Next up on my #ALAvirtual20 schedule is this joint event from REFORMA, APALA, and SRRT on today’s migrant concentration camps and Japanese American Concentration Camps w Alanna Aiko Moore, Satsuki Ina, Elena Baeza, @raypun101 & @profbaeza https://twitter.com/reformanational/status/1275836641748193282

1st land acknowledgement of ALA. Since we are all virtual, Alanna asks us to reflect where we are. I am on the traditional territory of the Nuwu or Southern Paiute people. 5 bands lived here before the Spanish, Western expansionists, and Mormons colonized and took this land.

If you can’t be here to hear Satsuki Ina tell her story about being born into a Japanese American concentration camp, you can view her documentary Children of the Camps. Also, her website says she has a forthcoming children’s book “My Name is NOT Sandy!” #ALAvirtual20

Minorities in the US are exploited until their labor is not needed, and then they are deported, put into concentration camps, prisons, etc... We need deep systemic change in our country. #ALAvirtual20

And if you’re not here to hear about what’s happening right now with children at the US border, I highly recommend @ValeriaLuiselli essay Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions which you can buy as a book from your local bookstore like @writersblocklv #ALAvirtual20

A year ago at #alaac19 I visited the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During WWII. Carved in stone it says: here we admit a wrong. The lessons learned must remain as a grave reminder of what we must not allow to happen again to any group. I cried then & I cry today.

How to help communities, especially those you aren’t a part of? Take the lead from the community you’re trying to help. Don’t come in with a savior mentality. As a reminder to Vegas folks, @itsmerubylee_76 is restarting the Nevada chapter of @reformanational #ALAVirtual20

What can we do as librarians? Be involved w @ala_apala & @reformanational & VOTE!

I’ll personally add that the 1st step is to be aware that it’s happening. Read the books listen to the podcasts watch the documentaries follow the orgs on social media get informed #ALAVirtual20