I will come right out of the gate and tell you that I am a forty-something white woman from the Mid-Atlantic region who has never in her wildest nightmares had to face the struggles and atrocities featured in this book. But I'm going to be 100% real with you in my thoughts here.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you my reflection on the controversy: From the outset, when I first heard just the smallest bit about the author, I was desperate to get my hands on this book. At that time, it was for one reason only: she is from my home state. She went to college where many of my friends and family went to school. My thought was, "Wow! A local girl wrote this book. I've GOT to read it." Then, I read a brief synopsis and my want wavered slightly. "Oh, I cannot relate personally. Am I even going to be able to get into this book?" Then, I started reading. And there were times when I wanted to put it down. Not because I didn't like it, but because I was feeling for Lydia so much that it was upsetting. She is a mother who will move heaven and earth to protect her child. THAT I understand fully.
On one hand, I want to defend the author. No, she didn't live this first-hand. But that's what makes it fiction. And she did her research (as much as a person outside looking in can). So, as an outsider, of course there will be mistakes. As the person I describe I am in the first line of my post, I don't feel as though I am in any position to comment or speculate on such errors.
Similarly, I am also not a member of the publishing industry. So, I can't say why one person gets a seven-figure deal and massive publicity boosts and another doesn't. I don't know what makes one person's story more "valuable" than another's. Is it fair? Absolutely not.
Which leads me to my final thought: "I am only one person who has no dog in this fight. What can I do?" As a consumer of books, my answer is educate myself. I went into this book blind. I had no ideas about migrants outside of things I had heard in passing through the media. I live smack-dab in the middle of the eastern seaboard. There are no "borders" near me that I've ever paid any mind. And you know what? That's my own fault. I never paid attention because "it has nothing to do with me". But Lydia taught me differently. These are families. These are children. These are someone's loved ones, fighting for their lives. Reading this book, albeit a fictionalized version, gave a fictional face for me to a very real plight I had willfully ignored. So, what will I do? I'll do what I do best. I will read. I will read anything I can get my hands on about this matter. Because if there was anything my father taught me, it was that you can have any opinion you want. But you better be able to logically and articulately defend it. And I can't do that without arming myself with the proper information. And for me, that means researching the people who so vehemently oppose this book and its author to understand WHY they feel the way they do. I will search out the works of those authors and read as much as I can to try to understand THEIR experience. Then, if it sheds light on why American Dirt is so wrong, then I'll be all the better for knowing. If I can do my very small part by boosting sales of those Latinx authors, then that's my own tiny step forward. If I can educate myself, if I can peer outside of my insulated little middle-aged, white suburban mother bubble, and learn more about what is going on in the world, I will be a better person for it. I believe that education is the key to widespread change. And my own change must start with me. I will keep learning until I can go from "I am only one person. What can I do?" to "I am one person. Look what I can do!" I realize that these thoughts may come off as privileged and self-serving. I acknowledge that. But all we can do is recognize our personal downfalls, work to correct them, try to raise the next generation a bit better when we were, and do our best to help those who may not be as fortunate as ourselves. And exposure to differing points of view, especially through controversy, is one step toward breaking down previously held barriers and more empathy for our fellow human beings.