We Stand With April

Digital Preservation is People stands in support of April Hathcock, and all people who have suffered racist, sexist attacks and trauma at American Library Association meetings, and at all professional meetings, conferences, listservs, organizations, and institutions.

At the recent ALA Midwinter meeting in a Council Forum, April Hathcock was verbally attacked in front of many witnesses, none of whom stood up, interrupted, or otherwise intervened in the moment. ALA leadership along with their legal counsel tried to warn April away from speaking openly about her awful experience.

April Hathcock makes four demands from the ALA. We are echoing and amplifying those demands here:

1. I want meaningful consequences enacted against the person who verbally attacked me, including barring his future participation in Council. What good is a Code of Conduct if it’s not enforced?
2. I want ALA to apologize and acknowledge that what happened to me at Forum was unacceptable, not only a violation of the Code of Conduct on the part of my attacker, but also on the part of the members present who allowed it to happen without intervening.
3. I want ALA to apologize and acknowledge that it was inappropriate for their lawyer to contact me the morning after my traumatic experience to attempt to intimidate me into silence (a lot of good that did; this is my longest
4. Finally, I want ALA to set up town hall sessions with Council, the Executive Board, and the general membership to talk about the way white supremacy and racism has permeated our profession and our professional events. Like I said, I am not the only POC to have a traumatic racist experience during this and other conferences.

What happened to April Hathcock is infuriating, and it should not happen to anyone.

• We recognize this incident did not happen in a vacuum.

• We recognize spaces like the American Library Association are not separate from the racist, misogynist, white supremacist society that surrounds us like the air we breathe.

• We recognize that without conscious decision-making we cannot escape our harmful implicit biases and actions.

• We recognize that without enacting concrete and enforceable anti-racist policies that our professional organizations will continue to inflict harm.

• We recognize that calls for civility and professionalism and other attempts at tone-policing and silencing are attempts to reinforce a racist, misogynist status quo that is, at the very least, unwelcoming and at the most, deeply traumatic.

We Stand With April. We stand with everyone who has bravely spoken out. We stand with those of you who cannot speak out about your professional trauma for whatever reason.

The American Library Association must meet April Hathcock’s four demands.

My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.

~ Audre Lorde