Nice White Librarians Need to Give Up Their Comfort via Hi, Miss Julie

Robin and I are working on major updates to our Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers program and we will have a BIG announcement [soon] about a HUGE expansion of this training to begin this Fall. 

We are also always in constant contact with each other as we seek our knowledge to enhance our program.  We are always searching for others we trust sharing their opinions that support our main tenants which underpin our entire training program:

1. Systemic oppression is real
2. Libraries are not neutral
3. Not racist is a point of view; anti-racist requires action
4. To do this work you must get comfortable with being uncomfortable

Even Robin and I get sick of hearing ourselves repeat the same things over and over. We know if we are the only voice, many of you may tune out as well. We also want to learn from others. And today, I have a great example from one of my colleagues who I trust and respect to help me, Robin, and all of you.

When people ask me for a go-to person on Children's RA, I always send them to Miss Julie. She is an expert in many area of librarianship and she is also thoughtful, smart, and, like me and Robin, unwilling to put up with the BS of the status quo. She has always fought for what is right over what is easy or standard. Frankly, it is probably why we have always gotten along when we have the chance to hang out or work together.

Over the weekend, she posted "Nice White Librarians," which begins:

Much like neutrality, niceness* is a quality that I believe causes more harm than good, in almost every situation, but especially in workplaces, and especially libraries.  

Librarianship is rife with nice white lady librarians. They dominate the profession and thereby the professional culture. And boy, few things are more terrible than a nice white lady when it comes to EDI. You see, nice white ladies like to be comfortable, and to dismantle white supremacy you need to realize you don’t have a right to comfort.  

(Now, experiencing discomfort in the name of dismantling white supremacy is much different than experiencing discomfort because of an abusive patron or boss/coworker. I do not suggest that any library worker put up with being gaslit, harasssed, or abused in any way.)

The post goes on to outline her thoughts and advice on HOW we can do better, but it all begins with ditching "nice" and getting comfortable with what is going to be a VERY uncomfortable process. 

[Side note, see my notes from Luvvie's talk at ALA on ditching "nice" as well because "nice" is being weaponized against us.]

I asked Miss Julie for permission to cross post this, citing that Robin and I are actively seeking more trusted voices to get our uncomfortable message across to more people. Thank you Miss Julie for agreeing. Please go to her post immediately. And also check out her "Workshops and Presentation" page to hire her to help your library.