecting on the “importance of the act of reading” in shaping one’s development). [2] Id. [3] Id. at 14; see also Desmond Manderson, From Hunger to Love: Myths of the Source, Interpretation, and Constitution in Children’s Literature, 15 Law & Literature 87, 95 (2003). [4] Id. at 16 [5] Id. [6] Id. at 15. [7] Id. at 2. [8]Id. [9] David Ray Papke, Problems With an Uninvited Guest: Richard A. Posner and the Law and Literature Movement, 69 B.U.L. Rev. 1067, 1086-87(1989) (reviewing Richard A. Posner, Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation 1989)). [10] Ediberto Roman, Who Exactly Is Living La Vida Loca ?: The Legal and Political Consequences of Latino-Latina Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes in Film and Other Media, 4 J. Gender Race & Just. 37, 39-40(2000). [11] See Johnson, supra note 1, 46; quoting Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, 2 (Simon & Schuster 1986). [12] See Roman, supra note 178, at 64. [13] Veronique de Miguel, 5 Hispanic Leaders That Everyone Should Know, Huffington Post (Oct. 15, 2003 9:49 PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/hispanic-leaders_n_4100409.html. [14] See Tinkler, supra note 66, at 3. [15] Id. [16] Id. [17] Jann Ingmire, Children exposed to multiple languages may be better natural communicators, UChicago News, (May 11, 2015), http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/05/11/children-exposed-multiple-languages-may-be-better-natural-communicators. [18] See Johnson, supra note 1, at 39. [19] Id. [20] Id. at 41. [21] Id. [22] Ian F. Haney Lopez, Protest, Repression, & Race: Legal Violence and The Chicano Movement, 150 U. Pa. L. Rev. 205, 214 (2001). [23] See Salinas, supra note 60, at 301-03.
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November 2018
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