Race, Multiculturalism, and Libraries

Okay, okay, I know I talk about school libraries a lot.  Seeing how I am a kindergarten/1^st grade teacher, and my professional goals include becoming a school librarian… it’s on my brain quite a bit as I am doing these readings.  So- bear with me.  However, Pawley’s article “Unequal Legacies” directly references school libraries.  I would agree that there has been a push specifically towards multicultural children’s literature in schools.  The children’s genre is still largely overrun with “whiteness” but each year it seems that increases in multicultural texts make their way into our school library.  The school I teach at is quite diverse.  We have roughly 25% African American students, 25% Hispanic students, 25% Asian students, and 25% white students.  Last year, each classroom teacher was given $250 to spend on creating a classroom library full of books that represented the diversity in our rooms.  This grant was pretty phenomenal.  Students noticed right away that the characters in the books looked more like them, and students returned to the book time and time again.  Now granted, this was a one time deal, but nevertheless, a step in the right direction.  I would be interested to see the ratio of multicultural books in our school library, and then even expand that to the ratio of multicultural books in our local public library branch.

Pawley also makes many interesting remarks concerning the terms “race” and “multiculturalism.”  I liked her quote “I contend that substituting multiculturalism and diversity for race allows the library community to evade confronting racism” (153).  I read that statement and I thought, “Well, that is bold.”  But what I liked best about her assertion is that she continued on discuss ways to change these proposed ways of thinking.  Many authors suggest we need change, but do not offer solutions as to how we can achieve them.    She suggests that ultimately, we need to prioritize race as a matter of urgency and separate multiculturalism and specifically look at issues of race.  Is it possible to make a “race neutral” library?  I personally don’t think it is.  There could be a library that specializes in many different races, but I don’t think there is a way to necessarily eliminate it from library collections and/or patrons.  Perhaps it is the phrase “race neutral” that is perplexing; it seems that we want all races represented and to feel welcome.  Not recognizing race does not eradicate it, it merely ignores a major characteristic of the people and literature that can be found in libraries.