OLA Quarterly Racist EDI Article

[This is an unusually long blog post—sorry.]

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) are in an abusive relationship with the colonial culture.

We are constantly told to assimilate, act 'professional,' be perfect, be natural and authentic...I could go on, won't. 

The point is, the abuser—colonial culture knows that we, BIPOC, can never really assimilate, act ‘professional’, be perfect, be natural and authentic—and we might as well add smile 24 hours a day. 

The aforementioned ‘professional’ refers to colonial culturally indoctrinated people demanding BIPOC act, read, write and be white to be ‘professional.’  All the while knowing that we cannot—because the colonial culture will not accept us as such--no matter how we behave. 

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) are put into a double bind constantly in the US.  This happens from the time we enter elementary school at age 5 into our professional careers and beyond. 

Here is the definition of a double bind:

A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, with one negating the other. In some circumstances (particularly families and relationships) this might be emotionally distressing. This creates a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other (and vice versa), so that the person will automatically be wrong regardless of response. The double bind occurs when the person cannot confront the inherent dilemma, and therefore can neither resolve it nor opt out of the situation.  Source

·       (a) “Do X, or I will punish you”;

·       (b) “Do not do X, or I will punish you.”

Colonial culture demands that BIPOC be authentic and ‘speak their minds!’  All the while knowing that when BIPOC do speak their minds that they will be castigated and not be allowed to participate socially, intellectually or professionally within the system.

A perfect example of this double binding is the recent OLA Quarterly Journal’s publication of their EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) edition which had a racist article as an outro.

Even the title is offensive:  

Yes, but ... One Librarian’s Thoughts About Doing It Right

By Heather McNeil

Deschutes Public Library

The article lambasts indigenous scholar Dr. Debbie Reese for their work on critiquing colonial classic children’s literature and for daring to critique the voting on an award the author had previously participated in as a judge.  McNeil goes on to assert that Dr. Reese displays a particular ignorance to children’s book awards, how they work and BIPOC’s place in ALA (and it’s subsidiaries) and in the awards.  McNeil seems to imply the Dr. Reese cannot opine about the awards and that they should stick with awards that go to BIPOC.  Also, nowhere does McNeil address Dr. Reese as Dr. Reese.  McNeil feels they have the right to call them Debbie, instead of Dr. Reese.  I won’t even go on about that…

To imply that the committee should consider the ethnicity or diversity of the author or illustrator, and not award those who have been awarded before, reflects a lack of knowledge about the criteria for the Newbery and Caldecott. Other awards were created for the purpose of a specific ethnicity, whereas the Newbery and Caldecott consider the entire volume of that year’s publications without considering an author’s or illustrator’s previous awards or ethnicity.  Source

This is the double bind world BIPOC exist within.  We are asked to honestly critique our profession, collection development, racism, sexism and all the other types of oppression, but when we do—we are punished.  Usually this punishment is in public and is meant to shame the ‘offender.’    

That is what this article was—it was an attack on critiques by BIPOC and instruction on how to ‘do it right’ by a white woman. 

McNeil goes on to also attack Reading While White.  And also instructs other white people on how to ‘do it right.’  We need our white allies and accomplices to be able critique freely.

We need critiques of work by BIPOC and people from other oppressed groups!  We need them to be able to speak freely and to be able to critique without being told how to do so by white people.  

I am not white—my experiences and life are different than yours.   My critiques will be different than yours.  Where you may see nothing wrong at all, I may see something that can help.  White people need to listen to BIPOC to get a fuller picture of how racism works.  

Denial is the friend of racism.

These past 9 months I've made it a point not to argue with white people about what is racist and what is not.  

In fact, I try not to talk to white people about race whenever I can avoid it.  

It is physically, mentally and spiritually unhealthy for me to try to do so.

However, this article was so offensive I had to respond and did so by writing

Here is the text of my email to the list about the article.  I had previously written that it was a great issue and congratulated the authors on work well-done. 

Except for the article by Heather McNeil, in which they attack indigenous

scholar Dr. Debbie Reese and other scholars who are doing anti-racist work!

<http://goog_422301605>

https://commons.pacificu.edu/olaq/vol25/iss2/12

In fact, I find it deeply offensive to be spoken down to by a white woman

of privilege about how to do EDI and anti-racist work 'right.'

Or maybe that article is written for white people,,,?

I'm confused.

Your article belittled Dr. Reese and others in the field who have moved beyond begging for inclusion and also moved beyond the corpus of

traditionally white racist literature for children in the US.  This

literature does much to reproduce the racism that permeates our country.

We are in dire need of AUTHENTIC representation and AUTHENTIC critiques of the traditionally white racist literature that we swim in and were raised

within.  The best people to do these critiques are BIPOC and people from other oppressed groups.  Your article is an attack on these scholars.

Dr. Reese's groundbreaking work is a harbinger of what is to come.

BIPOC are constantly told how they should speak, behave, think and believe by white people and those days are now numbered...

This article is disturbing, offensive and racist.

It is sad because there are some other really good articles in this issue.

Max Macias

There was then a flutter of mostly supportive and some non-supportive emails from librarians from around Oregon.  

Many agreed with my critique and went into great detail about how the article was a shining example of white fragility. 

I was the only one who got a warning though.

This was my response.

I  I am currently in the process of scheduling a meeting with the state librarian to discuss my         warning, my complaint above and what I might be able to do to help OLA with their issues. 

   

   There are a few things left to talk about.

  

   Why no apology from McNeil?

There has been an apology by the OLA President, who was the guest editor of this issue. I could go on about how the editor missed opportunities, but Elaine is a great leader and I will not attack an ally who is owning their mistakes and who lives up to their leadership role fully. OLA are working with Oregon Humanities, but my fear is that while Oregon Humanities has BIPOC who work with them, Oregon Humanities is too white to help us create any real change. OH will moderate a conversation at the upcoming OLA conference—which has the theme of EDI.

     Things we can do:

·      Bring Dr. Reese to keynote an OLA conference.  We should also pay Dr. Reese for a pre-conference workshop on Children’s Literature for Oregon librarians. 

·      Bring Robin DiAngelo for a White Fragility pre-conference workshop for Oregon librarians.  I went to their all-day pre-conference workshop at NCORE this last year and it was amazingly practical and valuable.

·      Managers and directors—have your staff read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo.

·      The State Library should create a list of culturally appropriate selections to help librarians who have to watch their budgets closely make culturally appropriate selections wherever their library may be. 

·      Hire Communion Counseling to help BIPOC librarians and staff recover from the trauma of racism and help white allies understand racism and it’s impact on BIPOC.

·      Hire more BIPOC librarians and staff. 

·      Make sure your organization is a learning organization.

·      Have strong data analytics so that your decisions can use information that can override biases and other weaknesses of thinking.


         LIBS-OR Archives

         McNeil, H. (2019). Yes, but … One Librarian’s Thoughts About Doing It Right. OLA Quarterly, 25(2), 48-52. https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1992 

       

A Librarians With Spines Chat!

Please join us on Google Hangouts for a discussion between Yago, Autumn, Max and yourselves!

Please follow the URL below on Sunday, Sept. 8th from 6-7 pm PST.

Living Under Racist Terrorism Impacts Learning

Young indigenous victim of colonial settler terrorism.

A whole generation of BIPOC children and college students in the US are being negatively impacted by the climate of fear that is being perpetrated upon them by the unrestrained white-supremacist movement and the government that supports this abomination.  Their mental health, their educations and their lives are all being stunted and slowed down by these racist attacks by settler colonists.

According to Zaretta Hammond in her astounding work, "Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain,"  students should be able to feel safe and confident to be able to become a self-sufficient learner.  Becoming a self-sufficient learner means the student becomes involved in their own educational and personal development by reflection and by being warmly challenged by an instructor who has earned their trust.  A dependent learner is always dependent on someone outside themselves to take charge of their education and are thereby passive learners who often give up because they have come to depend upon help.  They have a fixed mindset and not a growth mindset.

Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.

One of Hammond's four elements of the academic mindset is, "Our belief in our ability to move about our world freely and control our external world."  This helps the student begin to believe in themselves, especially when the observe progress because of their hard work.  If the student does not feel they can move about freely, say for instance--they feel like their parents might be arrested by ICE, or that they themselves might be shot by the police because of the color of their skin--then the student's amygdala will be sent into threat reaction.

Human Brain

If the amygdala is sent into a threat reaction, learning cannot occur.  The amygdala is sent into threat reaction when the brain feels threatened.  It triggers the fight or flight reaction and learning is the farthest thing from what can occur at that point.  The student just wants to survive, they just want to get out of there.  The student cannot learn when this occurs.

As I write these words there is an attack on Latinx people in the US.  White supremacist have purposely targeted us and have murdered many in CA, TX and OH just in the past few weeks.  There has also been a string of immigration arrests in the US--leaving many children without their parents on the first day of school.  This creates a general fear in the Latinx community throughout the US.

WE (BIPOC) ARE BEING TARGETED AND WE KNOW IT!

Black Americans are under constant attack as well.  Not even safe in their own churches, Black Americans have to put up with daily racist humiliations like the recent mounted police officers leading a walking black man through town by a rope.  Black Americans, no matter what their age,  are often shot with no reason by the police and so-called vigilante criminals.  This creates an unsafe environment that is perpetrated by the dominant culture, who are also in charge of the educational system.  This can lead to distrust and set off a threat reaction in the amygdala and thereby impact learning.  

Image Source

All of the above lead to an unhealthy climate for children of color.  Granted, before 2016, it wasn't great for BIPOC kids in the US, but today the climate has worsened.  Today, even US citizens are arrested by ICE because they are Latinx.  This creates a climate of fear for our children.  If they are Latinx and old enough to understand what that means, they fear losing their parents--no matter what their citizenship status.  This creates an unsafe environment that is perpetrated by the dominant culture, who are also in charge of the educational system.  This can lead to distrust and set off a threat reaction in the amygdala and thereby impact learning.  

Our BIPOC student's brains are  are being turned into fixed mindset brains.  We need independent learners more than ever in our struggle for social justice.  Independent learners require a growth mindset.

Illustration from Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Our children's brains are being damaged by this treatment and we need to talk about this.  Our children face so many obstacles already--now we are facing a neurobiological attack in addition to the regular attacks we AND OUR CHILDREN face daily.

Some things YOU can do:

Fight against the current administration's acceptance of white-supremacy.

Make your classrooms more welcoming.

Post up images of BIPOC leaders, educators, business people and scientists in your classroom.

Talk about the racist attacks that are ongoing with your students.

Honor their feelings and ask them to express themselves--to provide counter-narratives to the racist narrative that is ongoing.

Build trust with your BIPOC students.

Demand excellent work from your BIPOC students.

Buy this book and learn more about culturally responsive teaching and the brain!

Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain by Zaretta Hammond

Yago Cura Speaks about Librarians with Spines Vol. 2

Yago Cura--co-editor and publisher talks a bit about why you should Librarians with Spines Vol. 2 now!

Librarians with Spines Vol. 2 Now Available!

We are proud to announce the publication of our new book.  Published by Hinchas Press, edited by Yago Cura and Max Macias, designed by Autumn Anglin.  This book is comprised of 6 great chapters of varied Library/Information Science topics.  Our authors are amazing and the content is unlike any other you will find out there.

Librarians with Spines Vol. 2 is now available here.

Here is the content of the book!

Here is what people are saying about the book!

Intended audience:

LIS Instructors

LIS students

Academic Librarians

Public Librarians

Outreach Librarians

BIPOC Librarians 

Librarians in general

Educators who are interested in libraries

Everyone

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.

I was Facebook's Pawn: A Confession

Facebook is a cesspool of invalid information.  Image is public Domain.

Dear readers, I used to be a huge proponent of FB.  I am a librarian and early on I realized the potential of social media for networking, sharing information and as a medium for learning. 

This is no longer the case.

I used to believe FB was a great tool to share information.

It is not even a good tool for sharing information.  

I am an information professional.  Part of my job is teaching students information literacy.  Here is a definition of Information Literacy that ALA uses:

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." 

This has much to do with the the person's ability to search for and find valid information.  

Most dictionaries define validity as: "The quality of being logically or factually sound;  soundness or cogency.

This is fundamental to using information to create knowledge. That is to say, if you use corrupted information to create knowledge--then that knowledge will be corrupted and invalid. 

Facebook is a cesspool of false, misleading and triggering information.

Facebook is able to build a psychological profile of users and then use this profile information to 'feed' information that will trigger certain reactions in that targeted user.  They know what we have shared in the past and what led up to this sharing.  This is incredibly powerful information and is key to understanding how their stimulus response system works.

The 2016 election results were partially a result of this.  

I can no longer use FB as an information professional.

Will I use it to promote my books and other work?

Yes--most certainly.

However, I won't use it as a vehicle to share information any longer.

I can't trust the information I am 'fed' on FB.

I often share information that is:

• Old
• Semi-true
• Biased

I am not the only information professional that does this.

Since it is a networking interface--I often receive information from other librarians, teachers, authors, activists, etc...that is invalid. 

Sometimes I share information based on my trust of the individual, but many times they have been manipulated into sharing this invalid information and I unknowingly pass this on.  People might think that since I'm a librarian--what I share is valid---when it sometimes isn't.  Then they pass it on.  I hope you see where I'm going with this. 

One point here is that it is so hard to tell what is true and what is not--or that I will have to go out and triangulate every piece of information I am 'fed' if I want to share valid information on FB.  Another point is that even information professionals share invalid information on FB.  

Throw in the psychologically triggering aspect and this makes FB an invalid tool for sharing information.  

The Gesture by Shirt58

I would also say that libraries and librarians should be wary of promoting FB in light of the above.

As an Information Professional it is unethical to promote a platform that shares invalid information with our patrons and to students.

Should we maintain FB pages?

Sure--there are plenty of reasons to use FB.

One would be outreach.

A library could use it's FB pages to teach patrons how bad an information source FB is and why they shouldn't use it as an information source.

Another reason to use FB is support groups.  Support groups on FB can be wonderful if properly moderated.  Just take a look at the Library Employee Support Network on FB.  

Where users share information with one another in a shared interest group is another reason.  Certain professional development groups are wonderful on FB.  I can think of the REFORMA Think tank as one example of a good use of FB.  

Groups are still a valid use of FB--provided they are not just a place where people share FB feed information.

So, I am no longer an active user of FB.  Those who know me--know I have been a active  proponent of FB and other social media.  I am rethinking my use of other social media, but I was never as convinced of any other platform as I was  of FB.  The idea that it was a great tool--was true for me for years and years.  

It is not a good tool for sharing information.  

Is it a good tool for contacting your old high school classmates?

For sure.

Is it a good tool to keep in touch with family?

Yes!

Is it a good news or information source?

Most definitely not!

Have a great holiday season!