The witnessing of the horrible murder of George Floyd, coming to us as yet another injustice against peoples of color, has catalyzed world-wide protest, reflection, and expressions for change.
Our University President’s Statement on Racism, UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library’s Statement on Racial Justice, and the Nā Hawaiʻi ʻImi Loa’s (Native Hawaiian Librarian Association) solidarity statement reflect our University and Hawaiʻi library communities as hopeful allies available to lend their voices to calls for continued change to the systems of racism. The statements all suggest that within academia we have an essential role to play in creating this change – because social justice is founded on education.
However, before we can become allies for continued change to the systems of racism, we must consider where our own systems and decisions perpetuate oppression and injustice. In the library, for example, we need to ask ourselves:
Are our own processes of selecting resources, organizing spaces and collections, customer service and working with others, scholarship evaluation, and personal preferences for professional development really free of the systemic racism that permeates society?
In an attempt to better an understanding of institutionalized racism, the UHMC library would like to propose the last day of June (Tuesday, June 30th) as UHMC’s Equity Reading Day – a day of reflection and education focused on anti-racism in higher ed. On this day, we will repurpose our time to read, think and explore where within our own apparently dispassionate and “objective” intellectual traditions systemic racism might lurk.
Because one day will not change our culture (for it is our own way of thinking and behaving that we must change), Equity Reading Day is not just a time to learn, but offered as a day to plan for the long-term and the sustained action that is needed to facilitate growth and anti-racism practices. Ideally, we will eventually come together to explore needed changes in ourselves and the systems we collectively make.
Reading Day Recommendations
There’s an abundance to read (and watch) on this subject, with hundreds of new articles and opinion pieces published monthly. For those looking for recommendations, here are some starting points:
Following the research process, begin by reading background information on institutional racism (sometimes referred to as systemic racism) in one of the many reference works available through the library. A search through the Library’s Primo catalog for “institutional racism” retrieves over 150 reference entry results, most of which are available to read online. Here you will find, for example, the Encyclopedia of Race & Racism, a review racism frameworks that helps put “institutional racism” into context.
If you follow current events or social media, we might find useful Huffington Post’s article What does ‘systemic racism’ mean? 20 terms to help you understand allyship, and, continuing with the basics, Thoughtco.com’s Definition of Systemic Racism in Sociology provides some background on racism as a theoretical concept as well as a reality.
Considering institutional racism in relation to colleges and universities, Inside Higher Ed has been publishing relevant articles on this topic almost weekly. Check out: Pushing Back Against Racism and Xenophobia on Campuses, Colleges Must Take a New Approach to Systemic Racism and Diversity and Inclusion are Not Enough. For those who have the time to read (and watch) more than just a few sources, the Innovative Educators list for developing an understanding of institutional racism includes some thorough collections worth digging through (in here you will find some of the better articles on “how to talk about racism”:
- JSTOR Daily: Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus
- 10 Documentaries to Better Understand Racism
- Scaffolding Anti-Racism Resources
For books, the library houses a few American “classics” on the subject: The New Jim Crow (print), The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America (print), and Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? (ebook). For additional titles, search the Primo Catalog using keywords “institutional racism” or “systemic racism” then filter by Resource Type for books.
Bringing this conversation home, librarian Shavonn Matsuda has put together a working document: Books on Anti-Racism in Hawaiʻi (with focus on Kānaka). This is a comprehensive list (we’ve got some homework to do!), with links to our Primo catalog for print and online borrowing options. Scroll to the bottom of this document for the list of books on institutional racism in Hawaiʻi’s higher ed.
As we consider and celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride and Juneteenth this month, we further propose the last day in June as an annual, campus-wide Reading Day for reflection and education around the issues of equity in higher ed.
Planning for the discussions comes next…
As we continue to review and collect resources for a future Research Guide, we appreciate your recommendations. Please send them to epeterso@hawaii.edu