See you at the library tomorrow?

Hey, this is Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. I'll be speaking at the Coventry Village Library tomorrow night (Thursday, May 21), as part of their author series with Mac's Backs Books. You might not know this, but I co-authored a book with Suma Setty of the Center for Law and Social Policy, based on interviews my colleague Maryam Sy conducted with 255 people who were deported. They are mostly Black Muslim men, deported from Ohio to West Africa after living here for decades. I know many of them personally. These are conversations most people have never had, and insights that are not often heard in the media. 

I also edited two volumes of the Ohio Migration Anthology. Our paperbacks are available to purchase at Bookshop.org and Hexagon Books, and our ebooks are free on our website. We just published our first-ever coloring book, "Ohio Is My Second Country," drawn by a high school super-star artist, Shema Asifiwe, and a dense, data-driven report about ICE detention in Ohio. I will have copies of some of our books, and free coloring pages, at the library tomorrow.  

My colleague Demba Ndiath is close to publishing his book, "From Welcome To Deportation: A Story of West African Immigrants Who Crossed The U.S/Mexico Border." In it, he suggests that we could have an immigration policy that allows African immigrants to apply for status without risking their lives. It's a simple concept, but kind of revolutionary.

I can't wait to talk to you about this and hear what you think!