ok so libraries historically were sites to promote assimilation and uphold white supremacy. Libraries were segregated spaces too. Somehow, that history is regularly erased in the lis profession. Yet lis programs and professional orgs teach this same history in more insidious ways

rather, they teach how to reenact this history. It's done with the lack of BIPOC professors, structuring classes as if all students are white, putting out content centering white kids, and treating BIPOC patrons as something for white people to "save"

My entire program was just how I could educate my white classmates and make them think critically. Yet there was next to no opportunites for me to learn about how to serve communities like myself. I literally had to do external research and networking to fulfill those needs

Yet by the time I graduated, folks did not even know what my professional interests were because they only saw me as a resource for white students. And this isn't even to talk about how difficult it is to be an educator/ librarian of color in a predominantly white community

which the slj article touched on by including BIPOC librarians, specifically Black librarians. But why are they including their experiences in the context of serving white children? Why not have the entire series be examining how fucking hard it is to do that? Or centering on

how to serve BIPOC children when they are the minority in a mostly-white town. Like?????? Literally so many ways to engage this topic that isn't a big fuck you to librarians of color, specifically Black librarians during BHM, no less!

the lis profession upholds white supremacy, libraries uphold white supremacy, librarians uphold it as well because being a librarian is a job not an identity or a personality. so yes, you can uphold white supremacy in your job even if you're not a white librarian. and

until we break that down and really understand how to stop upholding white supremacy and centering whiteness, this shit is going to keep happening. And im sick of it

no one is saying librarians shouldn't do what the article recommends. but let's not pretend reading BIPOC stories is the solution to not be racist because look at all the folks who religiously purchase & read every reese bc pick by a Black author & they're still racist as fuck

i'm extremely tired of the narrative that teaching anti-racism is the sole responsibility of teachers and librarians and books when parents at home are not doing shit to support their children's anti-racist learning.

Like folks are raising their kids to be racist and anti-Black across ALL cultures btw and it's just only so much books can do to combat that. But honestly, treating BIPOC books like their purpose is to undo racism in white children? like.....please. PLEASE

ALSO reading a book and knowing how to talk about it/ pull out criticisms/ and opportunities for learning are TWO very different skillsets and they're not teaching white folks how to do that, okay? They're not teaching them how to engage a lived experience that isn't theirs.

if they were, we wouldn't be having this recycled, tired ass fucking conversation every mf fortnight!!!!!!!!!!

[GIF of goat sceaming]