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Hello friends,
We're at the 2024 Oregon Library Association Conference in Salem, Oregon and getting ready to facilitate our first ever in-person session today (Thursday) at 4:15 p.m. in Santiam Room 3. See y'all soon! - Unpacking safetySafety frequently comes up in EDIAR discussions and is often confused for or cohabitates with concepts of discomfort and other forms of stress. Our spring season is all about exploring safety and how we can strive to create safer spaces for marginalized folks in our communities and workplaces. thoughts & Observations
what makes us feel safe?
what makes us feel unsafe
Our group was able to more quickly articulate specific things that made them feel safe, rather than unsafe. Whether that was a level of self-consciousness in sharing, a novel thought that didn't result in immediate response, and/or a combination of other factors, it is an interesting dynamic. We expect it would be significantly different were we not a group of white folks exploring this topic.
Due to some technical chaos in September, we've combined things into one post for September and October. Thanks! Vocab recapAlly - starting to support/learning to support Accomplice - starting to take an active roles, taking risks Co-conspirators - taking active risks and proactively doing work while still recognizing that BIPOC are still the leaders in this sphere Kind reminder - we don't know what we don't know. We're going to make mistakes. Sometimes BIG mistakes! Keep learning. We're all getting better at this together. We got this. Working with the public
Right now, we have the least to share about being co-conspirators because it's still a fresh concept to most of us. In our discussion and reading, the jump from accomplice to co-conspirator seems to exist in the intersection of initiative and risk. Being an accomplice means taking some form of risk, but being a co-conspirator is actively and intentionally using your position to take risks and act on behalf of traditionally marginalized people and groups. As we work through the next three months of discussion, we'll come back to all three concepts - ally, accomplice, and co-conspirator - to talk about what these can look like in our work and wider, library communities. A note on "tiers"It feels natural to us to want to tier the concepts of ally, accomplice, and co-conspirator, but we want to be clear that this isn't something you can level up like a video game or ace like a class. It's also not our place to claim any of these labels for ourselves; we demonstrate our commitment to these concepts through our actions. Focus on the work - growth, learning, humility - rather than the optics.
When we talk about accomplices, we move from passive voice into the active voice. We start to take risks and put ourselves out there on behalf of others. Think of it as getting into Good Trouble!
Protests/vigils are frequently one of the first things that pops to mind when considering about how to be an accomplice. That intentional, shared risk-taking is key. Protests are inherently risky, whether it is (real or perceived) threat to our social standing, mental health, physical well-being, etc. Protesting is not the only way to be an accomplice, though, and not everyone is in a position to protest. Using our positions in society, in our social circles, our families, politically, and at work, to advocate and work on behalf of others is great accomplic-ity. Often, these risks might feel even more intimidating than gearing up for a march! A note on restEspecially when we start looking at being an accomplice and co-conspirator, it's important to acknowledge a few things.
First, most folks have some amount of intersectionality in marginalized groups. Gender, ability, sexuality, religious views, race...all these things have and are weaponized by people in positions of power. Being a white, able-bodied, middle class, cis-gender queer person does not minimize our queer identity. It does, however, mean that we will typically have more pull in a conversation than a white, disabled, middle class, non-binary person. Second, caring for ourselves enables us to help others. If we are exhausted and haven't dealt with any of our own Stuff, how can we effectively advocate for someone else? We'll get so tangled up that we won't be able to help ourselves or others. Rest and self-care might be buzzwords, but they are also vital. Take care of yourself so you can help take care of others. In our last post, we broke down the concepts of ally, accomplice, and co-conspirator. Here, we are going to dig into allyship a bit more.
For many of us, we're still working to feel confident in ally work. We might feel ourselves recoil at the idea of "accomplices" and "co-conspirators" because it feels unattainable or like the work we have already done isn't valuable. It's okay to have those feelings, but rest assured that this work, like everything else, is not about an end point; we will always have room for growth. When we feel disheartened, we can look back at where we were, feel pride in how far we've come, and use that energy to propel ourselves forward. Think of being an ally as a strong foundation. Now we can build atop it. Colorado Virtual Library provides a great overview of allyship. This article was published in 2021, and as we know things change quickly. However, this is still a wonderful starting place. Some highlights: On intersectionality: "The key takeaway is remembering that our positions of privilege and marginalization are fluid—they are heavily situational (and intersectional), and some people overall may experience more marginalization than privilege, or vice versa." On systemic oppression: " The goal may be to consciously exclude another identity or it may happen subconsciously, as a result of inequitable policies or norms. Societal institutions are then created around those power structures and the marginalization becomes normalized in the culture as 'how society works.'" On allyship: "an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power seeks to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group.” Abbreviated do/don't list:
allies, accomplices, and co-conspiratorsFor many years, being an ally was seen as the goal for folks supporting groups to which they didn't inherently belong. Now, perhaps being an ally doesn't always go far enough. Ally, accomplice, and co-conspirator are three ways to look at how we, as white folks, can support marginalized groups and people. Based on our discussion, below is a breakdown of each term. We'll dive into each more in subsequent posts. Ally
Accomplice
co-conspirator
*This does not invalidate the burdens we carry. Take care of yourself so that you can take care of others. How to think about rest as a form of resistance : NPR
**Beware the White Savior mentality! No more white saviours, thanks: how to be a true anti-racist ally | Race | The Guardian
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There is no outside/required reading or homework for this season! If you would like to explore the inspiration for this season, check out this video. 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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