For Immediate Release
Thursday, 01/31/2019
CONTACT:
Jaena Rae Cabrera
Co-Chair, Media and Publicity Committee
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
communications@apalaweb.org
APALA releases statement against racism and harassment
The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) expresses its support for the Black people and people of color who experienced racism and harassment at the 2019 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, WA. These incidents are not singular or isolated, and, coupled with the recent racial profiling and discrimination of Black future librarians at a university library in the District of Columbia and a public library in Texas, illustrates that there is much work to do to address systemic discrimination, bias, power, and white privilege in our profession. While the ALA’s President’s Program at Midwinter was on white fragility, and ALA Council often passes resolutions with statements that purportedly support marginalized communities, ALA itself as a member organization is frequently not a safe space for BIPOC; and APALA calls on ALA to formally investigate some of the incidents that occurred during the ALA Midwinter Meeting.
APALA, one of the five ethnic affiliates of the American Library Association, is committed to “advancing social justice and providing opportunities for dialogue” and we strongly denounce these types of behavior, which create toxic environments for people of color. APALA acknowledges the complexity of intersectional identities and how multiple systems of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism and heterosexism (among others) overlap and compound on the individual, and advocates for prioritizing the experiences and voices of marginalized groups, and engaging in difficult dialogues in order to create a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization.
APALA calls for the American Library Association to uphold its core organizational values of “ethics, professionalism, and integrity,” to commit to its key areas of diversity that are “…a fundamental value of the association and its members,” and to follow through on its commitment to engage with diversity in deeper ways. APALA calls for the American Library Association to engage with the five ethnic-affiliates of AILA, APALA, BCALA, CALA, and REFORMA to create meaningful and purposeful change through discussion and action, in order to make the profession more inclusive.
On behalf of the APALA Executive Board, by Paolo P. Gujilde, and approved by members of the APALA Executive Board, Alanna Aiko Moore, Dora T. Ho, Annie Pho, Peter Spyers-Duran, Lana Adlawan, Jaena Rae Cabrera, Rose L. Chou, Anchalee (Joy) Panigabutra-Roberts and Buenaventura Basco.
Note: Based on the feedback of APALA members, this statement was edited to show the importance of specifically naming anti-Blackness, to emphasize that the discrimination that Black people face is very different from the experiences of non-Black POC.
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Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.