[Michlib-l] Discomfort with Wednesday post about "neutrality"

Fri Apr 16 17:46:21 EDT 2021

Thank you, Kristin for posting this.  I, too, have been thinking a great deal about the post I read yesterday. I am still thinking through it.  I recently interviewed Professor Loretta Ross on her calling in the calling out culture.  Professor Ross talks about the need for us “to get away from the angel/devil positioning and what we need to do is to hold people accountable for the harm they do.  What we want is to achieve accountability.” She says the calling in culture is the cancel culture done with radical love and empathy.  I am working to do this. Trust me it takes more thought and energy to call someone in than to call someone out. My readings, work and life experiences have led me to understand that we are at a point where we cannot be neutral, which is not a place most libraries are or comfortable being. I understand it is my white privilege that allows me to be silent and definitely allows me to be neutral.  As Kristin Fontichiaro says, I am not a DEI expert and I have a long way to go on my own journey. I am learning…and it is time.  I do believe in balance, but I also understand that neutrality is different and being neutral works best when all things are equitable. Sadly, so many things are not equitable be it race, class, education, access, etc.
I do not have all the answers, but I want to call in people and be radically empathetic. I also want an equitable society… We have to work toward this, together.
Be well, Kristin
Kristin Shelley, Director
East Lansing Public Library
kshelley at cityofeastlansing.com<mailto:kshelley at cityofeastlansing.con>
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517-420-0340<tel:517-420-0340> (cell)

On Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:34 PM Kristin Fontichiaro via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:
Hello, all --

There was a post on this earlier this week in which a librarian asked for advice on policies that would help her library navigate the pushback some of her DEI posts are receiving. Their query received one response. Admitting that they had not viewed the content in question, the respondent argued that the profession should be more careful about betraying neutrality and that we would do well to walk more in the shoes of our (assumed majority white) patrons and plan posts accordingly.

I have been really uncomfortable about that for the past few days and have been waiting for someone to pipe up and voice concern about it. And now I am more uncomfortable that no one has, so I guess it's time for me to.

Our profession's Code of Ethics advocates for equitable access and service for all<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ala.org%2Funited%2Fsites%2Fala.org.united%2Ffiles%2Fcontent%2Ftrustees%2Forgtools%2Fpolicies%2FALA-code-of-ethics.pdf&data=04%7C01%7Ckshelley%40cityofeastlansing.com%7Ccbe4e6c20294436ca08108d901170c0b%7C42c2237340d243c6b22f2c6f445fa115%7C0%7C0%7C637542022100472684%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=P5SZthnJzOuS52tHmqKu48FGmSDdDHhuEdxjqs%2B%2B0dY%3D&reserved=0> and that we leave our personal perspectives at the door when we show up to work to live out the library's mission. The Code of Ethics never actually says, "Be neutral," or, "Equity matters, but if it ruffles a few feathers, just let it go." I am haunted by Elie Wiesel's articulation that, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nobelprize.org%2Fprizes%2Fpeace%2F1986%2Fwiesel%2F26054-elie-wiesel-acceptance-speech-1986%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ckshelley%40cityofeastlansing.com%7Ccbe4e6c20294436ca08108d901170c0b%7C42c2237340d243c6b22f2c6f445fa115%7C0%7C0%7C637542022100472684%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=bfVrICCxVmwIaMB6Z7QwOntwjk9j0TzM0RCt3TO8u0o%3D&reserved=0>." When we ask whose shoes we should be walking in, we might do better to ask who is most in need of empathy and whose perspectives are most underrrepresented.

I'm no DEI expert. I know how far I have to go in my own journey and that I have said and done dumb or hurtful things when I didn't know better. But if we are going to say we're proud to serve all, we have to acknowledge that this should not be a self-congratulatory pat on the back but a call to action.

I don't believe that shame is an effective learning tool<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F11%2F19%2Fstyle%2Floretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html&data=04%7C01%7Ckshelley%40cityofeastlansing.com%7Ccbe4e6c20294436ca08108d901170c0b%7C42c2237340d243c6b22f2c6f445fa115%7C0%7C0%7C637542022100472684%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=3z0LoDQ3Sdt6StgcwMzb8h%2FUiOHdG2PRPNstyvplH18%3D&reserved=0>, and I am NOT writing this to provoke angry jabs at the respondent. We may share a goal of equity but have different paths of getting there. Libraries outside of metropolitan areas serve very different communities from those in more diverse areas, and our action steps toward equity may look different or move at different rhythms or speeds ... as long as we keep moving forward.

I hope this message will help us all have a chance to take a deep breath, step back from the weird and stressful times we are living in, and ask, "How can our library welcome a wider swath of the population?"

Thanks for reading and for everything you do to help those who need it most.

Kristin

--
Kristin Fontichiaro
University of Michigan School of Information
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Kristin Shelley

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