This guide is a starting place for those interested in pursuing antiracist work. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all antiracist resources and texts, and we encourage you to continue your own research and work in this area. This is only part of the College Library's plan to actively engage in antiracist work on the F&M College campus. For more, please refer to our statement below.
If there is a title, resource, talk, or something else that you feel should be on this guide, please reach out to lbr@fandm.edu or Scott Vine, Director of the College Library, at svine@fandm.edu.
Many of the resources on this guide have come from other guides, which you can check out in full here:
Like this guide? Feel free to reuse and remix it all or in part, with attribution per a CC BY-NC license.
Dear F&M Community,
As bell hooks writes in Teaching to Transgress, "silence is an act of complicity." [1] While our country struggles with a pandemic, we again watch systemic injustices result in the deaths of our fellow human beings -- George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery -- the most recent in a long line of killings dating from 1619, when Africans who were enslaved were brought here. We were and are heartbroken by these multiple tragedies, and know that the F&M community is outraged for the victims, their families, and all affected by hate. As an entity that works with our students, staff, faculty, and the Lancaster community, the College Library as an organization cannot remain silent or still in the face of ongoing racialized violence and killings.
We know that many of us cannot completely understand the depth of anger, fear, and anxiety felt by Black and African American people in our College, community, state, and nation. It is not enough to reiterate our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, or against racism. It is not enough that our strategic plan mandates that we engage thoughtfully and respectfully with the various communities of the College. We recognize that we must work actively together towards stopping future incidents of racism and violence. It is up to all of us, no matter our background, to face this where it exists. We have much to do in order to live these values, and we need to act wherever possible.
The College Library regularly offers information, content, support, spaces, events, and more to our students, staff, faculty, and the Lancaster community. We've identified additional, immediate actions our organization can take, and we invite other ideas. We are doing and will continue to do the following:
We offer all empathy and compassion to our students, employees, colleagues, and neighbors, especially those feeling most pained and vulnerable. As we return to campus, we can make progress on these and other actions as a way to come together. If you would like to offer suggestions for further actions, please reach out to me at scott.vine@fandm.edu.
With respect for all members of our community,
Scott Vine
Director of the College Library
[1] bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress (New York, NY: Routledge, 1994), 66.
Last updated: August 23, 2021