For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ right to comfort
White fragility!
Recommended reading: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Tone policing is another place this shows up all the time. "I just think you could have said that nicer." or "I would have listened if you just would have said it [like this]." Practicing really hearing folks even if they delivered a message differently than you would have is a great, tangible way to grow. Emotions make things weird and squishy and they are hard to deal with but they aren't inherently bad and shouldn't invalidate.
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For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ objectivity
This concept hits a lot of library folks right in the feels.
Concept that objective reality is real, but any one person is only capable of perceiving part of that. Questions about how much of that perspective is western culture, white supremacy, etc. Our "reality" really only exists because the group in power and/or the majority has decided what it is. Every individual's reality is vastly different. Is it time to set the desire for library neutrality on the back burner while we focus on healing the extremely broken system in which we developed/grew up? If true objectivity or neutrality is not feasible, then why do we spend so much time and energy on it? For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ progress is bigger, more
We find that pre-COVID, this is something we saw a lot in our own work experiences.
Some folks are reminded of their experiences in churches and how focusing on growing the congregation can result in a drifting away from the mission of the church. How do we measure success in the library? Books on the shelves. Bodies in the library. People at programs. Summer Reading signups. We often focus on the quantitative and not the qualitative, and quantitative data is easily skewed, misinterpreted, and only part of the story. We cannot demonstrate impact and tell whole stories using only one aspect (e.g. only stats, only a photo, etc.). For further reading and action prompts, please visit whitesupremacyculture.info/ i'm the only one
For those of us who are single-person departments, we're used to doing everything ourselves. When we do get help (e.g. an intern or a volunteer) it can be extremely hard to delegate or relinquish that power and trust the other person, but it's essential!
This ties in to weaponized incompetence. If we are used to people actively acting in this manner, then we can fall into a habit of thinking we're the only one capable of doing a thing. Both things are not good! Sometimes this looks like, "My coworker would be good at this, but it would take them 3 days and I could have it done this afternoon, so I'll just do it." INDIVIDUALISM
We find that this is the way a lot of us were raised - with an expectation of and pride in individualism. We do have some observation of increased group work in schools. Remembering back to our own experiences with group work in school and college, we were not given the reasoning behind group work or taught the skills to succeed in group work, so we all just dreaded the group projects.
In our workplaces, some of us are pretty isolated or in extremely small teams. Even in large teams, it takes intentional effort to bring everyone in and create/maintain good teams and relationships. It's very easy to let extremely capable folks work hyper-independently, even though that eliminates so many opportunities, perspectives, and knowledge. |
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