I’m Your Neighbor Books (IYNB) was honored to be invited by New England Bearing Witness to speak to their witnesses outside the Burlington, MA ICE detention center. Executive Director Kirsten Cappy shared how children’s literature is working to disrupt anti-immigrant bias and provide sanctuary in these times. Here is a transcript of that talk:
You may be wondering why a woman with a bag filled with children’s books is standing here with you in defiance of ICE.
Because ICE detained a beloved 15-year-old volunteer of my nonprofit I’m Your Neighbor Books. Because ICE detained a brilliant colleague with her child in the car. Because ICE has repeatedly parked beside our book warehouse, using the building as cover to abduct our neighbors. Because ICE murdered our neighbor Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.
But why I am at this microphone…is to tell you that there are 1000’s of people across the nation with bags full of children’s books. Those book bearers are fighting to keep THIS from happening again and working to support immigrant families in these times.
Research has shown that lies have an “illusory truth effect.” A lie repeated again and again can become familiar and that familiarity can feel like truth.
Since Trump announced his campaign in 2015, the nation has been told lie after lie that each build a racist connection between immigrants…and criminality. DHS asks us to believe the lie that behind those walls are the “worst of the worst.” How do we keep that from feeling like truth?
You join the revolution in children’s books—a revolution fermented in 2015.
While the 1st Trump administration was spreading hate, immigrant writers and artists were bringing their children’s book ideas to publishers. And publishers, alarmed by the rise in anti-immigrant bias, were saying “yes” to publishing those ideas.
Because of those yeses, children’s books that celebrate the lives, loves, and contributions of the immigrant community has increased 2,235%. 2,235%—just slightly higher than the recent increase in gas prices.
That revolution in representation was just starting to show itself in 2017 when a group of Portland, Maine friends and colleagues stood together—just like we are today—protesting the Muslim Ban.
We were there to stand with our Somali families and friends whose home nation had just been called a “shithole” to justify the ban. I had book in my bag. I always have a book in my bag.
I passed around My Friend Jamal, a story about a friendship between a Somali American boy and a White American boy. Our group asked, could this book protect Muslim and Somali children—at least a little bit—from the trauma of the president’s Islamophobia? Would the book help a White child imagine himself friends with a Somali child? Would that White reader’s experience keep him from fully believing the lies told by Somalis?
Suddenly, we wanted to put our protest signs down and pick up books in the fight against xenophobia. The next morning found us at my kitchen table drafting a list of 25 picture books celebrating immigrant families. Each book would have a discussion question that asked the reader—regardless of age or background—to see themselves reflected in the story. We would put the collection and questions in a bright red crate and loan them FREE to anyone that wanted to have a conversation on immigration. 6 months later we had what we called a “Welcoming Library” to share.
Soon that one touring Welcoming Library was not enough. Demand rose. We added a 2nd, a 3rd, then New Hampsire called, and Massachusetts, and then one day Arizona. By 2025, there were 575 Welcoming Libraries being loaned to schools, libraries, and community groups across the nation. After the loan period was over, borrowers asked for their own collections—they wanted more books and more opportunities to have conversations about America—conversations that included the stories of immigrant families.
What started as 25 books in the trunk of our cars in Maine, became more than 45,000 books circulating in public spaces nationwide.
Can 45,000 books stand against the accumulating lies told by the administration? They can. They have. One significant change is that educators stopped using Ellis Island stories of White historical migration as their only book on immigration. Instead of centering whiteness, teachers are sharing the books that represent their local immigrant families. In doing so, they are insuring that ALL students know immigrants belong in America.
In you doubt the power of inclusive books, you only need to look at Conservative’s movement to discredit and remove them. A decade of book bans have removed LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and immigrant books from our communities. To keep these books from building belonging and tearing down bias, the Administration halted DEI work in schools in February 2025. That order halted I’m Your Neighbor Books’ access to the nation’s schools.
But know this, the books schools DO have immunize kids against bias. Are kids still absorbing the ever-present racist lies about themselves and others? Of course they are, but they now hear another story in the classroom that help them question those lies.
They have been part of the literary revolution of inclusion.
Those same books are now providing solace and healing for families impacted by ICE. Our Sanctuary Stories program gifts free books to families and classrooms that support readers traumatized by family separation. Any educator, faith leader, neighbor, any of YOU can request a “Sanctuary Stories” book package for a family who needs support. To date, we have placed 2,557 Sanctuary Stories and we will not stop until every parent is home.
Our partner in this work is Mexican American author and educator Ernesto Cisneros. In a video message to kids he said,
“Stories remind us that behind every headline is a human being. Behind every policy is a family. Behind every statistic is a child with dreams, fears, and a future that deserves care. No matter where you come from, what language you speak at home, or how your family was formed—your story, matters. And it’s not finished.” —Ernesto Cisneros
You standing here changes the narrative about who belongs in this country.
Each book I’m Your Neighbor Books shares changes the narrative about whose stories matter.
Their story matters.
And its not finished.
Thank you.
