whether detached from or engaged with the
communities as an ally and activist
Reading involves not just reading but also
responding in ways that demand our questioning,
discussing, discerning, linking, reconsidering,
re-reading, rethinking, composing, and acting
on. Reading our worlds requires stepping inside,
stepping outside, or stepping to the side of people
and events reservedly and respectfully—taking
into consideration an appropriate balance so that
one’s interests do not override or displace others,
or are enlisted in ways that are presumptuous or
opportunistic.
As historic developments reverberate through
our lives, challenging the status quo, our readings
and how we read become
consequential—indeed,
potentially life changing.
Rob Tierney
Vice President of the Board
illustrate how reading can be integral to change,
that these events and readings should be a focus
of the curriculum, and particularly of our literacy
engagements with young people. They highlight
the need for reading to go beyond school walls and
do more than acknowledge such events in passing.
These times suggest that reading can be
powerful when it includes the following:
Enlisting social frames pertinent to our worlds,
especially frames that address racism, matters
of equity, freedom of expression, social
responsibility and censorship, liberty and
violence, including police violence, as well as
politicians’ responses, media coverage, and
judicial matters
Unpacking the historical and socio-political
conditions that undergird these developments
Recognizing that reading is far ranging, as we
read various texts for which there may never
be a last word
Reflecting on and extending our readings
to incorporate our views and positionings,
We Support,
Inspire,
Encourage.
LITERACY = POWER
Let’s Empower
Everyone, Everywhere!
literacyworldwide.org
LITERACY TODAY | July/August 2020 | literacyworldwide.org