Category Archives: Tolerance & Inclusivity

May 23, 2023 · 2:25 pm

Who is Welcome or Safe in Florida?

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis bragged, when he was elected to a second term, that Florida is where “woke goes to die.” Florida is viewed by many – from the right and the left – as the political epicenter of the right-wing world view. As a result, Florida is perceived as an increasingly unsafe place to live in or visit by many groups of people who are not part of the majority white, male, heterosexual, Christian power structure. Some examples of the feeling of being unwelcome or unsafe are:

These are just some of the many groups of people who are being made to feel unwelcome and unsafe in Florida. For a more complete listing of what is happening, check out The Politics of Exclusion, Hate, and Fear in Florida.

Leave a comment

Filed under Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Florida, Intolerance, Racism, Tolerance & Inclusivity

Tagged as ,

April 27, 2023 · 5:15 pm

Libraries in the Crosshairs

Last updated April 10, 2024.

Today in the United States, libraries and librarians are labeled by the right-wing as liberal “groomers,” “woke,” and sometimes even pedophiles because of the books in their libraries, the programs they sponsor, and the exhibits they mount. Wow. Who knew? Librarians are being fired, threatened with criminal charges if they refuse to remove banned books (which disproportionately focus on people of color and LGBTQ people), and are receiving death threats and other harassment online, on the phone, and in person. This is also spreading to Canada, although the frequency is significantly less than in the United States for now.

Public and school libraries are the most vulnerable to these attacks but academic libraries are not immune, especially those at public institutions in states pursuing an “anti-woke” agenda. If you are a library worker, librarian, or library administrator, be ready: the day will come – if it hasn’t already – when you will be attacked for abiding by the profession’s principles of inclusion and open access to information and services for everyone. You will be challenged about the books on your shelves and the books that are not on your shelves, for the programs you offer, for your access to meeting rooms, for the gender orientation of your staff, and for the displays that you put up. I faced some of that when I was still a librarian but I was never personally demonized and vilified the way that many librarians are being targeted today.

The articles and videos I’ve linked to below lay out some of what has been happening in the last few years in the United States. Things have gotten so bad that the American Library Association, THE primary professional library organization in the United States and beyond, has started an Adverse Legislation In the States tracker

The following is a partial listing of articles and videos about censorship, book bans, and attacks on libraries. Some links may not be accessible to non-subscribers. When that happens, a Google search will often turn up another article that is freely available to anyone.

On a positive note, I want to highlight the statement by Barack Obama on September 23, 2022 Here’s Why I’m Celebrating Banned Books Week, one of the best statements I have read about the importance of having unfettered access to books.

Why does this matter so much to me? I am a retired librarian, having worked in academic libraries for 46 years, starting as a student assistant at Grinnell College, getting my master’s in 1984, and ending my career as a library dean at a university in Florida. Libraries and librarianship changed a lot in my 46 years working in libraries, but the outside world’s perception of libraries stayed the same – until recently. The outside world considered us boring and safe and, increasingly, irrelevant. I benefitted from this perception dozens of times as I was travelling back and forth between Canada and the United States. Canadian and U.S. border agents would question me about where I was coming from, where I was going, and why I was traveling. As soon as they asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was a librarian, they would lose all interest, stamp my passport, and wave me through. I wonder if that would still be the case today.

Resources to Fight Book Bans, Censorship, and Attacks on Libraries

Last updated April 10, 2024

1 Comment

Filed under Book banning, Censorship, Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Intolerance, Racism, Tolerance & Inclusivity

Tagged as , , , ,

February 11, 2023 · 11:36 pm

The Politics of Exclusion, Hate, and Fear in Florida

Last updated June 9, 2023

Not all links are open to non subscribers, although I have tried to include links that anyone can access.

The following articles provide evidence of an organized campaign following the GOP’s long-term strategy being played out in Florida. They show a dizzying number of efforts in Florida to shut down and marginalize anyone who does not follow the white, heterosexual, male party line. It is a well organized and carefully thought-out effort and should be of concern to us all – because it doesn’t stop in Florida.

I have been using this blog to document what I see as a growing “fear of the other” that is manifested through book bans, anti-LGBTQ legislation, bans on critical race theory, laws prohibiting abortion, attacks on people of color, or attacks on people from non-Christian religious backgrounds. I update the list of articles listed in this post every few days. Every day brings new attacks on the rights of individuals in the state of Florida and, sadly, the list keeps growing.

For about 18 years, I lived in different parts of Florida and worked within the State University System. During my years as a library dean at two different universities in Florida, I was part of university administrations charged with implementing policies established by the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Board of Governors. Until 2021, Florida public universities and colleges were charged by the Board of Governors with promoting a diverse learning environment and we were evaluated for eligibility for funding based, in part, on our success. This was laid out in their Regulation 2.003, Equity and Access. Universities and colleges established committees, initiatives, revised their strategic plans and mission statements to incorporate these concepts, and they hired staff to develop meaningful programs in support of a diverse community.

Scroll down for more articles

But now, diversity. equity and inclusion (DEI) is labeled divisive by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Being gay or transgender is a dangerous “woke” concept and the Governor has declared that slavery was not all bad. Books are being banned (overwhelmingly those by or about people of color or non-heterosexual people), teachers and librarians are being called “groomers” and are threatened with felony prosecution for making unapproved books available, female athletes are being pressured to provide details of their menstrual cycles to prove that they were born female, the Advanced Placement course on African-American history may not be taught in Florida public schools, math textbooks were banned because they were judged to be woke, and public employees are required to turn over emails and cell phone texts so that the state can search for evidence of DEI activity. The Governor says he wants Florida students to study Western civilization. Yet, as Tim Padgett makes clear in his February 2 analysis for WLRN, the initiatives that the governor is promoting to exclude people and ideas that he deems “woke” are in opposition to the precepts of Western civilization. The earmark of Western civilization is the  “exaltation of the individual human being” [and] “ entails, by default, the dignified inclusion of all those individual human beings — in schools, history books, businesses, media and government — no matter which boxes they check on the census form.”

The days of celebrating diversity seem to be gone for universities in Florida, especially with the placement of right-wing political cronies to head many of the state’s universities and colleges. University Web sites are being scrubbed of content that the current state government finds distasteful in their anti-WOKE campaign. Thankfully, though, faculty have not yet been completely cowed, as seen in the United Faculty of Florida-FAU chapter’s Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Students around the state have also been protesting the state’s attacks on diversity and have sometimes been getting arrested and mistreated for their efforts.

Not everyone in Florida supports these moves by the Governor and the Legislature. So, why aren’t more people taking to the streets to protest? As a learned professor friend of mine reminded me, an April 2021 law providing civil immunity for people who drive their cars into crowds of protesters might have something to do with it, as well as newer legislative efforts to ban protests outside homes or at the state capitol. Clearly, the First Amendment is only for some people in Florida. And people are afraid.

DeSantis and his minions are taking this Fear of “the Other” to an entirely new level. This isn’t just happening by chance. It is a coordinated, long-term strategy – as Thom Hartmann lays out very clearly in his article Why Would Anybody Embrace Fascism?:

“There was an actual rationale for this, laid out by Russell Kirk in his 1951 book The Conservative Mind …Kirk argued that without clearly defined classes and power structures — essentially without the morbidly rich in complete control — society would devolve into chaos.

He and his followers essentially predicted in 1953 that if college students, women, working people, and people of color ever got even close to social and political power at the same level as wealthy white men, all hell would break loose.”

The following articles — and the ones listed at the beginning of this post — provide evidence of an organized campaign following the GOP’s long-term strategy being effectively executed in Florida. 

There are many more examples not listed here — and there will be many more the next day, and the next, and the day after that. I will try to do periodic updates. Unfortunately, there is so much happening in Florida right now that it is hard to keep up.

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

3 Comments

Filed under Book banning, Censorship, Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Intolerance, Racism, Tolerance & Inclusivity

Tagged as , ,

March 25, 2021 · 2:13 pm

Human Library Promotes Awareness and Tolerance

The Human Library concept is designed to promote tolerance. The concept is simple: have members of your community (however you define it) volunteer to become a living book and share their personal story with a group of patrons who “check them out.” On their website, the organization encourages people to sign up as books by noting:

“This concept works. The Human Library™ actually does what it says it will do and what it was designed to do. It helps build understanding for diversity by providing a framework for real conversations about important issues.

Open and honest conversations that can potentially lead to greater understanding, acceptance and social cohesion in the community.

Real people in real conversations within a framework setup to help facilitate and accommodate the process.

Because this is an innovative approach to challenging stigma, stereotypes and prejudices through a non confrontational and friendly conversation.

To give a voice to the many groups that are stigmatized and to help enable platforms that support building relations and social cohesion in the community.”

It was not until I became the Dean of Library at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (August 2009) that I had the first opportunity to try the program out. Working with the Library’s Diversity Committee, and in partnership with the University’s Office of Advancement, we recruited community members, as well as students and faculty of the University, to serve as living or human books. At that first event, we had twelve living books. The participants were library staff, students, faculty, community leaders like the African-American former Chief of Police from Saint Petersburg, representatives from the local religious community, Holocaust survivors, people from the LGBTQ+ community, and more.

When I became the Dean of University Libraries at Florida Atlantic University (August 2015), one of the first things I did was set up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee and promote the Human Library program, running the first of what became an annual event on November 15, 2016.

I blogged about the Human Library program and our local events based on the concept numerous times at USF St. Petersburg and at FAU. The Virtual Human Library : Unjudge Someone was the program put on this year by the Florida Atlantic University Libraries, which I attended this year as a private citizen now that I am retired. I hope this program outlasts me and continues to grow and have a positive impact on increasing tolerance and stopping hate.

There are any number of ways to implement such a program, and we tried a variety of formats to ensure conversation and opportunities for learning. The living books must be willing to share some aspect of their life experience and answer questions from those who have dropped by or signed up to “check them out.” Our goal at USFSP and FAU was to promote awareness of the different voices and life experiences within our communities, provide opportunities for open conversation, and broaden the horizons of our students and our communities. It does work. If you haven’t participated before, check out the opportunities in your local community and consider being a book or a patron.

Now, more than ever, we need conversations like this. I have witnessed in my own life what happens when people who have a bias (often unconscious) against a group of people actually start to have some contact with individuals from that group. It doesn’t usually happen overnight and the transformation will almost always be imperfect and need ongoing work, but it is harder to demonize a living person who is right in front of you and is willing to answer any questions you may put to them. It has happened to me and I have seen it happen in others, too.

Now, more than ever, we need to come out from behind our social media silos and just talk with and listen to other people. Especially people who are different from us. In this, I am guided by Maya Angelou, who famously advised us all: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.“

Leave a comment

Filed under Library work, Tolerance & Inclusivity

Tagged as , ,

March 19, 2021 · 5:03 pm

Libraries stand against racism (and so do I)

Today, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) issued a statement on Violence Against AAPI Communities that noted that “Violence against Asian communities has risen due to racist rhetoric surrounding COVID-19 that falsely attributed the origin of the virus to Asian communities. Consequently, anti-Asian racism and racist attacks have continued to increase over the past year.” The statement went on to say that ARL “stands in solidarity with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities during this difficult time and will continue to center anti-racism in our work. Last year, ARL expanded our vision statement to include anti-racism as a core focus and centered the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our mission statement. ”

In the past 11 years when I served as Dean of Library/University Libraries at two different universities in Florida, I often wrote on my blogs about racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and our library’s efforts to provide a safe and welcoming environment for people from all backgrounds. I laid out our adherence to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights which makes clear the responsibility of libraries to provide collections, services, exhibits, and space to people from all backgrounds. My blog postings were often to promote a multicultural program or exhibit we had hosted or planned in the library. But many times, I wrote in response to a student’s or community member’s comment or complaint against one of our programs that promoted anything that was not from the white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual, majority culture. And, increasingly, I wrote in response to some horrific act that had occurred somewhere in the United States.

When I was Dean of Library at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg (8/2009-6/2015), I wrote about this issue in 16% of my blog postings. When I was Dean of University Libraries at Florida Atlantic University (8/2015-2/2021), I wrote about this issue twice as often – in 32% of my blog postings. My more frequent writing about racism, tolerance, and DEI was not a reflection of some newfound commitment on my part, but rather was a response to the increased amount of hatred manifested in the United States against people of color, against people with different gender identities, against non-heterosexuals, against women, against non-Christians, against people born outside the United States, etc. If I had had the time and moral fortitude, I could have written about it every single day, as the attacks against anyone and everyone who was not from the majority culture or traditional power base increased seemingly exponentially.

At FAU, I started a program in 2019 that we called Erase Hate to make it clear that we were standing up against the growing intolerance and hatred that was being promoted at the highest levels of our society. This program built on our ongoing work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am now retired but the determination to stand up against this vitriolic element of our society remains strong.

So, today, once again, I am writing on my blog to stand up against hatred, intolerance, racism, misogyny, homophobia or any other group or movement that seeks to exclude or hurt whoever they perceive as “other.” I have had enough. I will continue to seek out ways to stand up and be counted on the side of all people who are simply trying to lead their lives and ask nothing more than to be accepted for who they are.

Leave a comment

Filed under Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Library work, Racism, Tolerance & Inclusivity

Tagged as , , ,