San Jose ISchool Hispanic/Latinx Free Symposium Panels...

  Hispanic/Latinx Free Symposium

OCTOBER 15, 2021

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), the San José State University School of Information held a free symposium to discuss best practices in library services to meet the needs of the Hispanic/Latinx community with greater impact, cultural understanding, and sensitivity.

Entitled “Making Vital Connections: Understanding and Serving the Hispanic/Latinx Community,” this inaugural event featured keynote addresses and panel discussions.

I had the honor of sitting on a panel at San Jose Sate University's School Hispanic Heritage Symposium.  

I begin about 47 minutes in.

#Antiracist #libraries #LIS #Education #HispanicHeritage #SJSU

Please Read the Statement Against White Appropriation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color’s Labor by WOC+LIB

 

Source: https://www.wocandlib.org/features/2021/9/3/statement-against-white-appropriation-of-black-indigenous-and-people-of-colors-labor

Innovation is Crucial to Success: Antiracism is Crucial to Innovation

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

It is our duty to win.

We must love each other and support each other.

We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Assata Shakur

American Hero and Revolutionary

Innovation is so much more than technology!  True innovation will only come when we break the incestuous cycle of white supremacist knowledge production.  We need new voices and those voices are standing right here.  Real innovation will come when people who created Hip-Hop, Jazz, Rock and Roll--when the people who created flavor in American cuisine and who pretty much generate American culture throughout the continent are involved in information production and knowledge creation.  Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other people of color will create a groundswell like never before once they are allowed to fully function within the academy.  We will change education's structures, its techniques, its goals, its meaning.  We are the harbingers of change and we are here now.  

Education is Stale

Education is stale, the ideas are backward and the time for change is now.  New blood, new ideas and finally--some progress in society--not just progress in making tools.  Western people are the best tool makers, but have little to no idea about how to live with one another and how to create good human relations--which lead to real security.  Not the false security that guns everywhere provide, but the real security of knowing that your neighbor’s fate and experience directly relate to your own. 

The truth is that Education needs us!  We bring flavor, new insights, conceptual relationships that white people don’t even know exist--we bring progress.  The academy needs to aggressively recruit people who have backgrounds from ‘marginalized’ communities and then allow these scholars to create radical change within our academic institutions.  This change is not something we are asking for--this change is something we bring and are announcing.  The backlash is on and we stand ready and strong--stronger than we have ever been.  We are at war--it is a cultural war.  We are bound to win, we must win--”we have a duty to win.”  

Ideas to speed up change:

• Create an action research center at your school that focuses on anti-oppression integration in education.  

• Block hire a BIPOC cohort into your school or organization.  

• Create support systems for BIPOC and other oppressed groups.

• Create support systems for antiracist activators and activists at your school--protect them and promote them!

• Create an EDI/Antiracist Handbook for your department--you have the expertise.  Research, learn, share and promote antiracist and anti oppression curriculum, pedagogies and systems.

• Use antiracism as a model for building other anti-oppression tactics for the liberation of all oppressed groups.

• Create and sustain affinity spaces for oppressed groups at your organization.

• Create partnerships with schools and other vocational training organizations to form a pipeline of BIPOC employment recruits.

• Empower BIPOC leaders to lead.

Until we have a system that has been created with BIPOC and other oppressed groups involved, we will never have equity, inclusion, diversity nor anti-oppression as part of our organizations.  We need NEW systems that have been co-created by BIPOC and that are inclusive and are not oppressive.  What are you doing today to create this needed change? This will necessitate the destruction of old structures.  There are many racists who are deeply invested in these shitstems--they must be defeated and these racist structures destroyed.  We will replace them with inclusive systems and structures that will create real progress for society.  

Stop AAPI Hate!

 

San Jose State School of Information Diversity Series: Moving Beyond Diversity to Anti-Oppression

 I was honored to be be selected to speak at San Jose State's Information School last month.

San Jo is my hometown and it was super cool to be able to speak at SJSU!

I hope you enjoy this.

Comments encouraged!

Special thanks to Dr. Michele Villagran and San Jose State!

Racial Equity in Data Integration

Scientists, Mathematicians, Computer types and other data driven colleagues, please join us for a special antiracist session about how we can center racial equity throughout data integration in our work at PCC. 

Our guest speaker is Angela Bluhm! Event Date and Time: November 10th, 2020: 1pm PST Session description: Since 2019, AISP (Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy) at the University of Pennsylvania has led a diverse workgroup of civic data stakeholders to co-create strategies and identify best practices to center racial equity in data integration efforts. Angela Bluhm is an Analyst for the Educator Advancement Council in the Oregon Department of Education. Angela worked with the AISP while serving as Research, Data, and Communications Coordinator for the Oregon Longitudinal Data Collaborative in the Chief Education Office and later in the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC). Angela will discuss the work of the AISP, the Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration, and ongoing work with Data and Equity. 

Recording link: https://lnkd.in/gQ9YPUm

 Link to toolkit: https://www.aisp.upenn.edu/centering-equity/

Risk Benefit Matrix Exercise

Link to folder of resources

Antiracist Library or Racist Library--There is no Middle Ground

Antiracist libraries acknowledge the fallacy of being neutral in the face of racism.  Libraries are racist or antiracist.  Just like individuals—libraries cannot just say they are ‘not racist.’  Being an antiracist library means that they are actively working to dismantle racism and white supremacy in their libraries and communities.  Being antiracist also means they are working to dismantle the oppression of marginalized people.

Allowing bigots to perpetuate fear in the community is antithetical to the antiracist library.  The antiracist library is an enemy to bigotry.  The antiracist library is constantly reflecting on ‘neutral’ stances when it comes to ALL library policies.  Collection development, meeting room policies, website design, user satisfaction analysis, usage metrics and all other library policies need to be antiracist, or they are racist.  There is no in between.

So, when the library community says, “Libraries are for all!”  We are really saying that they are also open for racists and other bigots.  Bigots are NOT welcome in the antiracist library—ever.  

Allowing racists, homophobes, and other bigots to meet at the library, or to even distribute ‘information’ by leaving material in the library creates a hostile environment for patrons and workers.  

Antiracist libraries say, “Racists and other bigots are not welcome.”  This makes clear that the library is not neutral—it is antiracist and it reinforces that the library sides with library workers and patrons who are marginalized by racism and other forms of bigotry.  

Library patrons and worker rights to safety and not having to be terrorized by bigots are more important than the claims that hate speech and intimidation are forms of free speech.  Antiracist libraries recognize this and are clear about it with their communities.  

Patrons

Libraries must decide if they are racist or antiracist.  This disjunction is one of the most important questions of our time and impact ALL areas of the library world.  If a library chooses to be antiracist, then it must live up to this ideal make it known that the library is the enemy of bigotry.  It is your choice to make.  Please choose wisely my Oregon library friends.  

Joint Council of Librarians of Color

Former Emporia State University employee not happy with $64K ruling for discrimination

 

Three Anti-Racist Actions YOU Can Take in Your library RIGHT NOW!

"Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably." - NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity

 

Here are three Anti-racist actions you can take today in your library:

Give your library policies an anti-racist audit.

Form a group from different stakeholders at your library.  

Recruit individuals from the administration of your organization, your union and your HR department--if possible.

Pick a simple policy, practice or procedure to analyze.

Notify any stakeholders who might not be included yet about your intent to audit the policy, practice or procedure.  

Crowdsource your analysis on a zoom whiteboard, or Google Doc, or something that makes collaboration easier. 

Present your findings to the group who owns said policy, practice or procedure.  

Ask for feedback from them on your groups suggestions for anti-racist improvements.

If the analysis is accepted and implemented, ask for a report on the impact these changes have made.

Present this information to your library administration with an executive summary.

Appoint people from marginalized communities to positions in your library.

If you are a hiring manager, find out what it takes to appoint people to positions under your domain.

Form a group from different stakeholders at your library.  

Recruit individuals from the administration of your organization and HR if possible.

Do an analysis of your department's ethnic makeup.

Find qualified candidates for appointment by getting in touch with BCALA, APALA, REFORMA, AILA, CALA, ALA Spectrum and Library Schools.

Work with community organizations to get interns and students from underrepresented groups to come work in your library.  

Provide support in the form of mentorships, affinity groups and antiracism groups--to begin with.

Define racist and other forms of bigotry outside of 'free speech.'

Many racists like to hide behind the veil of free speech, but racist speech and other forms of harassment are not free speech.  

Come up with a policy that bans racist forms of harassment by explicitly defining actions and words that are racist as such.  

For example, if someone is sending out emails to their organization, or simply individuals in their organization questioning if racism exists should be defined as explicit racist behavior.

Don't assume it is a question of free speech right off the bat.  We have restrictions on our behavior, language and other aspects of our lives while at work.

Racist behavior should not be treated as a special kind of offense--it is an egregious offense and their should be dire consequences.  Racism impacts productivity, 

Use these tactics to create an anti-oppression atmosphere for other marginalized and oppressed groups.

I know that this is a fourth action, but hey--it is necessary.

This is a blog post and is not meant to be comprehensive.  However, I would like comments so I can sharpen my suggestions with your practical insights and constructive criticism.  

Please.

My goal is to crowdsource practical ways to implement antiracism policy analysis and antiracism in general into US libraries.  

The time is past for EDI!

We need to work on Anti-oppression and 

Be actively anti-racist!  

Change doesn't happen on it's own, or just by waiting for it to happen.

We can all take active steps toward building the libraries and world we want!

The Cost of Equity Part One...

When 'equity' preconferences, workshops and other trainings are inequitable it defeats the purpose. 

I don't mean to call out LJ specifically--this is just an example of the absurdity of the cost of DEI training.

If your organization can afford to pay for you--then it is no problem.  But what about those who can't afford it?

Ask yourself how does this relate to inclusion and if this is the model libraries want to pursue.

We want affordable, practical, impactful equity training now!

What role does your State Library play in making equity training affordable for libraries in your state?

What role does your state library association play in making equity training available in all areas of your state?

Does your library make equity training available to you as a library worker?

If yes--that is awesome!

If not, what does this mean?

Equity work is library work and it should be made available to all library boards, staff, librarians and communities.

We have much work to do and we can do it together!

✊🏼❤️✊🏼

It is All Pretty Words and Shell Games

For DEI: Nobody!

Holding Cultural Petting Zoos is Easier than Creating Equitable Institutional Structures.  Many institutions are stuck in a loop of cultural events that consist of food tasting and traditional dress modeling, etc...As if the mere exposure to such multicultural aspects would cure racism overnight.  Of course, these events do have a place, but they can't be relied upon to create progress in a historically white institution.

I've been thinking about this for a long time and it really comes down to accountability and value.

Claiming Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as a part of a traditionally white educational institution or organization is a benefit most schools have taken.  Schools have the benefits of doing something without actually having to make any real changes as there is literally no accountability, nor credibility.

The above claim is damaging to people of color  and other oppressed groups because it puts out the issue, but doesn't really seek a solution.  In the end--all sides are frustrated and race and other oppressive relations and structures remain the intact.

And the worst part of this is that it is all built on the backs of POC and other marginalized people.

We are meant to represent ALL people of color and when and if we screw up we are so severely punished that it sets a psychological example for others on all sides.  In the end--POC and other oppressed groups--raise their hopes, but are constantly let down--because there is no real accountability for DEI to the admin, faculty, staff, nor the organization.

Here is a sarcastic take on DEI in educational institutions and organizations:

Benefits of DEI inclusion on organization mission statements.

• Increased reputation
• Increased student enrollment
• Increased administrative pay

• No accountability
• No real changes required 
• Huge ROI with little to no effort
• White people feel great

• All of this built on the pain and suffering of POC at your institution
• Implement now for highest returns
• Organizations don't have to value DEI work by staff members

The above bullets are satirical, but they are based on my experience working in large educational institutions and national professional groups.   

Accountability and transparency are vital.

We must have accountability for DEI progress, or lack thereof within organizations and institutions.

We must have real change in faculty, administration and staff representation.  

We must demand that resources are spent on DEI if they are part of a mission statement.

We must demand that POC are not the only ones expected to have a stake in this work.

We must demand that DEI work is valued and counts toward tenure and other professional advancement opportunities.

We must require our organizations and institutions to live up to their mission statements when it comes to DEI.  

Callout a lack of DEI progress.

We must hold our leaders accountable for progress or lack thereof when DEI is part of a mission statement.

DEI should be part of performance assessments, budgets, organizational goals and other concrete planning for any educational institution or organization.

My Heroes Call Out

My heroes call out to me from across time

Some call out from hundreds of years ago

I can hear some from just yesterday

My heroes call out to me and make my heart strong

They are our alternative narrative

Calling out our history

Calling out our enemies

Calling out our allies

Calling out our resistance

My heroes call out to me and I listen

They are part of what makes our culture great

They are the true Americans

Calling out hatred makes us stronger

My heroes call out that shit

What if Huey P. Newton hadn't called out?

What if Rosa Parks hadn't called out?

What if John Trudell hadn't not called out?

What if Malcolm X hadn't called out?

What if Audre Lorde hadn't called out?

What if Larry Itliong hadn't called out?

What if we don't call out?

My heroes call out to me


 

Cognitive Dissonance

"If we deregulate everything--people and corporations will do the right thing!" 


"I need to carry my gun with me at all times because people are basically evil and out to get me." 


Are mutually exclusive beliefs! These idiots hold both!  


#Illogical#Impossible #CantHaveITBothWays #Liars

Hello. I'm a Turd.

[I was just informed this 'review' was taken down by Amazon because of racism.]

A recent Amazon.com reviewer of the book I co-edited--Librarians With Spines--took the opportunity to degrade me in public and to even try to humiliate be because I don't speak Spanish.

I'm publishing this hear because this is a perfect example of of librarians of color are harassed by anonymous flamers.

By stellabooon October 19, 2017

This is an unnecessary book. I am a MLS librarian with years of experience. I cry for my profession when new librarians trip over themselves trying to out-radicalize each other. Trust me: ALL librarians believe in intellectual freedom and collection development policies that promote alternative views. That is as old as libraries.

Max Macias, the editor, is considered a kind of joke we tolerate in Oregon. A POC quien no habla Espanol. I welcome new library minds that push our profession forward. Unless you are truly radicalized and want to destroy libraries for all people, this book has zero value.

Listen Stella--I'm fine with criticism of our book, but don't try to criticize my culture and who I am.  

I am not your 'mexican.' 

I am no joke.

I am a Chicano.  

Y-que.  

Thanks for showing how close-minded and racist librarians can really be.  You gave me the perfect example!  Who died and made Stella the grand-poo-bah of libraries, or the definer of ethnicity in Oregon?  This is the kind of environment I exist within.  People don't realize they can't define my ethnicity and also don't define who I am and my worth.  This is a good example of how someone with an MLS can be a close-minded turd.  There are many great librarians her in the PNW.  This just happens to NOT be one of them.

Link to review 

Love, 

Max

Cultural Appropriation is Inappropriate!

There is currently a discussion on the librarian Facebook group ALATT concerning cultural appropriation.

You should hear some of the rationalizations!

Everything from the insulting: "Let me tell you a secret: All Culture is appropriated!"

Then people go on to say, "Yes--like agriculture, rock n roll..." and other absurd comparisons.

This seemingly funny statement, is passive aggressive to the extreme.

These statements belittle people's feelings about their heritage and culture.  This is especially true then aspects of their culture are used in inappropriate manners such as when White people run 'Native American' sweat lodges that allow anyone who pays to come sweat and pray--that is fucking absurd and spits in the face of indigenous tradition!

You may be asking yourself, "Why is Max getting all bent out of shape about this?"

Please watch this video for a better understanding:

I hope more librarians become more empathetic and will listen to people when they say to stop doing things that hurt them, or are offensive or insulting.

The Mottoes of our Libraries Should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel

One of the symptoms of being unconsciously inculcated by #Whiteness is the inability to see the experiences of POC as they are lived by POC.

When I was teaching my children to be empathetic, I always told them that,

When someone asks you to stop something--particularly when they say you are hurting them--you stop what you are doing immediately.  You don't come up with excuses (reasons) why you should be able to continue to hurt them.  You don't continue hurting them.

The inability to see other's pain and to listen to them when they tell you about this pain--particularly if you are causing it--indicates a fundamental loss of humanity.  It also indicates a deeply narcissistic quality that seems to border on sociopathy.

This is an indication of unsound mental health.

A large part of our culture is sick like this.

Our nation is unhealthy in this aspect.

We should not repress this.

We should talk about it, and begin to heal this.

Libraries can help with this.

We can help with empathy programming.

Holding reconciliation talks.

Hold listening sessions for all sides.

But when someone begins to spout racist, threatening language--they NEED to leave the library.

Librarians hold information sacred, and we should continue to do so.  If racists, threatening people want to have a library--they should be able to have one--their own--private libraries.

We can talk about how they want to murder and 'get rid' of us all they want.  OUR public dollars should NEVER go toward supporting organizations that threaten other AMERICANS and other PEOPLE in general.  


#Love, the love of education, the love of knowledge, the love of teaching, the love of collecting and sharing great concepts and ideas is at the heart of what we do.  We can't let hate destroy that!

The mottoes of our libraries should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel

We can work together to help our nation get healthy.

Lets not, as librarians and people, enable our nation to be of unsound mental health.

We need to talk about this kind of stuff in relation to the library bill of rights, the ethics of librarianship and the mission of libraries.

The mottoes of our libraries should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel.

#EthnicStudies + LIS education = Change

We need critical information studies now!

EthnicStudies Readings + LIS education = some good shit. 

Are there any Ethnic-studies based LIS classes in the US? 

I draw much of my inspiration and my thinking is different than most of my colleagues because of my exposure to writers like #Acuña #Fanon#Newton #Baldwin #Peltier #Churchill #RobertFWilliams #MalcolmX#SubcomandanteMarcos #bellhooks and others...

We need something like this to help create change in LIS.

To ALA or Not?

Someone on a list I'm on recently posted that they were hesitant to renew their ALA membership because of the recent ALA press release scandal.  You can read about it on Librarian in Black here: http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/alastatements/. The person who posted asked the group what they thought about renewing their memberships.  Below is my response.

I'm not a member of the ALA, but I work with them on issues concerning Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.  I'm on the ALA EDI implementation Work Group and I try to represent marginalized people who can't afford membership or conference participation (among other things).  

I would say that ALA has been made progress due in large part to work by people like Melissa Cardenas-Dow, Trevor Dawes, Martin Garner and many others who are strongly committed to EDI in ALA and in libraries in general. 

I would also say that the constituency should scrutinize candidate's actual work on EDI.

In my blog post on the 2015 ALA election I explicitly state that there was only one real candidate who seemed to address EDI.   

https://lowriderlibrarian.blogspot.com/2015/03/ala-election-candidate-analysis-from.html

That candidate was JP Porcaro...

It seems that, up until recently, the ALA has not really taken this issue seriously. They have focused on programs that teach marginalized people how to operate in oppressive systems without creating any real change. Instead, there should be a focus on changing the structural barriers and structural racism that exist within the organization. This kind of structural racism has caused the ALA to make little to no progress in the area of ethnic representation in the library field.  Look here for some information on this:  https://lowriderlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/09/little-to-no-progress-in-ethnic.html .

ALA is too expensive, is too financially restrictive and is too exclusive for many librarians to participate in a genuine and engaged manner. ALA is making slow progress in this area, but it is making progress. I would say that ALA is listening and things are changing slowly.  

Some things that would help ALA create change:

• Strong leadership who emphasize the importance of, and the dedication to ED,I as an organization
• Putting more money toward EDI and making it a real priority in the organization
• A more diverse (in all areas) membership to increase new ideas and development of the organization
• Structural change that makes the organization more accessible to people who can't go to conferences and who can't pay full membership dues 
• More discussion before making press statements that seem to support fascism
• A more meaningful relationship with membership. 
• It should be something more than just getting a copy of American Libraries in the mail every so often
• Less of a European hierarchical infrastructure and more of a participatory flat infrastructure 

ALA  and libraries in general seem to be a very classist organizations with the majority of librarians who are 2nd generation of deeper middle class. This impacts work in areas such as community engagement, programming and staff relations. This also impacts areas like LIS research--where there is nary a study on White-supremacy and Information in the US; where the area of Culture and Information Literacy has been hardly touched.  

I am hopeful ALA is changing in the areas mentioned above. 

I'm tired, but there is still a long way to go!

Respectfully, 

Max Macias