SCPL Commitment to Anti-Racism and Racial Equity
Over the weekend, members of our community and of our country have gathered to protest the horrific deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many before them. The many injustices and acts of violence against people of color need to stop. Racism destroys our communities and denies the equal rights and equal access that are at the heart of public libraries. Libraries have historically deemed themselves ‘neutral’ which effectively works to maintain the status quo of white privilege. We no longer claim this neutrality in an effort to acknowledge and move past the institutional bias it perpetuates. As highly trusted institutions and essential foundations of civic infrastructure, public libraries have a unique and vital role to play in advancing equity and addressing racial divides.
The Santa Cruz Public Libraries stand in solidarity with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, the Executive Board of the American Library Association, and libraries across the United States in condemning violence and racism towards Black people and all People of Color.
The crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic tragically highlights, once again, the racial disparities in our country, and it is more important than ever to continue to fight against racial inequality.
Santa Cruz Public Libraries stand committed to promoting racial equity. Our guiding values include relevance, inclusiveness, and community engagement. Now, and as we plan for our future, we will continue to promote racial equity through our planning processes, our programs, our collections, and take extra steps to ensure we are challenging racial inequality.
We have prepared a list of resources that we hope will be helpful. Access those resources here.
We have also prepared lists of reading and viewing that we hope will be helpful:
Black Lives Matter.
Susan Nemitz, Director of Libraries
Eric Howard, Assistant Director of Libraries
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