Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers: How to Properly Apologize for Causing Harm

As a reminder, Robin and I offer a class entitled Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers which you can learn more about here.

The main way we offer this class is through Learn with NoveList, but in the last 6 months we have also given versions of this talk in person, together, 2x. We always meet often (virtually) to discuss ways to enhance our training based on the questions/comments we receive and consider current events/issues.

Next week marks 3 years since we gave our first official version of this training-- for Eugene, OR, and both of us have reflected on how different the training is now precisely because we make sure to make it responsive to the questions we receive and other things happening in the larger world.

[Note: we did the very first presentation on this topic together for LibraryReads in Fall 2020]

This constant evolution is also why we have turned down multiple offers to turn this work into a book.

One of the things we added a year ago is a reminder that when you are the person doing the anti-racist work and you misstep, people will come for you. It is easier for people to criticize those doing the work for being imperfect than it is to do the hard work for themselves. Robin and I both share examples of times we have misstepped and how we handled it. I also give examples on how to publicly and in writing include acknowledgment of harm in the work you do at the library and how you can show your commitment to doing better-- both to hold yourself accountable and to set the example for others-- hopefully inspiring change in those around you.

We explain clearly how to properly apologize by acknowledging harm and taking responsibility to do better going forward. I always add this important comment-- when you apologize there is no, "But, I didn't mean it." NO BUTS. It doesn't matter if you didn't mean it and it was an honest mistake. What matters is that you caused harm and/or did not live up to the standards you set for yourself. Then make it clear that you plan to do better going forward. Hold yourself to the standards you want to live up to. No one is perfect. We all misstep. You need to keep moving forward.

And, you actually show that you didn't mean it more by apologizing properly. "Buts" are less authentic because they are about making yourself look or feel better, not about doing the hard, uncomfortable work.

Robin shared a great example of this from another entity that works very hard to be anti-racist-- Lee & Low. You might recognize the publisher's name for their work on "Diversity in Publishing." Click here for my Feb 2024 post to learn more.

Lee & Low, work tirelessly to uplift marginalized voices, very publicly, and loudly. Recently they misstepped and did not live up to their own standards, but it is their apology, acknowledgment, and pledge to do better that I want to highlight because it showed they truly care about the work. This is how you do it. 

For those who have access to X you can click here to read it. But I have also posted screen shots at the bottom of this post. And I will be adding this as an example to my slides as well so that Robin and I can continue to have examples of others who are living up to their ideals despite being imperfect because we all are imperfect,

If you want to have the most up to date information and conversations with Robin and I on the topic of Actively Anti-Racist Service to Readers, there are still 2 live session as part of our 2024 cohort of learns on Learn with Novelist. Click through for details. We will be talking about this in July for sure.