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Don, thank you so much for sharing this email.

On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 1:07 PM Donald B. Reynolds <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> *[External Email]*
> Dear Friends and Good People  -
> A friend of mine sent this Facebook Post from a friend of hers.  In light
> of the turmoil engulfing our country over these past several days, thought
> you might find this experience illustrative of the quiet/everyday
> frustration being experienced by some of our friends and neighbors.
>
>
>
>
> Deltha Katherine Harbin
> <https://www.facebook.com/deltha.scott?__tn__=%2CdlCH-R-R&eid=ARAXXfqIkHwpxodqDhHFaqhPYpeDB4DErxrOtRzYLMpeJMDgzBCcuYz-OFuCqLvcYsjsYG55uyFfdDEg&hc_ref=ARSdi0YWwtFET8SlnaAVnUauyBMEm5EK349JDW_OLeoIbcWAkLrIwD1VI3YQvb_zRXk&ref=nf_target> is
> with Phillip Harbin
> <https://www.facebook.com/phillip.harbin.96?__tn__=%2CdlCH-R-R&eid=ARD13m1FavKoXlYyQvUJZwKawDKqYvu8LbSMl4hVjNz9DoF5ze6d73c6MzfkH37W7k7hE8JVIsw9h4ww&hc_ref=ARSdi0YWwtFET8SlnaAVnUauyBMEm5EK349JDW_OLeoIbcWAkLrIwD1VI3YQvb_zRXk&ref=nf_target>
> .
> May 27 at 9:27 AM
> <https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10102862110963993&set=a.560439717663&type=3>
> My husband is 31 years old. My husband can proofread a paper to
> perfection! He makes the best pork chops and neckbones. My husband was
> raised in an extremely wholesome home where they were not even allowed to
> watch Harry Potter. My husband has never tried any drugs, not even weed. He
> has never stolen from anyone, not even a corner store. My husband treats me
> and our sons like royalty. He serves at our local church faithfully and
> helps anyone he can. None of this stopped my husband from becoming a
> suspect in Semmes. My husband wanted to do me a favor one night when he got
> home late from work. He got my keys and drove around the corner to fill my
> tank at the gas station. While there, an older white woman was at a pump
> across from him and he noticed she appeared very nervous and stared at him.
> He said she got in her vehicle and got on her phone and pulled off to an
> area near the gas station. Within minutes police cars pulled in and
> surrounded him. He was questioned about why he was out. He was questioned
> about his activity earlier in the day. He was told he fit a description.
> They asked who's car he was driving. He was told he could not leave. He was
> told the description was simply a black man. Not a 5 ft 7 inch black man of
> around 220 lbs who loves WWE, macaroni and cheese, and the Temptations.
> Just black. The older woman was now watching and the cops revealed she had
> called in his suspicious behavior of pumping gas. And now he was a suspect
> because he fit the description of being black. He was humiliated. He was
> emasculated. He was angry. He was helpless. He was on his way to being
> cuffed when a white man stepped in. An older white man told the officers
> they were wrong and that my husband had come from a different direction
> than the robbery they had mentioned. The officers released my husband after
> this. Not because my husband told them multiple times he was innocent. Not
> because there were two car seats in the back of my car. My husband's voice
> meant nothing. The only voice that penetrated those badges was a white one.
> My hard working, kind hearted, silly husband was guilty because of his skin
> and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. The sight of him
> caused a woman to call the police. He said he wanted to scream. He wanted
> to fight. He wanted yell at the top of his lungs that he was a man and he
> mattered. If he had, he would be deemed aggressive. He would be resisting
> so he said he kept telling himself he had to make it home to me and the
> boys. He knew these men could kill him and justify it. He came home a
> changed man. I am a changed woman. We cried. We prayed and we have healed
> since this took place but it changed us. Issues that once felt somewhat
> distant became our reality. So, when you dismiss the plight of black men in
> America you diminish the ever present fear within our community. You are
> willfully ignorant. If you think people make this up or are only
> apprehended by the police when they deserve it... you are part of the
> problem. Open your eyes but more importantly open your hearts to the
> reality of being black in America. We don't get the luxury of ignoring it
> because we live it. This picture of my precious family looks threatening to
> some people. My boys are cuddly and cute until they aren't anymore and then
> they become a threat too. My heart aches for our country and I feel so
> helpless. Lord, please heal the hearts and minds our land!
>
>
>
> And about The Talk . . .
>
> *Ahmaud, Breonna, Christian, George, and The Talk every black boy receives
>  *
> “I had a flashback to first grade, to the first time my mother gave me The
> Talk. Every black mother has given this talk to her son; it’s pretty much
> universal in black households in the United States. It begins – at least in
> my experience and in that of others in my family – with the mother
> discerning whether her son is ready for this news because she knows this
> just might shatter his world.
> “My mother got down on my level, kissed me on the cheek and with tears in
> her eyes said, “Baby, you are a black boy in a white man’s world.” She was
> very intentional about her choice of words: boy versus man.”
>
>
> https://baptistnews.com/article/ahmaud-breonna-christian-george-and-the-talk-every-black-boy-receives/#.XtT84i3MzfY
>
>
> *Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is
> people pushed to the edge*
> "Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if
> you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s
> everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of
> cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s
> always still in the air.”
>
> https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-30/dont-understand-the-protests-what-youre-seeing-is-people-pushed-to-the-edge
>
>
>
> How do friends of good will care, support, and work with each other and
> our community to shatter our culture to eliminate these disparities,
> injustices, institutional racism, and painful personal experiences?  What
> role can our libraries play to help our communities heal, grow, and develop?
>
> Resurrecting racial epithets from the 50’s/60’s with phrases like "when
> the looting starts, the shooting starts” and insulting name calling is
> most insensitive, inappropriate, and non-productive.
>
>
> *How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change*
> “Let's not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it.  If
> we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to
> operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code
> ourselves,” former President Barack Obama wrote the morning.
> “The bottom line is this: if we want to bring about real change, then the
> choice isn't between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to
> mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots
> to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.”
>
> https://medium.com/@BarackObama/how-to-make-this-moment-the-turning-point-for-real-change-9fa209806067
>
>
>
> The *American Academy of Pediatrics *
> “Racism is a public health issue. The AAP condemns violence, especially
> when perpetrated by authorities, and calls for a deep examination of how to
> improve the role of policing. Systemic violence requires systemic response.”
>
> “The social environment in which children are raised shapes child and
> adolescent development, and pediatricians are poised to prevent and respond
> to environmental circumstances that undermine child health.”
>
>
> https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/144/2/e20191765.full.pdf
>
>
> The *American Medical Association*
> "AMA policy recognizes that physical or verbal violence between law
> enforcement officers and the public, particularly among Black and Brown
> communities where these incidents are more prevalent and pervasive, is a
> critical determinant of health and supports research into the public health
> consequences of these violent interactions.”
> “Recognizing that many who serve in law enforcement are committed to
> justice, the violence inflicted by police in news headlines today must be
> understood in relation to larger social and economic arrangements that put
> individuals and populations in harm's way leading to premature illness and
> death.”
> “Police violence is a striking reflection of our American legacy of racism
> -- a system that assigns value and structures opportunity while unfairly
> advantaging some and disadvantaging others based on their skin color.”
> https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/police-brutality-must-stop
>
>
> The *American Library Association*
> The American Library Association unequivocally condemns racism and
> endorses recent statements by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians
> Association <http://www.apalaweb.org/coronavirus-response/> and the Black
> Caucus of the American Library Association (PDF)
> <http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/Statement%20Condemning%20Increased%20Violence%20and%20Racism%20Towards%20Black%20Americans%20and%20People%20of%20Color.pdf>
> .
> http://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity/libraries-respond
>
>
> *New Era of Public Safety: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and
> Effective Community Policing*
> An initiative of the Policing Campaign at the Leadership Conference
> Education Fund, the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference
> on Civil and Human Rights.
> https://www.obama.org/wp-content/uploads/Toolkit.pdf
>
>
> Remembering my Bible study upbringing . . .
> And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
> and to walk humbly with your God.
> (Micah 6:8)
>
> Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
> your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second
> is this:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  No other commandment is
> greater than these.”  (Mark 12:30-31)
>
>
> What can our libraries in Tennessee do next? How can FOTL & TLA be of
> positive help? Or should we?  -  Don
>
>
> [image: Libraries Transform - Community and Understanding]
>
>
>
>
> - - -
> Donald B. Reynolds, Jr.
> P.O. Box 278
> Talbott, Tennessee 37877
> 865.475.2030
> [log in to unmask]
> 2019-2021 Past President; 2014-17, 2018-19 President, Friends of Tennessee
> Libraries (FOTL)
>       Web Site <http://www.friendstnlibraries.org/>   Facebook Page
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Tennessee-Libraries/78895803726?fref=ts>
>  Friends Ethical Statement
> <http://www.friendstnlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/FOTL-Ethical-Dozen-for-Friends-of-the-Library-18Sept2015.pdf>
>  Parent Tips for Reading Aloud
> <http://www.friendstnlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/Parent-Tips-for-Reading-Aloud-Sept-2014-Imagination-Week-Handout-REV-FINAL1.pdf>
>  Tool Kit for Building Friends Group
> <http://www.friendstnlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Sept2015FOTL-TOOL-KIT-for-Building-a-Library-Friends-Group-REV-Sept2015.pdf>
>
> Retired Director, Nolichucky Regional Library, Tennessee
> Founding Director/Former President, Association for Rural and Small
> Libraries
> Rural & Small Library Directors’ Tool Kit
> <http://rurallibrarydirectors.pbworks.com/>
>
>
>
>
>
> DISCLAIMER:  This email is a natural hand made product. The slight
> variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and
> beauty
> and in no way are to be considered flaws.
>
>
> *Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.*
> *~  Robert J. Sawyer*
>
> No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
> ~  Aesop
>
> *I believe without laughter there’s no point at all.*
> ~* Lauren Bacall*
>
> Be Happy.  It's one way of being wise.
> *~ Sidone Gabrielle Colette*
>
> *Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven't met
> yet!*
>
> Since retiring, I wake up in the morning with nothing to do -
> and by bedtime it's only half done.
> *~ Bill Yates, **small society*
>
> God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things -
> right now, I'm so far behind, I will never die.
> *~ Anonymous*
>
> May the good Lord make you smart enough to live in a small town.
> *~ Radio news announcer in **The Runaway Bride*
>
> He who reads books knows more.
>
> It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
> *~ Harry Truman*
>
> Take change by the hand before it takes you by the throat.
> *~ Sam McKinney*
>
> Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.
> *~ Irene Peter*
>
>

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_______________________________________________________
Jenifer (one "n") Grady, MSLS, MBA, CAE
Executive Director, Tenn-Share, <http://tenn-share.org/> A Tennessee
Library Consortium
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