Anti-Racist Lending Library Fund

Hello all! 

I am a high school social studies teacher. The school where I teach (located in downtown Tacoma, WA) does not have a library. This was part of the design of the school nearly 20 years ago. At the time the school was created, the hope was that the students would be able to use the public library downtown as a resource and community partner. Over the years, however, this has become less and less possible as both the school and library systems have continued to lose funding and limited library hours have not lined up with class hours (yet another reason to #defundthepolice).

Here is my ASK.

Friends and family, near and far, please contribute some funds towards helping me create a small lending library of important and relevant anti-racist and culturally responsive books at a variety of reading levels for my students to access in the upcoming 2020-2021 school year.

More about WHY:

At this point it goes without saying but we are living in a completely unprecedented era. More so though, OUR KIDS are living through this INCREDIBLE TIME. And they are not in school.

Yet, they remain hungry to learn, to organize, and to do right by this world. The education system may be upside down and falling apart but I’ve never seen students so authentically and passionately engaged. It has been inspiring. Attending rallies and protests these past weeks ORGANIZED by our kids has been a beautiful piece of hope in otherwise challenging times. As a teacher and a citizen I hope we can harness this passion moving forward.

One of the first steps in this process is engaging and relying on informed and impactful student voice. For our school, this looks like access to books and resources we don’t yet have.

Colleagues and I have tried writing for grants for these “mini library” efforts before (at both small and larger scales) with little outcome. But I’m trying again. As teachers we simply cannot finance the need anymore.

And as we head into another potential school year of “blended or distance” learning books are (literally!) the best solution to solving an access gap. While our district is working hard to make sure that all students have access to a laptop, it does not necessarily mean that all students have consistent access to internet. (We watched this problem unfold this spring during COVID emergency online teaching).

Books and hardcopies of text are one of the best and most equitable ways forward for our kids to learn about REAL history and the present day.

So, that’s it. PLEASE consider donating. ALSO, please send your book recs as well! I’ll be posting updates on my social media accounts in the coming months. Message me if you have questions. ♥️ ♥️♥️