The future will not be interrupted; The Ink, October 17, 2024

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, The Ink; The future will not be interrupted

"Did you watch that interview on Fox News? I did. And maybe you saw what I saw.

What I saw was an extended metaphor for the condition of the country itself.

A woman, a person of color, representing a new generation and a kind of voice that hasn’t always been heard in American life, but more and more is being heard now, trying to speak — and a barrel-chested, pomade-glazed relic of the “Mad Men” era, interrupting her and interrupting her some more and interrupting her some more still, and then adding to his interruption some interruptions, and then also interrupting.

Fox News’s Bret Baier wasn’t just trying to stop Vice President Kamala Harris’s words. He seemed offended at the notion that her vocal cords actually make sounds. He invited her voice on his show and was upset that it had a volume.

I doubt there is any woman, any person of color, in this country who has not been in a meeting and experienced this kind of bulldozing. And some of them watch Fox News and still don’t like being interrupted.

Last night’s interruptionism, elevated almost to an art form, is a metaphor for the state of the country because a minority of Americans like Baier, an encrusted old guard, wants to interrupt the future itself. But the future will not be interrupted.

They don’t want to hear voices not their own. But those voices are growing louder."

A Good Way for ALA; American Libraries, July 24, 2024

 Cindy Hohl , American Libraries; A Good Way for ALA

"As the first Dakota president and Spectrum Scholar representing the 1% of Indigenous librarians, I will reaffirm that diversifying the field remains overdue. We need to focus on creating opportunities for our colleagues to be represented across every library type in this field. When leaders come together to support the entire community, that act of selfless service elevates collective goodwill among us. The same is true for work life. When we remember what our ancestors taught us and use those teachings to make informed decisions, we can avoid pitfalls along the path toward equitable service.

We also must have the goal of eliminating acts of censorship. On June 2, 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act was passed, granting us dual citizenship. Also known as the Snyder Act, it provided Native Americans with new identities in a step toward equality. While voting credentials were provided to some, several states decided to withhold the same rights from Native American women. Even as the remaining states finally provided voting privileges by 1975, barriers remain today in rural areas where polling locations are out of reach or tribally issued identification cards are not considered an acceptable form of identification by states.

Access to libraries can also be a challenge in these rural areas. We have the ability to accept tribal IDs for library access and create sustainable employment opportunities to ensure success without barriers. That way no one is left behind when acts of censorship are creating a division among us. If we work together in this way, everyone can see themselves written in stories, their voices can be heard, and no one is silenced.

Our core values help us see that what one holds sacred is a touchstone in advancing this work as we strive to serve everyone in ­#AGoodWay together."