Frame 1: Addressing and Interrogating How White Supremacy, White Privilege and Racism Show Up in Libraries

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 3 Engaging in antiracism is multifaceted. Understanding core ideas around racial equity is one of the first steps to laying a strong foundation for racial equity work and allows us to take individual actions into a holistic practice.

1.1 – Understanding Historical Inequities

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 9 The phenomenon of racism is not new, but rather is rooted in an historical trajectory of oppression and discrimination (based on racial/ethnic identity) that has its roots in imperialism and colonialism, and which has been supported by policies, misleading science, laws, norms, and religion for centuries. In order to understand the degree to which racism and white supremacy are embedded in contemporary systems, it is necessary to understand how systems of inequity have created and sustained disadvantage for BIPOC populations while rewarding those who identify as majority, or “white” with often unrecognized, unearned advantages. This system of white supremacy is rooted in a fabricated hierarchy of human value based on race and manifests even within communities of color. Although institutons such as slavery and colonialism have played out differently within the US and Canada, the resulting inequities and their impacts are consistent across those borders and are evidenced by disperate outcomes for BIPOC populations as they navigate threats to their survival via social systems (healthcare, education, criminal justice, housing, etc.).

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 1 Framework Implementation Example: Employees and patrons of a public library system in Ontario participate in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise to gain greater understanding of the history of oppression and genocide experienced by Indigenous populations in Canada.

I.2 – Methodologies for Self Assessment – Fundamental (Adjacent to Historical Inequities)

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 6 Including self-assessment in antiracist work is critical to the success of antiracist practice. Because our society is built upon systems that work to minoritize many people, we all have internalized forms of racism that we need to address. Including self-assessment allows us to see where our power and privilege shows in our work.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 4 Framework Implementation Example: Library staff can take any of the Implicit Association Tests related to race/ethnicity provided by Project Implicit at Harvard University.

I.3 – Libraries & Racial Equity

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 8 Our history is marked by instances in which we practiced exclusion, not inclusion, and offered services that for BIPOC individuals were actively crafted to be inequitable. This is evidenced throughout American history but nowhere more blatantly than in the establishment of the first “free libraries” in the US that were either not open to Black citizens or offered sub-standard services Even as physical structures in the early 20th century were built to provide library services to People of Color, the “Separate but equal” doctrine was applied at whim in tandem with governmental policies of the time that segregated, excluded, and harmed these communities. As Library workers, our foundational growth is supported by an ability to identify and acknowledge ways in which whiteness and white supremacy have impacted the field of librarianship. Experts are engaged in addressing and redressing the ways in which foundational inequities have had lasting and sustained impact on the profession.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 4 Framework Implementation Example: Conduct a policy audit to gauge whether any of your library’s policies are having a differential impact on communities of color. While outside of the LIS field, the City of Seattle,’s Race and Social Justice Initiative developed a toolkit that outlines a process for assessing whether a potential policy will have negative effects on BIPOC communities. The toolkit can be easily adapted for the LIS profession..

I.4 – The Language of Racial Equity & White Supremacy

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 2 The process of learning, understanding, and thinking critically about EDI terminology creates a consistency around shared language, and a deeper understanding of the ways that these core constructs show up in library work. Understanding core constructs such as racial identity, systemic racism, structural racism, equity, inclusion, diversity, and social justice– along with internalized oppression, antiracism.

¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 3 Framework Implementation Example: Host a forum in your library where employees research glossaries from anti-racist organizations to develop a list of terms and phrases related to racial equity and build concensus around those definitions for the community.

I.5 – The Competency Continuum

¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 2 Libraries should approach racial equity and other types of EDI work not as an end but as a practice, understanding that racial equity work is an iterative process during which we are re-learning, re-envisioning, and rebuilding. As understanding evolves and contexts and vocabulary change, libraries must reassess and revisit their practices to ensure they remain relevant, fulfill their objective, and do not cause harm. To this end libraries need to have a clear and realistic plan to evaluate cultural competencies* within their organizations and must demonstrate openness to critically look inwards and make the necessary changes. Recognizing that libraries must actively interrogate their practices at all levels (individual, interpersonal, organizational, structural), they must continually explore how power is held and granted within their organizations to ensure an equitable distribution.

¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 This process is reflected in the competency continuum illustrated in Figure 1, below. The diagram shows four broad categories for approaching the work moving from an awareness of the concept of racial identity (its historical, social construction, its development as a strategy to divide cross-racial alliances who were organizing for labor solidarity in colonial times), to understanding the contemporary manifestations or realizations of racism (e.g. anti-Black racism, mass incarceration, Indigenous invisibility). From understanding of how racism shows up historically and contemporaneously, we move to analyze the profound impacts of racism on communities of color, e.g. in disparities in access to quality healthcare, the “achievement gap” in education, the lack of generational wealth for communities of color, or the lack of representation in the library sector. Once we fully understand these principles, we can begin to explore the strategies–the behavioral, policy, and systems changes–that will bring about greater racial equity.

¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 1

¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0

¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 2 * Please note that “competency” in this context does not mean that there is an ending to this process. The medical field has coined the term “cultural humility” to reflect an ongoing commitment to life-long learning, acknowledging and accepting our own limitations to cultural sensitivity, and recognizing power imbalances that exist in institutions and systems. The term “competency” is used above, with acknowledgement of both its ubiquity and its limitations.

¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 2 Framework Implementation Example : Develop strategies that support your organization in moving beyond cultural competence (attending a single training, or reading a few journals/articles that discuss EDI) to cultural proficiency (an on-going, sustained process that allows for continued growth and deeper understanding).

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1 Comment on the whole Page

MomsRead February 22, 2022 at 11:26 am

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3 Comments on paragraph 1

scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:08 pm

Suggest “antiracist activity” not antiracism, which is a thought system.Suggest “understanding racial equity” not “ideas around racial equity” as though we don’t want deep understanding of the thing itself.
1. yshorish February 17, 2022 at 9:56 am
  
  Agreed
2. erin February 23, 2022 at 7:57 pm
  
  Also agree.

9 Comments on paragraph 2

Curtis January 19, 2022 at 5:00 pm

[white supremacy]
Would “white privilege” flow better from the prior sentence?
Curtis January 19, 2022 at 5:08 pm

[Although institutons such as slavery and colonialism have played out differently within the US and Canada,]
It’s risky to generalize the experiences of BIPOC populations in the US and Canada, especially with such a light gloss over the vast historical differences. You want to be able to speak about populations in both nations, but you’re talking about a population base of about 140 million in the US versus maybe 6 million in Canada, and a markedly different ethnic composition (i.e., Latinx versus Asian).
imperial January 26, 2022 at 12:47 pm

Last sentence that begins “Although institutions such as slavery…and are evidenced by disperate outcomes…” it should be disparate
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:10 pm

[racial/ethnic identity]
suggest scrutinizing every use of “identity” to not obscure how racism functions.Racism doesn’t care about your identity. Identity is what you form to survive and respond to racism. “I take my identity from my politics not my politics from my identity.” — Angela Davis.
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:14 pm

It would be helpful to have a better historicization of the invention of “race” as a particular kind of thing that is not timeless but is specifically bounded. Avoid making it seem as though racist views of difference have existed forever and it is only with the passing of time that “we” have come to have a true understanding of things.”misleading science” is evasive. Race science was instrumental to imperialism and colonialism, allowing and justifying genocide and dispossession. Just say “science” just as you say “religion.”
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:15 pm

[inequity]
why not say oppression?
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:17 pm

again, nothing to do with identification. I AM white, because that’s how our society divvies people up and allocates value, and I am fair complected. I could disidentify with whiteness and it would have no effect on my privilege.
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:22 pm

this is such a tepid word for a system that produces such stark disparities in access to material goods, justice, fairness, education, and wealth. It is especially jarring coming in the same sentences as “slavery and colonialism” as though genocide and dispossession were things that happened by degrees to everyone.
Kristin February 26, 2022 at 5:48 pm

Racial equity (defined as this Framework’s ultimate goal) is based on a construct of racial/ethnic identity. Racial/ethnic identity can be based on nothing more than how other people perceive your physical appearance. Despite the fact that BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, or White are not bounded groups or “communities” in any meaningful sense, society-level inequities associated with the group are being attached to the individual, whether or not that attribution is correct or they agree with it. If one is not BIPOC, your “Whiteness” is pathologized at the “systemic” level. This is a fundamental social science methodological error: that is, to assign attributes to individuals that are associated group to which they belong. This error leads to patronizing claims, such as “due to racism, people of color do not have the ultimate decision-making power over the decisions that control our lives and resources.” It is the very mechanism by which stereotyping and racism operate and it is a powerful one. It is human nature to stereotype so it feels “right.” It stirs people to action. It also quickly puts them into an offensive of defensive posture.
The core problem is that conflating the individual with the group is both sociologically incorrect and morally wrong. Diversity within a group is as evident, and may be just as or more relevant, as diversity between groups. To view someone as simply an avatar of a group is an essentializing technique that has been abused countless times, across all human societies, to justify the superiority of one group and to attribute collective guilt or “badness” to another. Essentializing positions the mind to dehumanize, opening the door to racism and, too frequently, violence based on inter-group hatred. Nothing good lies at the end of that road. We are already seeing now how the dichotomous BIPOC/“whiteness” construct all too easily leads to anti-Semitism. This path should feel alien and abhorrent to librarians, as members of a tolerant profession that welcomes all library users as complex and unique individuals. It is concerning that that approach to questions of diversity is no longer considered “correct” – or even acceptable.

1 Comment on paragraph 3

scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:23 pm

this feels out of place here?

6 Comments on paragraph 4

Curtis January 19, 2022 at 5:12 pm

[our power and privilege shows in our work.]
Who is the “our” here? Some might interpret this as pertaining to whites only.
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:27 pm

piggy backing on Curtis’s comment here. “Our society” implies that we all equally feel it is shared. Maybe better to say “society in the United States and Canadian context or similar.” And instead of “our work” perhaps “library work” or “work within libraries.” This may clarify as well what kind of work, since the first sentence says “antiracist work.”
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:28 pm

Perhaps to answer Curtis’s concern, contextualize IAT as helping people understand biases that are hidden from themselves and that they may relate to many kinds of socially stratified categories. But that this is just about raising awareness and does not necessarily result in appropriate action.
yshorish February 17, 2022 at 2:09 pm

Delete this and leave as “society”
msdarden February 23, 2022 at 3:02 pm

Some type of reflective exercise that will cause one to examine biases and prejudices.
stacyt February 25, 2022 at 8:24 am

I too would suggest avoiding the “our” language. I would also keep the second sentence focused on racial equity, since that is the focus of the document. While I certainly agree that many types of minoritizing exist, (and as someone who embodies several minority identities, I experience some of those different “types” of minoritizing on a personal level), I also know that there has to be space to talk about racial equity directly and specifically. Could minoritize be changed to “racialize”?

4 Comments on paragraph 5

Curtis January 19, 2022 at 5:16 pm

[Implicit Association Tests]
Do we mention the stated concerns about the validity and reliability of implicit assumption tests, and that they are not particularly predictive of behavior?
ilovelibraries February 23, 2022 at 3:21 pm

Can there be an addendum that spells out how some of the associations play out in a library context? Many do not understand the implications of white supremacy culture.
lojacks March 1, 2022 at 10:58 am

Perhaps this example could include additional examples of how they would take the next steps to use the information provided by the Implicit Association Test in their work/personal life.
Kristin March 1, 2022 at 3:58 pm

This test should not be recommended. It has not been shown to predict bias in behavior, which is what we should be concerned about here (that is, library staff are not participants in a psychology research study). Some recent scholarship on the IAT:https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745691621991860 https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745691619863798 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.04.018

8 Comments on paragraph 6

Curtis January 19, 2022 at 5:19 pm

[Our history is marked by instances in which we practiced exclusion, not inclusion, and offered services that for BIPOC individuals were actively crafted to be inequitable.]
This is ridiculously understated.
claireystew February 8, 2022 at 12:41 pm

[offered sub-standard services ]
is/are there word(s) missing here?
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:35 pm

[Our history is marked by instances in which we practiced exclusion]
At minimum, exchange “we” for libraries, but this sentence also is a bit sideways. How about “Historically, [public and university] libraries excluded people of color, and when they did not, resources and services were actively crafted to be inequitable.”
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:36 pm

This is an important observation, but what do we take from it? Perhaps an obligation on the part of library workers (all ranks) to read these studies and stay ahead on what insights they can offer? How will the 4 organizations be of help here?
yshorish February 17, 2022 at 2:12 pm

As others have mentioned, disambiguating the “our” and “we” throughout this document is critical.
yshorish February 17, 2022 at 2:15 pm

[Our history is marked by instances in which we practiced exclusion, not inclusion, and offered services that for BIPOC individuals were actively crafted to be inequitable]
Could be rewritten as “LIS history is marked by instances where exclusion and inequitable practices were employed against the BIPOC community”
yshorish February 17, 2022 at 2:17 pm

[This is evidenced throughout American history but nowhere more blatantly than in the establishment of the first “free libraries” in the US that were either not open to Black citizens or offered sub-standard services ]
Clearly, you don’t mean that segregated libraries are the most blatant example of exclusion and inequity in American history. Suggest rewording: This inequity is evident in the establishment of the first “free libraries” in the US that were either not open to Black citizens or offered sub-standard services.
stacyt February 25, 2022 at 8:29 am

Concur with YSHORISH – “our” needs to be replaced with LIS (or similar terminology).

4 Comments on paragraph 7

Rebecca January 24, 2022 at 1:48 am

The toolkit link is not working
imperial January 26, 2022 at 2:22 pm

REFORMA used a similar approach and developed what was called the REFORMA Report Card that was applied to various library systems that sought to measure how well libraries were serving Latinos or the Spanish-speaking (see http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42938381 – Report card on public library services to the Latino Community (1994).
claireystew February 8, 2022 at 12:43 pm

link to toolkit appears broken?
scalvert February 15, 2022 at 1:39 pm

Could the sponsoring organizations just go ahead and sponsor the work involved in adapting the toolkit?Could this document point to already identified policies that have differential impacts? I think a big one is probably fines/fees and the use of credit reporting agencies for outstanding fees.By the end of this document, will readers be equipped to embark on such an audit?

2 Comments on paragraph 8

Rebecca January 24, 2022 at 1:51 am

The second sentence is not a complete sentence. It is hard to understand what is meant here. “Understanding core constructs…” what? There is no verb.
scalvert February 3, 2022 at 1:39 pm

why is consistency a value?

3 Comments on paragraph 9

SandyIrwin February 2, 2022 at 4:33 pm

Rather than the library holding a forum of employees, we should reach out using equitable engagement strategies to have our communities define the terms for us instead. We can work with them for a shared understanding, rather than us dictating the terms up front.
stacyt February 25, 2022 at 8:35 am

I appreciate this being mentioned. Words like “inclusion” and “diversity” are often weaponized against racialized peoples when we work to call attention to the specific injustices we face. Definitions and naming are important.
stacyt February 25, 2022 at 8:43 am

To whom does the term “community” refer here? (Also, the word “consensus” is misspelled.)

2 Comments on paragraph 10

stacyt February 25, 2022 at 9:04 am

Appreciate the highlighting of the fact that racial equity is a practice. “The other types of EDI work” part seems tacked on as an afterthought. I’m not sure if it would be better to remove it or elaborate on it while connecting it to racial equity. Also, I think there is a fine line here between acknowledging that racial inequity is not the only type of inequity that exists while also not apologizing for making racial equity the focus of this document. As for the sentence about reassessing and revisiting practices – I think it is important that practice objectives be reassessed and revisited as well, not just “fulfilled” – maybe some language could be added that addresses that? For example a parenthetical “(which should also be periodically reassessed and revisited)” after the word “objective”?
lojacks March 1, 2022 at 11:00 am

[As understanding evolves and contexts and vocabulary change, libraries must reassess and revisit their practices to ensure they remain relevant, fulfill their objective, and do not cause harm]
How do you all recommend they do this?

0 Comments on paragraph 11

1 Comment on paragraph 12

lojacks March 1, 2022 at 11:00 am

This is great!

0 Comments on paragraph 13

2 Comments on paragraph 14

jensenk@boulderlibrary.org February 17, 2022 at 11:41 am

I think this is an important point to be emphasized throughout the framework. I wonder, too, about the term “cultural proficiencies,” as it also could imply an end-point.
lojacks March 1, 2022 at 11:01 am

Maybe reference other research about the difference between cultural competency and cultural humility?

2 Comments on paragraph 15

imperial January 26, 2022 at 2:27 pm

Excellent point to demonstrate the continuum and difference between competence and proficiency.
ilovelibraries February 23, 2022 at 3:23 pm

Yes, and working in collaboration with unions (rather than fighting the existence of them and / or taking their formation personally) is an example of this. During today’s webinar, a suggestion was made that unions be included in the discussion of supportive institutions promoting racial and economic justice. The formation of unions increased as the pandemic persisted. Those who lead these efforts are often library workers who earn the lowest wages, are invisibilized by white supremacy culture, and are on the front lines. They are frequently BILPOC who are asked to do unpaid labor. They are asked to use their cultural capital to connect with the community in ways that their white counterparts are not. Showing cultural competence means engaging and committing to this work for the long haul. Building a positive relationship with a union seeking better worker conditions for library workers and their families is an example of moving beyond cultural competence.

Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework

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