New Openings in New Communities
This past Sunday, February 21, marked a new first for us here at RUAR. We opened our first Little Free Antiracist Library on the San Francisco Peninsula. As both our steward and funding partner, the Shah family has moved us with their generosity and passion for bringing this Little Free Antiracist Library to Burlingame.
The very ethos of our work is inspired by Dr. Rudine Bishop and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche and their concept of mirrors and windows. To be able to provide both of those to this community is a gift.
At our opening ribbon-cutting ceremony, steward Pooja Shah shared personal and poignant words as to why this initiative was so important to her family. In her own words, Pooja said:
“For me, this library is deeply personal. I am a first-generation American. I am lucky enough to have grown up in a fairly homogenous place and did not have to experience some of the marginalization and systems of oppression that a lot of our peers had to, but I do know what it feels like to not have books to read as a child that represent my culture, my race, my ethnicity. And so I feel really inspired and hopeful that the next generation of children, many of whom are mixed race or children of first-generation immigrants can not only learn, but understand and be part of the conversation to change the way we treat all people going forward.”
Our First, But Not Last Land Acknowledgement
In addition to establishing our first library in Burlingame, we also initiated a new practice that we’ve put in place for every new Library opening moving forward -- land acknowledgments.
For every new Library we open, we will publicly acknowledge the original owners and inhabitants of the land, many of which live there to this day. Our Burlingame Land Acknowledgement was read by Kaya Shah, age 7. She did an incredible job reading the land acknowledgment that we have included below. In addition, she shared a call to action for others to read the new children’s book we have added to our libraries - We are Water Protectors. For more information on why and how Land Acknowledgements are impactful, see https://usdac.us/nativeland.
Land Acknowledgement for the Little Free Antiracist Library on Walnut Ave in Burlingame, as read by Kaya Shah:
“I want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the following tribes: Ramaytush, Ohlone, and Muwekma. We appreciate them for caring for this land so that we can be here today. We commit to learning about Indigenous peoples in the United States, their lands and the systems that have oppressed them. To continue our learning, we are adding the book “We are Water Protectors” to our Little Library today and recommend that families read this with their children.”
The Artist and Story Behind the Artwork
Our partner and extremely talented friend Netsanet Tesfay, an Ethiopian-born artist living in Walnut Creek, was responsible for transforming this library into a moving work of art. Her creation was inspired by her reading of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, which is one of the books within our curated collection of antiracist books and lives right inside the very library she painted.
On the outside, the library includes unapologetically proud Black imagery, black and brown borders and roof, and a yellow door that not only mirrors the Shah family home’s front door but also serves as a nod to poet Amanda Gorman’s coat at this year’s historic inauguration when she delivered her inspiring poem. Finally, the interior is adorned with American flag-inspired fabric, which serves as a powerful reminder that Black history is American history. This is now the third library that Net has painted for Rise Up Against Racism and her ability to create moving pieces that make an undeniable statement in support of antiracist work continues to inspire us, our steward families, and the communities where her art lives.
“The only way to undo racism is to constantly identify and describe it – and then dismantle it. The attempt to turn this usefully descriptive term into an almost unusable slur is, of course, designed to do the opposite: to freeze us into inaction.”
We are thrilled to open this new Little Free Antiracist Library in the community of Burlingame while continuing our mission of providing mirrors and windows to children and adults. Our intentionally named libraries continue to welcome families to learn, read and engage in conversation about race and racism at every level.
We’re uplifted by the next generation of communities who are unfrozen from action and leveraging our Little Free Antiracist Libraries to spark conversation to, in turn, generate real change.
