Laleña Garcia: Hi, my name is Laleña Garcia. I am the author of What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book. When I learned about Black Lives Matter at school, I remember thinking, "Oh my goodness, this is exactly like what I do in my classroom." I'm so excited to help kids think about justice and equity, and that's what we do anyway. So let's think about these new ways of saying some of these ideas.

So I learned about the principles of Black Lives Matter, and then I thought about ways that the kids in my class would like to talk about them. And then I started talking to kids about the principles, and kids had really smart ideas. And I had some really great conversations with kids about things like empathy and diversity and being transgender-affirming and being queer-affirming. And kids always had really smart ideas, and I feel like I learned a lot from listening to them.

And when I decided to make this book with my friend Caryn, who did all of the drawings, we really thought about the ways that kids think about these principles and about the ideas and about what kids wanted to talk more about. I used some of the ideas from kids, and then from talking to other teachers and thinking about, "Oh, what do I want kids to think about when they're thinking about these big ideas?"

One thing that I have noticed is that a lot of times in our country, we don't talk about race openly, and so we don't practice it. And that means that a lot of people have not practiced it and we don't feel like we're good at it. I teach five- and six-year-olds and they really think a lot about the ideas in this book. But I also have friends who teach high-school students and they use these ideas to start the conversations with their high-schoolers.

And so I think that this book is really for anyone from about four years old to maybe even 40 years old, because I know that I grew up in a country where we didn't talk a lot about race, and a lot of people my age grew up in this country too, and I think everybody probably needs some practice. And a lot of the questions that we ask are questions that anybody can think about, like, "What makes you feel good?" And, "Who are the people in your family that you care about?" And, "What do you like about your community?" Those are all questions that everybody can answer.

I think an important thing to know about me is that I really love to serve. And that's something that I had to work really hard at and practice a lot, but I love it. And so I keep practicing it. And I think the reason that's extra important is because I think that everybody has to practice things to get better at them. And sometimes we want to do better at things right away. Sometimes we want to be super good at something without practicing it. And I think that this book is one example of some things that we might have to practice, like having conversations with people about things that make us a little uncomfortable. One thing I know is that the more you practice anything, the better you get, and I think that's a really important thing to know.

I want to read you a part of this book, What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book, and I want to read a part that is my letter to kids:

Sometimes grown-ups think that big ideas like equity, making sure everyone gets what they need, and justice, making sure everything is fair, are too tricky for kids. I think that's not true, and all my students agree. Sometimes kids have much better ideas than grown-ups, because grown-ups have gotten used to thinking about the world in the same old ways, and kids are good at finding new ways to think about the world. When kids ask me, 'How can I help?' or, 'What can I do to make the world better?' I always say that the first place to start is by asking questions.