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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 is with Phillip Harbin.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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
The American Library AssociationThe American Library Association unequivocally condemns racism and endorses recent statements by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (PDF).
New Era of Public Safety: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and Effective Community PolicingAn 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.
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
- - -Donald B. Reynolds, Jr.P.O. Box 278Talbott, Tennessee 37877865.475.20302019-2021 Past President; 2014-17, 2018-19 President, Friends of Tennessee Libraries (FOTL)Web Site Facebook Page Friends Ethical Statement Parent Tips for Reading Aloud Tool Kit for Building Friends GroupRetired Director, Nolichucky Regional Library, TennesseeFounding Director/Former President, Association for Rural and Small Libraries
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