“White privilege. White fear. White guilt. Ingrained, systemic racism is being revealed and yet many have been unable or unwilling to talk about it. The conversations need to start now. “
‘Let’s Talk Race’ confronts why white people struggle to talk about race, why we need to own this problem, and how we can learn to do the work ourselves and stop expecting Black people to do it for us.”
This is the self-proclaimed narrative of the book Let’s Talk Race: A Guide for White People. A book recently promoted by the Wilmot Public Library (WPL). Not only was this book advertised as you walked in the door, in the newsletter, and multiple emails, it was the center of a “workshop.”
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This book is the very embodiment of Critical Race Theory, a divisive and Marxist ideology that divides groups of humans by color and assigns characteristics based on that color while insisting, as the book insinuates, that the pigment of your skin can, inherently, make you an oppressor. This is racism in its most basic and pure definition. The definition of racism does not change or vary based on what group is being segregated and marginalized.
In response* to concerns regarding the promotion of such harmful narratives, WPL categorically denied including racism or promoting divisive social narrative. However, the very inclusion of this material into any programming promoted and coordinated by Wilmot Public Library is advancing a social narrative and a racist one.
The current political climate and media narratives may wish to convince us all otherwise. However, swapping one form of racism for another does nothing to bring society together. Rather, it serves to widen the very social, cultural, and racial divides that this “literature” would profess to explore.
I want to add that I love libraries. I love their sense of community, and I love their promotion of the arts and culture. However, racism is not culture and should not be included in programming under the guise of social justice education. We should be able to read a library newsletter without seeing a reflection of controversial narratives (especially Critical Race Theory). We should be able to take our children to the library without having signage and book displays forcing conversations about race, gender, and sex. And, because I believe that experience and the resources offered by libraries to be of importance, I will continue to pursue this issue as it would be a travesty and a great irony for any library to alienate its patrons and admirers by perpetuating a mission of false social inclusion.
Do you know what your local library is promoting? Please take a look and take a stand.
*Please read all the correspondence between this Patriot and Wilmot Public Library in the .pdf files below:
Initial Letter of Complaint
A Personal Response from a Library Board Member
My Reply to the personal response
Library Board final response
“Brianna Marino is a wife, homeschooling mom of 4, homesteader, occasional freelance writer, and an accidental activist. With a librarian for a mother, she grew up amongst bookshelves and, between feeding chickens and children, remains an avid reader and a proud Patriot.”
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