Modern day TID/TLH AU, come Christmas time all the TID women and all the kids under twenty go out for the day and all the men stay home and are tasked with putting up Christmas lights. Every year, the women and children return home to beautiful decorated houses. All the TLH guys finally hit twenty and get ready for their first electrical lighting extravaganza and head off fully excepting a day of hard labor only to get there and discover the hard truth:

Only Will and Gabriel so much as touch the Christmas lights One starts on the roof, one starts on the ground. They spend hours trying to outdo each other. Everyone else sits in the driveway and watches on as they fight to deck each house in holiday glory sufficient enough to send the other into a pool of shame. Nobody one else has laid a finger on a lightbulb in two and a half decades.

6 YA Books By Black Authors About Social Justice

___

1. The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

“Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson. With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?”

___

2. One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite

“ISN'T BEING HUMAN ENOUGH? When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic. One of the good ones. Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind—why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?—Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there's a twist to Kezi's story that no one could've ever expected—one that will change everything all over again.”

___

3. Kneel by Candace Buford

“The system is rigged. For guys like Russell Boudreaux, football is the only way out of their small town. As the team’s varsity tight end, Rus has a singular goal: to get a scholarship and play on the national stage. But when his best friend is unfairly arrested and kicked off the team, Rus faces an impossible choice: speak up or live in fear. “Please rise for the national anthem.” Desperate for change, Rus kneels during the national anthem. In one instant, he falls from local stardom and becomes a target for hatred. But he’s not alone. With the help of his best friend and an unlikely ally, Rus will fight for his dreams, and for justice.”

___

4. Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out. Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.

___

5. Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

___

6. I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Gilly Segal

An NAACP Image Award Nominee, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight follows two teen girls—one black, one white—who have to confront their own assumptions about racial inequality as they rely on each other to get through the violent race riot that has set their city on fire with civil unrest.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.

___

Have you read any of these? Would you recommend them?

___

Happy reading!

A Tribute to Kathleen Ruth Smiley A tribute to a young life that was tragically cut short in 1974. A senior at Lakeside High School in Atlanta/Dekalb County, she was abducted near I-85 in N.E. Atlanta and was taken to Gastonia, North Carolina where she was beaten, raped, and stabbed. She was dragged to a tree where she was tied up, gagged, and left to die. Now 40 years later, it appears that her troubled spirit still haunts the grounds of the abandoned school, Lincoln Academy. Kathleen Ruth Smiley, age 16, was known to her friends as "Kathy". She was born in Florida on May 22, 1957, the middle daughter of Dale and Jacqueline Smiley. Her father was a marketing representative for the Gillette Company, the men’s toiletry supply company. After spending several years in Hong Kong, her family moved to the metropolitan Atlanta area of northern DeKalb County, specifically the Lakeside High School neighborhood. She lived on Kodiak Drive, a well-to-do neighborhood made up of better middle class homes, two-car garages, and plenty of activities to keep active teenagers like Kathy and her younger sister, Patricia, occupied. Kathy acclimated herself to her new surroundings; being the daughter of an up-and coming corporate executive meant that she would be required to move around a lot. She was described by her neighbors as being "friendly"..."well-spirited"...."fun to be with"...."someone who laughs and smiles at everyone". She was real go-getter. Although she entered Lakeside as a member of the class of 1975, she took extra classes during the summer of 1973 so that she could graduate a year earlier. You could do that in DeKalb County back then...several students did it every year during their junior year, to get a start in college or life. Kathy hadn't decided what to do with herself...at first she wanted to be a veterinarian…then she wanted to be a teacher. In any case, in the spring of 1974 she was planning her final weeks in school and she wanted them to be special. She had a new boyfriend and she was planning to go to the Junior-Senior Prom with him in late April 1974. In fact, just days before her death, she had already picked the dress from one of the specialty shops located near Lakeside in the Northlake Mall area. It was a beautiful yellow gown, with lots of frilly lace…the style popular in the mid 1970’s. She also was thrilled that her father, Dale Smiley was planning to visit her and her younger sister on the weekend of April 20 to accompany them to day of swimming and picnicking at Lake Lanier, a recreational lake area north of Atlanta off I-85. She was especially close to her father now, simply because her father and mother had recently separated and he was living in Minnesota at his new office with Gillette…that had been the reason for the separation. Kathy’s mom was tired of moving so often and she loved Atlanta and did not want to leave…but Dale's company gave him a promotion, raise, and transfer to Minneapolis that he could not turn down, so it was he who left, not Patricia and the girls. Everything was set…Kathy would take her little sister to a Denny’s Restaurant to meet their dad and they would travel together to the Lake…it would be a perfect day…Sunday, April 21, 1974. Her last day living in God's great Earth... Breakfast at Denny’s 10:45am Kathy and Patricia arrived at the restaurant several minutes before their father arrived. When Mr. Smiley arrived, hugs and kisses were shared and menus were passed about. After the breakfast was finished, Kathy informed her father that she had get gas in her car in order to make it to Lake Lanier. She had a red 1972 VW Beetle, which was given to her on her 16th birthday in May 1973. Mr Smiley agreed to take Patricia with him since Kathy was going travel in a different direction at first. This decision probably saved Patricia’s life. Kathy left the table and called her mother explaining that she was going to get gas, come home to retrieve a swimsuit, then head to Lake Lanier….it was the last time Mrs. Smiley heard her daughter’s voice ever again. By the time she returned to the table, her father had paid the bill and was planning to go up to the lake. They all left the Denny’s at the same time, got into their separate cars and left the lot….. It was the last time Dale and his daughter Patricia saw Kathy alive… Visitors to Atlanta often marvel on how many highways and expressways blanket the landscape…what they don’t marvel about is the lack of clear signage on the highways. The area where this particular Denny’s was located was situated near a confusing network of local roads, private byways, interstate highway entrance and exit routes, and a unique feature in Atlanta….highway access roads. These roads often lead to retail outlet centers, business office buildings, and warehouses. They do not often feature gas filling stations. And it was so easy for someone like Kathy, who had only been driving for 10 months, to get confused and lost on the road…. The access road was also an area frequented by vagrants, hitchhikers, and individuals on the run from the law. Such was the case that Sunday morning when Pinkney Thomas Mitchell, age 25 and Wallace Charles Lanford, age 21, both fugitives from North Carolina were walking down the access road towards the I-285 interchange. Mitchell has escaped from a work crew and Lanford was mistakenly released weeks before by a judge who mistook his record for another convict. Both had been in Atlanta, hanging out at the local strip dives and joints. Now they were broke…they were craving for drugs…and they wanted to get back to North Carolina where they knew the territory….where they could get money…and drugs.… They just needed to find a way back… Fate can be a cruel sadistic player in the game of life…for some, there is good luck and fortune, …for Kathy, however, Fate would twist its wicked hand. For people like Mitchell and Lanford, they were hunters…looking for prey. When they set their sites on Kathy and her disabled red 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, they knew that their luck had changed…and they also liked what they saw in Kathy…an attractive teenage girl…all alone…with no one to protect her. She was ripe for the picking. A clerk at the Shell Station at the corner of Shallowford Road and Interstate 85 remembers seeing Mitchell coming up to him with $5.00 to purchase a can full of gasoline. The clerk was hesitant to release the can since it was only one on the lot. As he peered down the road, he saw the red car with 2 people leaning on it, later identified as Lanford and Kathy. The boy personally wanted to take the can himself, but this task was refused by his manager who needed him to operate the gas pumps. Remember, this was a least a year before Georgia allowed self-serve gas stations to exist, so the boy reluctantly allowed the can to be released to Mitchell. To his surprise, a few minutes later the red Beetle came up to the station with Kathy driving, Langford in the front passenger side and Mitchell in the back, directly behind Kathy. Mitchell got out of the car, took the now empty can out of the back seat and returned it to the attendant. Mitchell then asked if he could use the restroom. The attendant told him to pick up the key in the office, which he did. As he walked around the side, he spied a length of clothesline rope lying on the ground. He quickly picked it up, wrapped it up and put it into his side pocket. While he was in the restroom, he jotted down a note that stated something like “I’ve got a rope in my pocket. We’re going to use it..follow my lead”. He then returned to the car. The attendant and manager both testified in interrogatories that Mitchell asked questions like..”How far is it to Lake Lanier?”…”Does this highway go the North Carolina”…”Do you have a map?” A map was given to the three and they all looked at it for a while, then Mitchell folded it up, put it in his back pocket and climbed into the passenger side of the car, next to Kathy… The gas station employees at the Shallowford Road Shell Station were the last people to see Kathy alive and “in control of the car”, a quote given by one of the witnesses. Now I’ve noted that she “was in control of the car”. According to DeKalb County Police, who were investigation the kidnapping on the Georgia end, Kathy had no intention of either going to North Carolina…she had called her mother and stated that she was on her way home to pick up some clothes and a swimsuit…she told both her father and sister that she was coming to the Lake. Somewhere between the Shallowford Road-I85 highway entrance and the Lake Lanier-Buford, Ga highway split, the fugitives gained control of Kathy and eventually her vehicle. Lincoln Academy Gastonia, NC