---Happy New Year from Unity First---
In this new year of 2002, Unity First team extends its thanks and gratitude to our online news readers and the many visitors to UnityFirst.com who tuned in during 2001. We look forward to your continued readership in 2002 and beyond. Your readership is important to us and we value your news, opinions and dedication. We hope that you will be blessed in this New Year and will find the prosperity and good health that you so deserve. Unity First looks forward to 2002. Our readership is growing steadily and the power of our network is witnessed every day. We encourage you to share your news with us, and let us know what issues are on your mind. The UNITY of all people seeking justice should be our FIRST priority in 2002, next to God and family. Also, we must open the lines of communication and trust, while empowering and inspiring each other to do positive, progressive work that makes a difference in our diverse communities and enlightens the humanity in us all.

---President signs bill to start "Plan of Action" for National African-American Museum--- It's official. President George Bush signed the bill that calls for a presidential commission to create an action plan to establish the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington. D.C. The commission -- during a nine-month period -- will devise a blueprint, with critical point-by-point recommendations that will guide Congress in putting the final touches on the legislation, which is expected sometime in 2002. Congress has also appropriated $2 million, which the commission will oversee during its tenure and apply to the museum project. The president's signature caps a 12-year crusade initiated by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), and in recent months championed by Friends of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The non-profit organization, whose leadership reads like a who's who among African-American historical legends, is the lead promoter and fundraiser for the proposed museum. "The president's action is a victory not only for the legacy of African-Americans, but for the sake of all Americans, especially as we head into a new year," said Frederick Douglass, IV, president of the Friend's organization. "The museum will preserve, display and teach African-American history so that it doesn't fade into obscurity." Douglass is the great-great grandson of the renowned 19th Century abolitionist, orator, editor, statesman, author, suffragist, publisher and confidant to President Lincoln. "The museum will showcase the 400 years of African-American history and culture, foster a greater understanding among all races and draw people from all over the world," he added. For more information, contact John Leslie III via phone 301-336-7211 or email: john@lesliecom.com.

---Best diversity books for 2002: Myers Outstanding Book Award winners--- "We need to deepen our understanding of the imperatives of social change," says Loretta J. Williams, Director of the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards, a national program that announces its 17th set of winners this Human Rights Day. Each award-winning book, says Williams, focuses on the complexities of building a world that works for all of us. We CAN dismantle the infrastructure of racism and oppression in general, she believes. "It will take time and intentionality; yet we can speak to possibility by our actions. Solidarity encompasses answerability as well as good intentions." For additional information and author contacts, contact Loretta J. Williams, at 617/353-8459, lorewill@bu.edu. The Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights, founded in 1984, is pleased to welcome this year's winners:

1) Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons, Right Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, Guilford Press, 2000. Illuminates brilliantly the persistence over time in the complexities of reactionary forces and groups in the U.S. past and present.

2) Jonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor, Editors, Civil Rights Since 1787: A Reader on the Black Struggle, NYU Press, 2000. Brings together (900+ pages!) a compendium of documents, photographs, radical voices undimmed that speak to resistance and to backlash.

3) Ann Arnett Ferguson, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, University of Michigan Press, 2000. Explores what getting into trouble means for African American boys. Ferguson follows a group of 11-12 year old boys labeled "at-risk" throughout a school year observing their interactions with teachers, administrators, and parents.

4)Richard Iton, Solidarity Blues: Race, Culture, and the American Left, University of North Carolina Press, 2000. Balancing well the descriptive and the theoretical, this lucid analysis of the 20th century American left shows how race and ethnic differences impacted government humanitarian and civic support in different eras.

5) Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis, Editors, To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans, Oxford University Press, 2000. Examining the social, cultural and political worldviews and movements of African Americans in the Diaspora, this progressive collection of essays redefines the notion of a textbook.

6) Amitava Amitava, Passport Photos, University of California Press, 2000.Utilizing poetry, postcolonial and sociological theories, and photographs, this innovative book examines the shifting identities of South Asian immigrants in the United States.

7) Viviane K. Namaste, Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People, University of Chicago Press, 2000. Using data from Project Affirmation in Ontario, this innovative sociological study makes visible the everyday lives, and subsequent erasure, of transgendered persons.

8) Jennifer E. Obidah, and Karen Manheim Teel, Because of the Kids: Facing Racial and Cultural Differences in Schools, Teachers College Press, 2000. A bold true story chronicles how two public school teachers, one white with well over a decade of teaching experience, and the other African American with just a year of experience, collaborate to improve the white teacher's competency in a classroom of children of color.

9)E. San Juan, Jr., After Postcolonialism: Remapping Philippines-United States Confrontations, Rowan & Littlefield, 2000. In sometimes breathtaking passages, the author examines multiple aspects of how the United States overthrow of the late 1890s independent Philippine nation and subsequent domination continues to cripple the nation today.

10) William Jay Smith, The Cherokee Lottery, Curbstone Press, 2000. Uniquely written in various poetic forms, The Cherokee Lottery starkly and vividly portrays the forced removal of Indian tribes in 19th century America.

11)Lois Weis and Michelle Fine, Editors, Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class, and Gender Among Urban Youth, Teachers College Press, 2000. Deepens our understanding of the range of contexts that are meaningful to today's marginalized youth and their development of social and political identities, and, importantly, the restoration of a sense of possibility for themselves and their peers.

12) Joan Williams, Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It, Oxford University Press, 2000. Analyzes the clash of work with domesticity, the institution built of a family structure that requires one (male) ideal worker who can devote unlimited time and energy to a career while the second (female) workers provides household services.

---2002: Save the date---
Send your event dates to editors@unityfirst.com, so that we can post them for our readership to see. Our readers hope to attend and support your events.

June 13-19, 2002
Juneteenth Celebration: National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, U.S. Capitol Grounds, Washington, D.C.

August 2-3, 2002
5th Annual National Juneteenth Convention & Expo, Ontario Convention Center, Ontario, California

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