Read on Twitter
i& #39;m tired after a long few days of action & grief here in minneapolis & i don& #39;t have time rn to sit down & write about this in the way i& #39;d like to, but do want to write a few words to archivists, esp. white people who are archivists, who wish to contribute in this crisis moment
and, i should add, especially white people who are archivists who& #39;ve never participated in activist organizing or civil disobedience
as @nowviskie wrote in a characteristically thoughtful tweet earlier: sharing, collecting, and posting documentation of people protesting ––especially while uprisings are still underway––is probably not the most helpful thing we can do. https://twitter.com/nowviskie/status/1267078311479595010?s=20">https://twitter.com/nowviskie...
i& #39;d like to suggest that we think of other ways to support and contribute.
how? well, first and foremost: in this moment, we should be listening to, and supporting, the Black-led organizers and organizations who are mobilizing in this moment, and are working on the ground.
second: there are some ways we can use our archival & library info skills in support of justice and care, but we should also be willing to stop inhabiting just our professional selves & maybe take a break from documenting and archival work for a moment.
third: has yr institution or org issued a strong statement in support of justice for George Floyd or the demand that we defund the police & invest in community health/safety solutions, such @BlackVisionsMN& #39;s? if not, you can push them to do so. https://twitter.com/BlackVisionsMN/status/1266358166025011201?s=20">https://twitter.com/BlackVisi...
fourth: does your institution collaborate w/local police, and/or does your library have a safety policy that suggests calling 911 when disruptions occur? if so, NOW is the time to start organizing w/your colleagues to develop alternate safety policies that don& #39;t rely on police.
fifth: if you do want to do some documentation/info organizing work, consider pointing yr attention at police misconduct instead of at street protests. records about police misconduct are often officially shielded from public view & there& #39;s lots of work we can do to change this.
& there& #39;s so much more––but i have to get going to do other stuff now. hoping to be able to get back to writing more about this very soon, please feel free suggest other ideas in the comments.
oh also you can always donate $ to organizations. there are no doubt wonderful orgs in your city (& i recommend donating to them!) but if you want to donate to Minneapolis orgs, here are some aggregated suggestions https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLWGTQIe3967hdc9RSxBq5s6KKZHe-3_mWp5oemd7OA/preview?fbclid=IwAR2FhllPQxGicc48Ew7bWRz5E6NVhe13NNly3_pzZO-dQ6VBFjjlfbbOXBI&pru=AAABcpBOF8M*1Ro0rWJB5tq5pBgbNNnMSQ">https://docs.google.com/document/... or https://twitter.com/captain_maybe/status/1266546594310168578?s=20">https://twitter.com/captain_m...
There’s also this: https://twitter.com/angelnafis/status/1267103094019670016?s=21">https://twitter.com/angelnafi... https://twitter.com/angelnafis/status/1267103094019670016">https://twitter.com/angelnafi...