Copyright in Pride; Library of Congress, June 25, 2020

Holland Gormley, Library of Congress; Copyright in Pride

"June is Pride Month, and this year is the 50th anniversary of the first pride parade in New York City. What do copyright and pride have in common? Quite a bit, actually. Where would our celebrations, our heroes, and our increasing understanding of advocacy and allyship be without posters and speeches? Literature? Zines? Given that, in honor of pride, the Copyright Office is highlighting just a few of the countless LGBTQ+ writers who have helped pave the way for the celebrations today through their contributions to the copyright record."

Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees; NPR, June 15, 2020

Nina Totenberg , NPR; Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in the workplace protects LGBTQ employees from being fired because of their sexual orientation. 

The vote was 6-3 with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch joining the court's four liberal justices in the majority. 

The opinion is available here."

To my white friends, the time for talk has passed. Now is the time for work.; The Washington Post, June 12, 2020

Brian S. Lowery , The Washington Post; To my white friends, the time for talk has passed. Now is the time for work.

"Maybe you believe you have nothing in common with those people, that good intentions, tolerant upbringings or enlightened parenting will protect against such corruption. Maybe you believe the diverse activism on display nationwide will make things right. But sincere concern and time have not fixed our problems. They are not enough to protect any of us from the influence of the malignant system we all live in...

The question going forward is whether people suppress the desire to deny this problem or distance themselves from it. The forces that created the monsters so many now decry also help to generate white privileges. Talk alone will not dismantle a system that has torn at all Americans — body, mind and soul — since this country’s inception. It’s time to educate friends and family, and demand more of leaders. It is time to be more than a cheerleader or ally and find ways to make permanent change."

What Do I Do if My Employer Does Something I Can’t Abide?; The New York Times, June 12, 2020

Roxane Gay, The New York Times; What Do I Do if My Employer Does Something I Can’t Abide?

You have to calibrate the difference between dumb and unacceptable, what you can live with and what you cannot.

"You have to pick your battles. You have to calibrate the difference between stupid and unacceptable, what you can live with and what you cannot. Because you work for a newspaper that will always publish a range of content, some of which you agree with and some of which you do not, you also have to calibrate the difference between disagreement and disgust.

That’s the tidy answer that doesn’t really force you to make the difficult decision. But now, more than ever, with so much at stake, we have to be willing to make difficult decisions. We have to be willing to make ourselves uncomfortable in service of what’s right. When the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, three of his co-workers stood by and did nothing. When a police officer in Buffalo shoved a 75-year-old man to the ground, dozens of his co-workers walked past that fallen man, bleeding from his ear. They did nothing.

Most situations in which you object to your employer’s conduct won’t be so extreme. But something terrible happened in this country, something that has happened with horrifying frequency. Each time we think maybe this time, something will change. For a few days or even a few weeks, change seems possible — and then we all get comfortable again. We forget about whatever terrible thing once held our attention. A new terrible thing happens. We get outraged. It’s a vicious cycle, but it is one we can break. When your employer does something that violates your ethical code, when it does something that endangers employees or the greater community, you have to ask yourself if you are going to do nothing — or get angry, vent and hold your employer accountable in whatever ways you can. I am, perhaps, simplifying the choices you can make, but maybe doing the right thing is far simpler than we allow ourselves to believe."

Imagine weathering this without Internet. Many are — and Congress should help.; The Washington Post, May 27, 2020

Editorial Board , The Washington Post; Imagine weathering this without Internet. Many are — and Congress should help.

"The digital divide was a problem before the pandemic. Now it’s an existential problem for students who can’t access live-streamed classes, for the ill who can’t virtually consult with a doctor, for isolated individuals who can’t find human connection on their laptop screens. The burden, as ever, disproportionately falls on the low-income, rural and nonwhite. There’s more the government can do today, and there’s an opportunity to lay the groundwork for the days to come."

Merriam-Webster to revise racism definition after woman’s campaign; The Guardian, June 11, 2020

Poppy Noor, The Guardian; Merriam-Webster to revise racism definition after woman’s campaign

Kennedy Mitchum, who asked dictionary to update definition, said racism is ‘prejudice combined with social and institutional power’

"Editors at Merriam-Webster confirmed on Wednesday that they will revise the word’s definition after a campaign by a 22-year-old Drake University graduate, Kennedy Mitchum.

Mitchum wrote to the dictionary asking it to update its definition. She said that people often use the dictionary definition of racism to argue that something is not racist, on the basis that racism requires a personal dislike of someone based on their race to be real.

In an email to Merriam-Webster, Mitchum wrote: “Racism is not only prejudice against a certain race due to the color of a person’s skin, as it states in your dictionary,. It is both prejudice combined with social and institutional power. It is a system of advantage based on skin color.”

The definition, which incorporates the idea that prejudice alone is not racism (rather, racism requires a system of institutional power behind it in order to function) was put forward by the sociologist Patricia Bidol in the 1970s."

Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away; NPR, June 9, 2020

Andrew Limbong, NPR; Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away

"Kevin Nadal, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has spent years researching and writing books on the effects of microaggressions. As these big structural issues play out, he says it's important to confront the small stuff...

So what would you say are three quick bits of advice on having these difficult dialogues?

Do your own work before you even get there. Read blogs and personal essays, understand the lived experiences of historically marginalized groups, watch documentaries and try to think outside of your own perspective.

Set realistic expectations of what you want from these conversations. Also think about, is this actually helping? Is this a conversation that I view as being helpful in any way, shape or form? It's important to acknowledge that no one is going to learn everything in one conversation overnight.

Always be aware of yourself and your mental health when having these conversations. In a world where we all fought for social justice all the time, we would be getting into productive arguments and fights and having protests every day and changing laws, but we don't and we can't because we're also human and we need to rest. 

But again, think about your role and your positionality, because if you're a person with privilege and you could fight a little bit longer, then do it. But if you're a person of a historically marginalized group, we want you to be alive and we want you to be healthy in order to continue this fight toward justice."

[Podcast] Carla Hayden & Lonnie Bunch, Cultural Institutions at Times of Social Unrest; Library of Congress, June 5, 2020

[Podcast] Library of Congress; Carla Hayden & Lonnie Bunch, Cultural Institutions at Times of Social Unrest

"As part of our National Book Festival Presents series for June, "Connecting the World With Words," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch discuss the future of their institutions and how they remain accessible and relevant during a period of global pandemic coupled with nationwide protests against injustice. Bunch is the author of “A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Era of Bush, Obama, and Trump.”"