Building, Understanding, Informing, Leading, and Developing
Welcome
PVLD is committed to creating a racially equitable, diverse and inclusive environment for the Peninsula and PVLD staff. We invite you to be a part of our work by exploring our read, watch, and listen lists and invite you to join us in taking action in our community. Thank you to those BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folx in this space and those allies creating community around action.
Want more? Attend an event, take our 21-day racial equity challenge, or visit our "Celebrate Our Stories" page for more recommendations on how to celebrate cultural heritage months.
B.U.I.L.D. Team
PVLD's B.U.I.L.D. Team fosters the District's shared values of service, public stewardship, and education to create an inclusive environment for staff and the community. We do this through support, assessment, and facilitation to continue to ensure equity is built into all parts of PVLD. The B.U.I.L.D. team focuses on many aspects of equity and diversity including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and religion.
Cultivating Racial Equity and Inclusion in Libraries (CREI)
The Palos Verdes Library District is proud to be a part of the Cultivating Racial Equity and Inclusion in Libraries (CREI) 2019-2020 Cohort, a grant funded initiative from the California State Library. The public library cohort participated in an immersive process, designed specifically for government organizations. CREI provided coordinated training to advance the work of PVLD and its community through a race and equity lens. For each jurisdiction, the work focused on skills building, support, collegial mentorship, and the development of a tailored Vision Statement and a Racial Equity Action Plan with strategies for implementation. In addition, the grant also provided for the establishment of a statewide network to continue and advance the work so that all California libraries may benefit from resources developed focused on race, equity and inclusion, in a library context. The results from CREI at PVLD are ongoing by the BUILD Team and PVLD was invited to participate in Year 2 of this grant from 2021-2022.
The below lists for Adults, Teens, and Kids have been curated by PVLD librarians as a starting point for exploring racial equity, race, and antiracist work. There are many methods and ways to approach racial equity and we will continue to update our lists as new materials are released.
Adults
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The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (Book)
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Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper (Book, Hoopla Audio Book)
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White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Book)
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How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones (Book)
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How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America by Ibram X. Kendi (Book)
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So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Book)
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The Color of Law : A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (Book)
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Caste: The origins of our discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (Book, Large Print Book, eBook, Audiobook on CD, eAudiobook)
For more titles, click here
Watch
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13th (2016) (Netflix via Youtube)
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Fruitvale Station (2014) (DVD)
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Just Mercy (2019) (DVD, stream for free from Warner Bros.)
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The Hate U Give (2018) (DVD)
- Whose Streets? (2017) (Hoopla, Kanopy)
For more DVD titles, click here
For more Kanopy titles on social and systemic injustice, click here
Teens
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Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds (Book, eBook, eAudiobook, stream on Spotify)
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Colorblind: A Story of Racism by Jonathan Harris (Book)
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson (Book)
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How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (Book)
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Dear Martin by Nic Stone (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina (Book)
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Monster by Walter Dean Myers (Book, eAudiobook)
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All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely (Book)
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Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles (Book)
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Black Boy/White School by Brian F. Walker (Book)
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
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X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz (Book)
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Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals (Book)
Kids
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Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester (Book)
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The Day you Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (Book)
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Sit-in : How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Book)
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Malcolm Little : The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz (Book)
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Not My Idea : A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham (Book, Hoopla eBook)
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Gordon Parks : how the photographer captured black and white America by Carole Boston Weatherford (Book, Hoopla eBook)
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Voice of freedom : Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford (Book, Hoopla Movie with Read Along, Hoopla eAudiobook)
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The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander (Book)
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A good kind of trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée (Hoopla eBook, Hoopla eAudiobook)
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The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (Book, eBook, eAudiobook, Hoopla eAudiobook)
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Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Book)
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Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Book, CD Audiobook, eBook, eAudiobook)
For more titles, click here
The below podcasts, TedTalks, and websites have been curated by PVLD librarians as a starting point for exploring racial equity, race, and antiracist work with adults. There are many methods and ways to approach racial equity and we will continue to update our lists as new materials are released and community interest and questions inspire.
Podcasts
1619, an audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling from the New York Times.
Code Sw!tch, an audio series from a multi-racial, multi-generational team of NPR journalists who cover race and identity.
Floodlines, from The Atlantic, an audio documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Floodlines is told from the perspective of four New Orleanians still living with the consequences of governmental neglect.
Intersectionality Matters!, hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leading critical race theorist who coined the term "intersectionality," this podcast brings the academic term to life.
Life Kit: How White Parents Can Talk To Their Kids About Race (Episode of Life Kit podcast), NPR's Michel Martin talks with Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, about how to talk with white kids about racially charged events — and how to keep the conversation going.
Ted Talks
Implicit Bias -- How it Affects Us and How We Push Through by Melanie Funchess (16:12)
How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly to Them by Vernā Myers (17:49)
How to Recognize Your White Privilege - and Use it to Fight Ineqality by Peggy McIntosh (18:26)
The Path to Ending Systemic Racism in the U.S. - a panel with Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, Rashad Robinson, Dr. Bernice King and Anthony D. Romero (1:06:23)
We Need to Talk About an Injustice by Bryan Stevenson (23:26)
Compilation of Ted Talks about race
Websites
"#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."
"Racial Equity Tools is designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity. This site offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large." A common starting point for people exploring race, privilege, and power for the first time include Peggy McIntosh's article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Talking About Race: Being Antiracist
The National Museum of African American History & Culture provides definitions, resources, and ways to talk about race and be antiracist.
United Nations: Let’s Fight Racism!
Tools, resources, and tips to help people fight racism across the globe.
10 Things You Can Do To Be an Ally by the YWCA: PDF Tip Sheet with 10 concrete actions you can take to be an ally.
In order to create an inclusive environment which fosters inspiration and learning and to share the unique history of the Peninsula and it’s residents, the Palos Verdes Library District is dedicating itself to providing ongoing cultural experiences through small and large scale programs and celebrations. PVLD hopes that this initiative will create bridges between cultures in our community, ensure all members of our diverse community feel welcome and appreciated, and provide enriching and engaging experiences for all. We hope you celebrate not only during these months, but all year long.
Each celebration page below includes information about the history of our stories and cultures on the Peninsula, booklists, and more. Please note that we are always in the process of updating these pages so check back often for more and new recommendations.
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There are many actions you can take to bring awareness to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Below are just a few examples curated by PVLD's B.U.I.L.D. Team. We encourage you to share the ways you’re working for these principles by tagging PVLD's social media handles, commenting on our posts, or by filling out our "Contact Us" form on the PVLD homepage. For more information on BUILD, visit the first tab on the left, B.U.I.L.D.
Read, Watch, Listen, & Learn
DEI work begins with you and a willingness to grow, learn, and share your knowledge with others. We’ve put together a few lists of resources to help you get started in this work, but know that there’s a lot more out there. If you've already started this work and have suggestions, please let us know! Our lists on the left focus on race and social justice, which are just two components of DEI work. Our Celebrate Pages list even more resources covering ethnicity, sexuality, and religion. All of these resources are always growing and evolving, just like DEI work.
Amplify Voices
Do you know of great work being done by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) colleagues, friends, or people you follow online? Share and promote their work far and wide, making sure you give credit where it’s due.
Explore Our Community’s History
Systemic racism intentionally and unintentionally informed many of the ways our society nationwide and locally has developed. We'll have a timeline available soon on this page showing a few examples of how our community was shaped by institutionalized racism and how it has changed to become more equal and equitable. We also invite you to think of ways you can help make change. Want more? Our Local History Center can help.
Share your story with YSPS
Our community is an increasingly diverse one, and we invite you to share your story with our Local History Center. Find out more on how to participate with this letter from our archivist and local history librarian, Monique Sugimoto.
Volunteer your time
Below are just a few local groups that may welcome an extra hand in their fight for social justice and racial equity. There’s a lot more out there, including Facebook and Meetup groups. This is just to get you started.
Black Heritage Association of Palos Verdes
City of Lights Gateway Foundation
Palos Verdes Chapter of the Links, Inc.
Rolling Hills/Palos Verdes Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
South Los Angeles Chapter of Jack and Jill American, Inc.
L.A. Works: This list from the non-profit volunteer action center includes Black-led nonprofits and businesses in the greater Los Angeles area.
Speak Out and Speak Up
Conversations about racist things you see in society are difficult to have but are necessary for change. We have to be able to speak out and name the inequities to dismantle them. To get you started, check out the “Questioning Frame of Mind” below from the National Museum of African American Culture and History. You may also want to check out the Racial Equity Tools website for more tips and definitions of terms used when discussing race.
A commitment to being antiracist manifests in our choices. When we encounter interpersonal racism, whether obvious or covert, there are ways to respond and interrupt it. Asking questions is a powerful tool to seek clarity or offer a new perspective. Below are some suggestions to use in conversations when racist behavior occurs:
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Seek clarity: “Tell me more about __________.”
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Offer an alternative perspective: “Have you ever considered __________.”
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Speak your truth: “I don’t see it the way you do. I see it as __________.”
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Find common ground: “We don’t agree on __________ but we can agree on __________.”
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Give yourself the time and space you need: “Could we revisit the conversation about __________ tomorrow.”
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Set boundaries. “Please do not say __________ again to me or around me.
Vote
Inequity can only change by changing the systems upholding it. Make sure if you’re 18 or older you are registered to vote and vote for those who will commit to and be accountable for making the change you want to see. Teens ages 16 and up can pre-register to vote. Register today: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/
Don’t Stop!
Taking action is work that many disenfranchised communities and allies have been doing for generations. For those just joining and learning about ways to stop inequity, this work is the first step on a long journey towards joining those generations. No matter which end of the spectrum you're on, we're happy to have you here. This work won’t end anytime soon. Reading, thinking, and discussing can help point you in the right direction on the road to changing our world.
Harmful Language Statement
PVLD is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment where everyone is seen, heard, and celebrated. We acknowledge that harmful and outdated language or terminology exists in our material's catalog records, however much we strive to use appropriate, inclusive, and respectful language today. For a variety of reasons, users may encounter outdated, offensive or harmful language, (for example, dead names, language that is racist, sexist, or homophobic), in our collection records and descriptions.
Harmful or offensive language may appear for the following reasons:
- Some derogatory terms, once considered acceptable and used to describe historically oppressed people, have been reclaimed and used by authors and creators from those communities.
- Other terms historically used by a community to describe themselves have fallen out of use or out of favor.
- Library of Congress Subject Headings, which enable standardized searching and access across our holdings, retain certain problematic terms, and the process of reviewing and approving those headings is extensive and often involves legislative action, which may take months or years to resolve.
We are dedicated to critically examining our cataloging and descriptive practices and are committed to updating language that is in our control to edit. We encourage users to provide feedback to help us tackle this issue. We recognize that terminology evolves over time and that efforts to create respectful and inclusive records and descriptions must be ongoing. If you encounter any language in our catalog that you consider to be harmful or offensive to yourself or others, please use the contact form to report it and suggest alternative language. This will help us identify descriptions that may require revision. Please note that reporting catalog language associated with an item does not guarantee that it will be taken down or edited. If you provide an email address in your report, a collection manager may follow up about actions taken. In addition, this form is for catalog records only and does not refer to books or other items in the collection.