BackTalk: White Privilege in Library Land

This question crossed my mind after I returned from the CARL (California Academic and Research Libraries) conference, where I was on a panel about diversity for reference service to ethnic minorities. Moderator Tora Williamsen (Touro Univ., CA) kept the panel moving. Among us were Vang Vang (Cal State–Fresno); Renate Chancellor (U.S. Court of Appeals Lib., Pasadena, CA); and Romelia Salinas (Cal State–Los Angeles). They are all practicing librarians: younger than I am, probably more articulate, and female—all to the good. We all believe in both diversity in our profession and diversity in the services we provide to our communities.

At the end of our session, during the question-and-answer period, one academic librarian in the audience said something like, "So, if we just treat everybody nicely, that should do it." She may have had the best intentions, but her statement revealed that the audience still didn't get it. Superficially, the answer could be yes, but that doesn't really get it either.

Her comment inspired me to adapt some of the statements from Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" (Re-Visioning Family Therapy, ed. by M. McGoldrick, Guilford, 1998, p. 147–152). Perhaps these will help get at the heart of why diversity matters.

1. I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the professional company of people of my race most of the time.
2. If I should need to change jobs, I can be pretty sure of working in a position in a library professionally staffed primarily, if not exclusively, with people of my race.
3. I can be pretty sure that my colleagues in the new library will be neutral or pleasant to me.
4. I can examine the majority of materials in my library, print or media, and see people of my race widely represented.
5. When I research my library for the national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
6. I can accept a library position with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.
7. I can be pretty sure that the person in charge will be a person of my race.
8. In my library or professional work I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color, who constitute the world's majority, without feeling any penalty for such oblivion in my culture.
9. I can worry about racism regarding library concerns without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
10. When conducting collection development, I can easily find materials featuring people of my race.
11. In my professional life and in my library activities, I feel welcomed and "normal" in the areas of public life, institutional life, and social life.
12. I can criticize my library or my profession and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as an outsider.
13. I can go home from most professional meetings or conferences feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
14. If my workday, -week, or year is going badly, I need not ask myself of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.
15. I can be sure that my children will find or be given materials in my library that testify to the existence and contributions of their race.
16. I can speak in public to my professional group(s) without putting my race on trial.
17. I am never asked in my profession to speak for all the people of my racial group.