I want to begin by saying that while I have been quarantined, I have done my best to avoid the media, as a way of maintaining peace of mind. At first I tried to dodge the news of the death of George Floyd. It did not seem to have anything to do with me. Way outside my hula hoop, so to speak. Then people I care about got my attention. I now realize that this is my business. This is the business of everyone of good conscience.
First I want to offer with gratitude what my union has said:
What do we need to change, in order for George Floyd to be the last one?
Some ideas:
- Police departments all over the country need to do serious work on anger management and weeding out those who are at risk for loosing it. All need to receive antiracism training.
- Antiracism needs to become a fundamental political qualification. (Please everybody register to vote, by mail if necessary.)
- Intense investment in what some might call reparations. Lets step up and stop privileging the car. People can’t improve their economic situation if they can’t get to jobs. Change the local funding of public schools. Local funding and segregated housing combine to create a fundamentally unequal public school system.
- Tackle the issue of segregated housing.
- Full funding for CUNY and other institutions of public higher education.
I welcome additions to the list.
I don’t really care about what it’s going to cost. It needs to be done.
In closing I want to share some books that have become really important to me:
- Kendall, Mikki. Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot. New York: Viking, 2020.
- Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be an Antiracist. New York: One World, 2019.
- DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility:Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism. Beacon Press, 2018.
I appreciate this list of statements from library community:
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