Ramblings on Librarianship, Technology, and Academia

The best parallel I could come up with in my mind -- and one in which I am absolutely sure I must have been on the guilty side more than once -- is when white, middle-class social justice advocates (teachers, non-profit workers, etc.) say something like, "The problem is that we aren't from the communities we are serving, so we don't know how to communicate with them or really understand their needs!"

And then the responses are totally hostile when social justice advocates who are people of color or come out of the communities being served say, "Hello? Some of us are absolutely from the communities we are serving, why do you spend more time listening to us?"

While I can't think of any particular occasions in which I've been that person, I'll be a monkey's uncle if I haven't done it countless times.

Doesn't make it any more frustrating to be on the receiving end.