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Been struggling with what to say since this was reported yesterday.
For those who haven’t read @ClaireTaylorACA’s reporting, the Lafayette Public Library Board voted 5-2 to reject a grant to fund an educational program on the history of Black voting rights (
) https://twitter.com/clairetayloraca/status/1355247202373947393
For those who haven’t read @ClaireTaylorACA’s reporting, the Lafayette Public Library Board voted 5-2 to reject a grant to fund an educational program on the history of Black voting rights (
) https://twitter.com/clairetayloraca/status/1355247202373947393
Think it’s probably important to start with this context; Lafayette public libraries have become a favorite political target for local far-right activists, who are convinced that libraries are a front for left-wing propaganda and also “too well funded”
As mentioned multiple times in this story, conservative activists have previously organized against the libraries here, most famously in an (eventually failed) effort to stop Drag Queen Story Hour from “promoting sexual deviancy” https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/02/06/drag-queen-story-time-held-library-after-lawsuit-dismissed/2790684002/
That whole saga alone ought to be enough to demonstrate that there’s an outspoken and powerful group of bigoted conservative activists here.
But I think it helps to illustrate that, beyond their prejudice, they’re just not a lot of fun. And also on the library board now
But I think it helps to illustrate that, beyond their prejudice, they’re just not a lot of fun. And also on the library board now
Returning to this latest vote - the stated reasons for opposing this funding given by board members quoted in this story are that: the program doesn’t show “both sides;” the speakers are “far, far left;” it was not “apolitical;” and basically that the mayor opposed it
Just to be clear, this program - which was going to use these two pretty inoffensive sounding books about the history of Black voting rights and political equality - was “too partisan” and could not be permitted because it wouldn’t present “both sides”
I’m not sure this needs to be said, but when you look back at who was on the “other” side of the Civil Rights Movement, you get mostly pictures of these kinds of folks.
There is no doubt in my mind that our community would have benefited greatly from the program that was developed by Dr. Theodore Foster - a historian and scholar of how the Civil Rights Movement is remembered who works at the local University of Louisiana
Especially because Louisiana has a long history of violently oppressing Black people. Post-Civil War, when a constitutional convention was called to remove Louisiana’s Black Codes, white Louisianans perpetrated a massacre in response https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/new-orleans-massacre-1866/
After Reconstruction was ended, Louisiana eliminated voting protections for Black men and introduced Jim Crow policies such as the Grandfather’s Clause and eliminating the requirement for unanimous jury convictions https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/may/12
And, in addition to having their political rights stripped away, Black Louisianans across the state were terrorized throughout the last 150 years with hundreds of lynchings (these numbers only account for cases that were reported and could be counted)
Fittingly, this decision by the Library Board comes on the heels of our community learning that some of the graveyards here in Acadiana were still segregated and denying plots to loved ones due to their race https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/29/louisiana-cemetery-whites-only-racist/
It has been a deeply painful year for much of the Black community in Louisianan and in Lafayette particularly.
In addition to bearing the brunt of Covid, several Black Lafayettens, including Trayford Pellerin, were killed by Lafayette police last year https://apnews.com/article/f85540f06f88acfe6d7c394cdd9e9456
In addition to bearing the brunt of Covid, several Black Lafayettens, including Trayford Pellerin, were killed by Lafayette police last year https://apnews.com/article/f85540f06f88acfe6d7c394cdd9e9456
To which our Mayor-President, Josh Guillory, responded like this. https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2020/08/22/lafayette-shooting-mayor-black-man-killed-officers-threatening-trayford-pellerin-black-lives-matter/3422625001/
While he later apologized for that, and MP Guillory has seemingly tried to make amends - mainly through actions like hiring a Black chief of police... https://thecurrentla.com/2020/lafayette-meets-its-new-police-chief-who-brings-tidings-of-change/
His record has been largely bad for Black Lafayettens (thankfully, this decision was mostly reversed by the city-parish council during budget negotiations) https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2020/07/21/lafayette-recreation-centers-minority-neighborhoods-closing-mayor-josh-guillory/5474877002/
But I’d like to circle back around to this particular quote: “Board Vice President Hilda Edmond, appointed by Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory, said he advised her he did not support accepting the grant.”
This isn’t the first time that the Mayor-President has used his position and appointments to empower or amplify the most right-wing residents of Lafayette, specifically to attack proponents of civil rights for Black people https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/article_1a1fad7c-18ba-11eb-8361-fffb017f6df9.html
His office also claimed that Lafayette wouldn’t be offering shelter to Hurricane Laura evacuees because of “bad actors” and “serious, local security threat” of protestors (this was towards the tail end of BLM protests going on nationally) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/31/lafayette-hurricane-laura-shelter-protests/
That turned out to be untrue - there weren’t enough hotel rooms and Covid-19 protocols instituted by the governor disallowed other kinds of shelter for public health reasons - they just wanted people to think that was why they weren’t offering shelter https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-la-state-wire-805852a984bb14dbc99b941e415f9131
But the point is, MP Guillory has decided to govern from as far to the right as he can to build conservative bonafides for his inevitable political future, even if that means opposing a library program to educate Lafayette residents on the history of the Civil Rights Movement
Perhaps as shameful are those who have decided to play along with this right-wing campaign to censure, and ultimately defund, libraries in the name of being “apolitical.”
I don’t know Library Board President Palombo but he should feel ashamed for this.
I don’t know Library Board President Palombo but he should feel ashamed for this.
I’m sure he thinks he’s being reasonable, but he should consider reading this the next time he’s afraid that it would be too “political” for our community to spend time learning and discussing the history of the Civil Rights Movement in our libraries https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/15/martin-luther-king-jr-s-scathing-critique-of-white-moderates-from-the-birmingham-jail/
Lafayette deserves a lot better than the leadership its Mayor-President and his allies across Lafayette Consolidated Government are offering.
Here’s to looking forward to doing something about that in 2023.
Here’s to looking forward to doing something about that in 2023.
