BCALA NEWS Volume 41, Issue 3
Summer 2014
3 Dear Members:
I hope that your summer has been enjoyable and that you have a similar fall. For me, this summer and the start of my administration has not been what I expected. Shortly after ALA Annual, I suffered a back injury, which ultimately resulted in surgery. I am recovering and slowly returning to some normalcy. This has left me feeling behind where I had planned to be at this point. However, despite these challenges, I am also feeling energized at the same time. The BCALA secretary (kYmberly Keeton) and the BCALA organizational consultant (Keisha Garnett) have begun work on the BCALA website stabilization, and Past President Jos Holman has begun the review of the BCALA by-laws (with a planned report to the BCALA Executive Board at the upcoming ALA Midwinter in Chicago). In addition, I will also commence my review of committees and committee chair appointments. Also of note, the 9th NCAAL co-chairs and committees have been hard at work on another successful conference. We are planning a meeting this October in St. Louis, and I am looking forward to going home. Speaking of St. Louis, I would be remiss if I did not share my thoughts regarding the senseless killing of yet another young black male (Mr. Michael Brown), this time taking place in the St. Louis area (Ferguson, MO). Over the past few weeks since the incident, I have been thrown back into my own memories of my youth as well as the time I have spent in the Ferguson community over the years. I also have had to look inside myself, to ask myself how can the BCALA and I continue to be relevant now and in the future as it relates to our communities like Ferguson, especially for black men.
I feel that Ferguson is not alone in our nation, nor are its issues confined to just cities. To me, this entire nation as a whole mirrors Ferguson in its avoidance of serious conversations about race, prejudice, unconscious bias, and micro aggressions that harm all of us. Many prefer to ignore an existential crisis that indicates racial discontentment, adopting instead an ‘‘ignore it until it goes away” strategy that ultimately
leaves them unprepared to countermand the racial bias that weakens our communities. The sweeping dismissal of Black complaints regarding injustice is an expression of a very old and serious problem.
I recognize that diversity is not about ‘‘them versus us”, nor is it about Black and white. To me, diversity is an expression of differences, similarities, complexities and tensions. I do not want to be disillusioned, for our country is a nation of people with divisions, but that should not stop us from living, learning, growing, and working to heal the wounds in our communities.
The mission and legacy of the BCALA may require us to undertake radical librarianship. I believe that radical librarians take up librarianship as a chance to make a positive difference in people’s lives, no matter what it takes. Similar to promoting information literacy, radical librarianship is not about using the role and tools of the institution to make a positive change so much as it is using all of the resources possible. We must push individuals, groups, people, businesses, communities, etc. beyond the bounds they believe that are in place.
The mission of a radical librarian is not to simply promote reading, or to inform a community. Instead, radical librarians, the kind BCALA needs, see their mission as the improvement of society. Our role and the instruments of our institutions assist us in engaging a community and addressing the issues that have exploded in Ferguson. We do not need to establish yet another dialogue on race. We need a vision, commitment, and a movement, of ‘‘walking in someone else’s shoes”. To that end, I will be working with Vice President Davis to begin this work.
So, BCALA members, are we committed to radical librarianship? Are we ready to push boundaries in places we have never gone before? I look forward your input.
Peace and blessings, Kelvin Watson
President, BCALA 2014-2016
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