Urban Librarians Unite stands in solidarity with the Asian community and unequivocally condemns anti-Asian statements, violence, xenophobia, and racism in libraries and in our communities. A year ago, we signed onto the APALA pledge, and we reaffirm our commitment to standing against hate.

Asian Americans and the Asian diaspora are more than 12% of the population here in New York City and are an integral part of city life. The continuing and violent discrimination against this community as recently as March 16, 2021 in Atlanta with the murder of Delaina Ashley Yaun, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, and Paul Andre Michels, and state-sanctioned events such as the murder of Angelo Quinto and Christian Hall, needs to stop. We are not free until all are free.

As a community of library professionals, we know that education and knowing our history are the first steps and key for justice and freedom. We urge you to learn more about supporting the Asian community and understand the history of oppression, solidarity and activism.

Please look at the links below for further reading and how you can fight for racial justice and for the Asian community. We commend our fellow colleagues of color for continuing this often thankless work, especially as it revisits trauma, to further this education and dismantle the systems that oppress us all.

In solidarity, Urban Librarians Unite Board Members

Resources

Further Reading:

Statement from AFSCME, March 2021
Statement from APALA, March 2020 and APALA President’s Message, Winter 2021
Asian American Writer’s Workshop: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarity Letter, Black Women Radicals, Asian American Feminist Collective
Brookings Institute, Why the trope of Black-Asian conflict in the face of anti-Asian violence dismisses solidarity, by Jennifer Lee and Tiffany Huang
Jewish Public Affairs: A Letter of Support to Our Friends in the Chinese American and Chinese Communities
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance: BLM solidarity statement
White House Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US, January 2021

Additional Resources:

AAPI Women Lead and the #ImReady Movement aims to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of AAPI communities in the US through the leadership of AAPI women and girls.
Dear Asian Youth is a group of Asian youths striving to uplift marginalized communities through education, activism, and celebration. Founded by Stephanie Hu, a teen who wished to create a platform to publish her poetry, it evolved into a blog, then a literary magazine, then a full-fledged organization.
Diversify Our Narrative is an organization of over five thousand students fighting for racial justice through our education systems.
The Peahce Project is a digital media platform created by eighteen-year-old Arden Yum to share the so often untold, underrepresented stories, art, and writing of Asian voices from all over the world.
Stop AAPI Hate and How to Report a Hate Crime are multilingual resources with information on how to report a hate crime, as well as advice for effective bystander intervention. The NYC Commission on Human Rights also has resources to help Stop Asian Hate.
we here seeks to provide a safe and supportive community for BIPOC in library and information science professions and educational programs and to recognize, discuss, and intervene in systemic social issues that have plagued these professions both currently and historically.
WOC+Lib is a place for WOC and POC to express innovative ideas, transformative work, commentary, critiques, personal experiences, original research, and other professional literature.