Siblings raising money to put children’s books with Black characters in all New Britain schools
When Mariah Cubano was little, she was teased about her hair. “She’d come home crying,” her mother Melody Cubano said. “Being called ‘Rabbit Puff Puff’ may not seem like much, but when you’re 3, it is.”
Mariah never saw anyone like her in the books she found at her school, Vance Elementary in New Britain. But strolling through the children’s section of a Barnes & Noble in January, Mariah saw a rack of books with Black characters. One of the books was “I Love My Hair!”
“It was the same exact thing. It talked about me,” Mariah said.
Since then, Mariah, who is now 8, and her 5-year-old brother, Tyshawn Yopp, are on a mission: To get books with Black characters into all of the New Britain schools. They are helped by their mother, who is a para-educator at Vance, as well as Carrie Clark, a Vance teacher, who started a GoFundMe to help the kids raise money for the project.
The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has helped the kids with their fundraising. They have spoken and collected donations at BLM demonstrations and peace rallies. They also sell bookmarks and necklaces with a Black Lives Matter logo on them to raise money.
At the rallies, Mariah reads a poem she wrote herself:
“I’ve been told I’m
Yellow or light skinned
But no matter what you call me
I’m Black within
African American
Young girl with the puffy hair
Teased since I was 3
By kids who look different than me
Taught by my parents
To be proud, love who I am
And stand tall
Even if
I’m different than them all
I continued to grow my inner strength
By loving who I am
And knowing that I am
Always enough
I couldn’t allow hate to win
And I ask a
Who’s listening
To do the same
Don’t allow hate to
Fill your heart
Because we’re all better together
Not apart
Love your neighbor
No matter what
Race or color
Because love wins when we’re kind to
One another.
The kids’ fundraising drive is called Black Characters Matter. It is part of an initiative started at Vance by Clark and another teacher, Susane Hansley, called Love You First. Love You First teaches girls of color to love themselves, a subject that Melody Cubano feels strongly about.
“I always searched for love outside of myself. I didn’t have good self-esteem growing up. I was a teen parent, of two by the time I was 16. I was searching for love everywhere else,” said. “Then I learned to love myself. I was able to start growing and accomplishing so much more.”
Cubano, Clark and the kids believe that showing Black children fiction books with Black characters will help them love themselves, like “I Love My Hair!” taught Mariah to love her hair.
Clark, who lives in Bristol and is white, said she feels strongly about racial representation in children’s books.
“I am a kindergarten teacher. The majority of my students are minority students. When I’m teaching lessons and reading books, the books are not representing them,” Clark said. “I wanted to do something to make a change. I just have this dream, this goal, of books in a classroom representing all races.”
Mariah noticed it, too. “The books in the schools don’t have Black characters in them. I saw ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and “Amelia Bedelia.' No Black characters,” she said.
Mariah’s favorite book is “I Love My Hair!” Tyshawn said his favorites are “The King of Kindergarten,” “The Big Bed” and “I Love My Hair!” “I love that book because I love my sister,” he said.
Cubano said that Mariah also has written a children’s book of her own, “Riah the Big Little Sister,” which is planned as the first in a “Riahs’ World” series of books based on events from her life.
The kids plan to appear at two more events: at PeaceFest at Heaven Skate Park in Hartford on July 24 from 4 to 8 p.m., and at Break the Cycle 860 1/4 u2032s “Welcome to Our World” rally on July 26 starting at 1 p.m. on Asylum Street in New Haven.
Those who want to donate to the kids’ project can find it by searching “Riah & Tys Black Characters Matter Project” at gofundme.com. Those who have children’s books with Black characters and want to donate them can send them to Melody Cubano, 43 Ledgecrest Ave., New Britain, CT 06051.
The Black Characters Matter wish list can be found at amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/23V4HV94EIME4?ref_=wl_share. Many of the books on the list are written by Black authors, such as the Jaden Toussant series by Marti Dumas, “I Got the School Spirit” by Connie Schofield-Morrison and “Imani’s Moon” by Janay Brown-Wood. “We want to support both causes,” Melody Cubano said. But not all of the authors are Black, such as Ezra Jack Keats, who wrote the classic “The Snowy Day.”
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
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