Talking about race: How Boulder and CU libraries are collaborating to help community members engage in meaningful conversations and action
Talking about race, racism and social justice can be hard, especially when you don’t know how or where to begin. Throughout history and especially throughout 2020, racial and social justice issues have increasingly become the forefront of public discussion, and the Boulder Public Library and University Libraries of CU Boulder aim to meaningfully contribute to the conversation. For the first time, the libraries are collaborating on their reading programs– “One Book, One Boulder” of the Boulder Public Library and “Boulder One Read” of University Libraries– centered around the book: “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo.
“The One Read program is an opportunity for, really for libraries to encourage a community to share an experience together by reading the same book and provide opportunities for discussion,” said Leslie Reynolds, the senior associate dean of libraries at CU Boulder. “And this year we partnered with the Boulder Public Library to create a One Read that encompasses not just campus, but also the entire Boulder community with ‘So You Want to Talk About Race.’”
Published in 2018, Oluo’s book offers insight for readers, regardless of their race or level of knowledge, on how to have conversations about race at an institutional, interpersonal and individual level.
“The author talks– Oluo talks– about [how] many of us were not raised with the language to talk about race or to talk about racism. And, you know, it never really moves past that initial like, ‘We don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings and we want to be good people, so just think about your intention and don’t hurt other people’s feelings and then you’re going to be fine,’” said Amanda Rybin Koob, the literature and humanities librarian at CU Boulder. “But really, what we need to be doing is thinking about the bigger structural issues and then figuring out how to move past just reading and learning and talking about it towards action.”
One of the opportunities that allowed for a deeper engagement with the book was the Boulder Public Library’s online event on October 29, titled “The Liberation Soundtrack: ‘So You Want to Talk About Race’ with CU Boulder.” Representing the collaboration between the university and the Boulder community, the event was hosted by CU students Audrea Fryar, Karia White and Shawn Trenell O’Neal and focused on offering both artistic and dialogue-based interactions.
“[…] For myself, what it is, is just a combination of platforms of resistance and survival activist strategies that folk of African descent have been using and have been pulling from for centuries as a way to navigate through a white supremacist society,” said Trenell O’Neal, a Ph.D. student in Africana studies at CU Boulder. “[…] Because when you think about oppressed and subjugated, marginalized communities, sound and music and performance is one of the only platforms that we’ve been able to take, to hold on to, in order to disseminate our narratives, to tell our stories, to tell our truths and to tell the true evaluations of society.”
Trenell O’Neal found the collaboration with the Boulder Public Library to be a smooth process and enjoyed working with Fryar and White to develop the event, each bringing their own knowledge, expertise and experiences to the table.
“I think folks such as us, we move rapidly through the processing of how something needs to be presented, particularly with context that is embodied. I mean, we live this you know, this isn’t something where we just pick this book and some subject to speak of,” said Trenell O’Neal. “This is our lives. We live this day to day, second by second. Every time we get up in the morning, every time I step out of the house, I have to deal with race.”
“I remember the first time I was called the N-word. I remember the first time I was pulled over by the police and four, five squad cars showed up for no reason. I remember all of that. I mean, that just happened to me a few years ago again. I don’t–to the point now where I don’t even drive my car anymore in the evening […] those are the types of choices that people like me have to make,” continued Trenell O’Neal, explaining his connection to the stories and narratives shared in Oluo’s book.
The event, now available on YouTube, began with a breathing exercise before transitioning to sessions of spoken poetry with music, candid discussions about race, racism, social justice and policing as they relate to Oluo’s book and then concluding with a question and answer session. While the stories shared in Oluo’s book resonated with these students, for other individuals, it’s something they are just beginning to understand.
“I’m on my learning journey right now,” said Reynolds. “I am a cis[gender] white woman in this world, and I am, I think, really coming to grips now with what privilege that brings to me in this world and things that I have taken for granted because I can, versus my colleagues that are from a different background that may not have had the same opportunities.”
“And so this is– it’s really important and it’s really difficult because it makes us uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to recognize the privilege you have and recognize it as a privilege,” continued Reynolds.
The Boulder Public Library and University Libraries will offer online events throughout November, such as the Boulder Public Library’s live author talk event on November 5 with Ijeoma Oluo and the University Libraries’ “Campus One Read Discussion” event on November 10 as part of the 2020 Fall Diversity & Inclusion Summit. The Boulder Public Library and the Boulder Library Foundation, a nonprofit that helps fund the Boulder Public Library, also offer a virtual discussion guide that encourages anti-racist behavior and action.
Jaime Kopke, the program, events and outreach manager of Boulder Public Library, hopes that through the library programs and discussions, every person is invited to the conversation.
“One of the reasons we wanted to choose ‘So You Want To Talk About Race’ by Ijeoma Oluo is because just the way it’s written is so accessible and she just really has a great way of kind of breaking down topics and letting people come into the conversation at whatever level they’re at,” said Kopke, elaborating that the book offers insight into the personal work people should be doing.
“As a library, we want this program to be for everybody, and so we really had to imagine programs that would help touch on those points,” Kopke continued. “And so that a family coming together at the dinner table, everybody may be able to have their own access point to talking about this topic.”
For more information on how to participate, click this link to learn about upcoming Boulder One Read programs and click this link to learn more about upcoming One Book, One Boulder programs. If you would like to access the book “So You Want To Talk About Race,” you can check out the eBook from CU Boulder’s Libraries or access the eAudiobook or print copy from Boulder Public Library.
