[Libs-Or] That's all, folks.

[Steve Casburn]

Matthew Baiocchi:
>
> To my white colleagues, it is my greatest hope that you begin, or
continue, to learn about our role in systemic racism.

A follow-on point:

How we react to information matters: If we deflect new information rather
than absorb it, then what good does all of our reading do?

The human mind has psychological defenses against (among other things)
information that causes discomfort, and we should not underestimate the
strength, tenacity, and opacity of those defenses.

Wikipedia has a serviceable article about psychological defenses in
general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_mechanism

The next time you read an article about systemic racism, pay careful
attention not just to the article, but to how your mind is reacting to the
article as you read it. How strongly does your mind deny what you are
reading? What excuses does it make? What qualifications (in both senses of
the word) does it insist on? Which people who are not you does it fix and
focus blame upon? What counter-accusations against the writers pop unbidden
from it into your consciousness? Where does it wander, and what does it
wander to?

In short: Are you absorbing what you're reading so you can learn from it or
are you deflecting it?

To lessen our role in upholding systemic racism requires defeating not just
our ignorance, but our mental defenses as well.


Steve


--
*Steve Casburn*
*ILS Data Analyst*
*Office of Project Management & Evaluation (OPME)*
Multnomah County Library
My schedule: Monday through Friday
stevencm at multco.us
www.multcolib.org <http://www.multcolib.org/>




On Thu, Mar 9, 2023 at 5:09 PM Matthew Baiocchi via Libs-Or <
libs-or at omls.oregon.gov> wrote:

> External -
> [image: External Sender]
>
> My initial goal with these emails was to have a month where, every
> day, white people learned more about systemic racism and, in the smallest
> of ways, experienced the daily mental and emotional load BIPOC have to work
> under. The danger, of course, being this is a public space and BIPOC
> would be negatively impacted by a bunch of white folk learning about and
> discussing systemic racism.
>
>
> I was told earlier today that I am hurting some BIPOC colleagues, that the
> pain I am causing in doing this is outweighing any possible good that could
> come from it. If you don't understand how that could be, read April
> Hathcock's, *Your Learning Hurts* (
> https://aprilhathcock.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/your-learning-hurts/).
>
>
> I knew this was a possibility, in fact, it was going to be the subject of
> an upcoming email. However, given the hurt I am causing, it is  time to
> stop.
>
>
> To my BIPOC colleagues, I am sorry for causing you pain.
>
>
> To my white colleagues, it is my greatest hope that you begin, or
> continue, to learn about our role in systemic racism. Here are some
> resources:
>
> - OLA EDIA committee resources,
> https://ola.memberclicks.net/ola-edi-antiracism-committee-training-resources
>
> - Unpacking discussion group resources,
> https://unpackingdiscussion.weebly.com/resources.html
>
> -  Karla J. Strand, DPhil, MLIS, Disrupting Whiteness in Libraries and
> Librarianship: A Reading List,
> https://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/bibliographies/disrupting-whiteness-in-libraries/
>
>
>
>
>
> Matthew Baiocchi
>
> *REFERENCE LIBRARIAN*
>
> __
>
>
>
> City of Lincoln City  *|*  Driftwood Public Library
>
> 801 SW Hwy 101 * |*  PO Box 50  *| * Lincoln City, OR
>
> *P:* 541.996.1261  *|*  *E**:* mbaiocchi at lincolncity.org
>
> *W: *Driftwoodlib.org *| **W**:* LincolnCity.org
>
> ook
>
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