Happy Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day!
As we enter the Year of the Metal Ox, I wish to acknowledge our community members who have loved ones overseas and/or who have lost loved ones this past year, particularly due to COVID-19 or related complications. I am so sorry for your and your family’s loss and for the additional anxiety of keeping track of the COVID-19 situations in other countries, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. I hope that with the various vaccines, we are able to come together face-to-face in community soon. During this extraordinarily challenging past year, even surviving is a triumph.
Yet, many of our members have gone above and beyond to continue the great work of our association, including:
- APALA Executive Board contributed to and supported Equity and Access in Higher Education and Academic Libraries Statement
- First virtual APALA Lit Awards!
- Family Literacy Focus Committee working with AILA on streamlining Talk Story Together grant process and website
- Scholarships & Awards Committee have finalized criteria for new Gayatri Singh Award
- Membership Committee contacted all recently lapsed members to encourage renewal
- Mentoring Committee hosted a virtual mentor/mentee meet-up in conjunction with ALA Midwinter
- Hosted our second virtual APALA Membership Meeting in conjunction with ALA Midwinter
- APALA Board Members Michelle Lee and Ray Pun hosted a job talk webinar
- Membership and Programming Committee collaborated on two virtual APALA socials, including a game night
- APALA co-sponsored an ALA Office on Literacy webinar: Libraries at the Intersection of Adult Education, Family Literacy, and Digital Equity
- Submitted letters of support for two Network of the National Library of Medicine regional libraries, who we will be partnering with on our upcoming APALA webinar: “Addressing the Stigma: Mental Health and Wellness Resources for Asian/Pacific American Communities” on March 10, 2021 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time
- Media and Publicity Committee launched APALA’s Community Kitchen Project, featuring APALA members sharing family recipes
- Finance and Fundraising Committee hosted a T-shirt Design Contest (t-shirts will be available for purchase via Bonfire.com) and launched APALA’s Bookshop.org shop featuring Asian Pacific American Award for Literature titles
- APALA as co-sponsor for the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)’s Media Literacy Week event “Clips and Conversation: The Claudia Kishi Club”
- APALA Statement Condemning White Supremacist fueled Violence
- APALA Media and Publicity Committee’s ongoing book reviews, author interviews, and “What’s Your Normal?” series
This year, two joyful celebrations coincide with each other – Lunar New Year and Black History Month.
Unfortunately, these two occasions have been marred on multiple fronts this year by:
- the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has laid bare the simmering xenophobia against anyone perceived to be Chinese and disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities
- the spate of attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islanders since the beginning of the pandemic, including particularly vicious attacks against AAPI elders since the beginning of 2021
- the problematic cover, article and initial response of the February 2021 issue of the School Library Journal, helmed by an APALA member, which centered white readers and authors and featured literary blackface during Black History Month
According to the Chinese zodiac, this year is the Year of the Metal Ox and ox are known as hardworking, honest, diligent, dependable and responsible.
It is in that spirit of responsibility, as well as solidarity, that our association is committed to anti-racism and combating anti-Blackness in all forms, unconscious or intentional. This is particularly important while advocating on behalf of AAPI communities. Only white supremacy benefits from pitting Black, Indigenous, communities of color against each other.
In solidarity, APALA wants to acknowledge what happened, try to minimize harm and move forward together.
Some ideas include crowdsourcing anti-bias/anti-racism resources from our members (including Sofia Leung’s terrific webinar “Disrupting White Supremacy Through BIPOC Solidarity”) and hosting a townhall to discuss and address anti-Blackness in our communities, so that we and our members can better advocate for and educate ourselves without being complicit in anti-Blackness.
Please feel free to include additional ideas and resources via this Google form.
I am also excited to share that I have had wonderful conversations with leaders from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), including President Shauntee Burns-Simpson, Vice President Nichelle Hayes, Advocacy Chair Tiffany Alston, and co-conspirator Deimosa Webber-Bey, as well as a heartfelt and hopeful conversation with APALA member and Editor-in-Chief of School Library Journal, Kathy Ishizuka. Even before the troubling events of 2021, BCALA and APALA were planning to collaborate on my President’s Program at ALA Annual to highlight ways in which Advocacy and Activism overlap in our communities and our information institutions and are now planning on collaborating on BCALA President Shauntee Burns-Simpson’s President’s Program at ALA Annual, as well.
In the Lunar New Year spirit of renewal, healing and second chances, we are looking forward to working more closely with both BCALA and SLJ and learning together this coming year.
Yours in activism, advocacy and community health,
Candice Wing-yee Mack
APALA President 2020-2021