Preface

People go where they feel welcome and most safe. Despite this, many minority communities do not feel this way where they currently live. As continuous racial segregation progresses, more harmful stigmas and stereotypes are placed on these minority groups. These preconceptions, in turn, lead to a decrease in overall diversity and how children perceive not only themselves but also different racial and minority groups. Chapter 5 of “Housing” by Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer discusses the patterns of action taken against non-whites after the white population targeted non-white families for stealing their jobs and depreciating property values in the neighborhoods. This led to further discrimination against minority groups and forced these groups away from these neighborhoods and into overcrowded slums, which would play a large role in the fight for equality. Given the role that this has played in our society, we created this book to mirror these historical events of race and housing in society, while also teaching children valuable life lessons. These lessons teach children empathy, diversity, and inclusion which will allow them to relate to the characters and that could be applied in their future lives. 

There once was a neighborhood in the Arctic, where the penguins lived.

Everyday they would take walks and play together.

They were all friends and loved their neighborhood.

One day a group of orcas wanted to move there too!

The penguins saw the orcas in their neighborhood and weren't happy.

The orcas wanted to be friends!!

Hello!

But the penguins were mean to the orcas because they were taught that orcas were mean and dangerous.

Are those ORCAS?!

The penguins felt that their home was being taken away. They didn't want to take walks or play anymore.

The penguins felt better when their neighborhood was only penguins...

Without the orcas.

So the penguins asked the orcas to leave.

The orcas were sad because they felt unwanted and left out.

Please leave.