1/ Please don't report your new anti-racist activities to your BIPOC colleagues for their approval. It is an additional emotional labor for us. You're going to make a mistake, so let it happen and be open to consequences and correction. Anti-racist work = vulnerability = courage.
2/ BIPOC colleagues have been doing anti-racist work for far longer, and that work has likely been (in)formally discounted for years. You already know what needs to be done. Go read what your colleagues have published and said. Do it.
3/Look at how long we've been talking about it (I know, because I went and gathered them, at least through 2009). GO SEE: bit.ly/3gHX2g2 You know what to do. Do it.
4/Look at how long BIPOC have been asked by #libraries to do this work single-handedly - and then marginalizing or downplaying the work when it's time for formal recognition. GO SEE: bit.ly/2XNiRlX. You know what to do. Do it.
5/You already know the mental and physical outcomes of this stuff (reminder: Whiteness, Racism, White Privilege, and Diversity Rhetoric are all *ADDITIONAL* enabling systems of #LowMorale for BIPOC #librarians). GO SEE: bit.ly/3gISdDh. You know what to do. Do it.
6/..And if you didn't know, you do now. Do it. /END
(and cite them when you implement their work) #CiteBIPOC
ADDENDUM: Go look at your policies. They need to be updated &/or (more likely) COMPLETELY dismantled. Start over. GO SEE how your library's policies, (lack of) partnerships, & climate keep people from feeling welcome: bit.ly/2TU0Ykf. You know what to do. DO IT.
*people = library users AND (potential) employees, btw.
