I was a part of a peaceful protest and march that was organized by my daughter and her friends in our town. They met with the police to let them know what they were doing. They contacted local leaders-- business, political, and clergy from the black members of our community, including a Village Trustee to lead a program on the Main Street through our town and then a march to the edge of town. They sat in an intersection at the end of town [just past border] and then after a bit, peacefully dispersed.
I followed behind and participated but stayed well out of my daughter's way. This was her thing. I did speak with numerous participants. 1 a friend of adopted brown children and another, a black grandmother who told me to thank my daughter and give her "much love." She was so glad to have a peaceful and meaningful protest in her community to bring her tween grandchildren to. They needed to be a part of this, safely, yes, but also in their community. I made her full of joy to be a part of this.
My actions yesterday-- participating and supporting my daughter-- showed me how little actions do make a difference.
I do not tell you this to brag. I tell you this because every one needs to ACT in some way. Small actions speak just as loudly as big ones, especially when they are instituted in your local community. It is not enough to say you are supporting Black Lives Matter. You have to show it with your actions, and the library is the perfect vehicle for this action.
As I mentioned on Monday in this post, I have been training "well meaning white" library workers to acknowledge both their own bias and systemic racism for a couples of years now. The vast majority of the people I encounter consider themselves not to be racist, but the problem with this is, you have to be Anti-Racist, not simply "not racist."
Look, every white person has ben racist. Yes, I include myself. Often, without knowing it. This is the point I try to get across in my EDI training programs. Stop arguing that you aren't racist and live anti-racist. Go out of your way to usurp the "white as the norm" structure of our society. Notice the micro aggressions that are embedded into everything we do and then work to unravel them, with yourself, in your library service, and throughout your community.
Again, go back to Monday's post for links to a more nuanced version of this argument.
I give you ways to ACT at work. Concrete things you can do. Not everyone needs to march to ACT. Not everyone can march. But do something.
That is also why today I am posting another link to more Anti-Racist reading lists via Book Pulse here. If you are unsure how to ACT, read in order to educate yourself.
Also, and I say this in every RA talk I give, you need to LISTEN. The best use of your listening time right now is to click here or use the embedded video below to watch Jason Reynolds and Ibram Kendo's Keynote from School Library Journal's Day of Dialog where they talked about their book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You.
And finally, if you have a chance to share a book this week with anyone, consider a book by a black author. I have a zoom book chat for ARRT later today and I am going to share THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward P. Jones, one of my all time favorite books and a great option to have an anti-racist discussion since this entire book is framed around the fact that there were black slave owners in America. Also it is backlist enough that others will not be talking about it, and yet, since it won the Pulitzer Prize, libraries most certainly still have a copy on their shelves.
Let's keep learning, listening, and most importantly, ACTING
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