Editor's+Comments,+January+2017

= Stronger Together: Finding Strength in Our New Reality =

Head Librarian, Penn State Abington College
I, like many others can still remember that sickening moment when, very early in the morning of November 9, 2016, I watched as the internet indicated which states had been called for Hillary Clinton and I suddenly realized that there was no way that she could garner enough Electoral College votes to take the election. It was an unreal, disconcerting moment. I could not think. I had to just stop and prayed that somehow it was not true. As we all know it was much too true and Donald Trump has been sworn in as president. Instead of celebrating the first woman president we are in fear of what our country will become; what will happen to anyone who does not conform to the radical standards of this administration and legislative majority? We are in fear of our lives as women. People of color, LBGTQ, immigrants, and others also face not only the lack of what was a start of recognition but the hate and violence promoted and condoned by this campaign. Women fear for their lives as they see organizations like Planned Parenthood under attack and the Affordable Care Act on the chopping block without a replacement. Many fear they will be assaulted or killed simply for who they are. I have gone beyond trying to figure out what happened. I have had moments of deep despair. I lost both of my parents in the past year and a half and I feel that I have lost my country too. I am not the only one.

I have been seeking hope. The kind of hope we felt when we saw the leadership of Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. It has been hard, this is a very dark forest. What I have found is millions of women heading to the March on Washington and other locations around the country, messages from prominent feminists and political leaders that show us to continue fighting. Inspiration from our sisters of color who have fought this all their lives, a need to reach deep inside me and find the fight that I had long ago in the late 1960s and the 1970s Women’s Movement. I have to be present, not only for myself but for all those who are in even more danger. I am a woman, that is scary enough in this age, but I am white and privileged, others: people of color, immigrants, those of different gender or sexual orientation, see even higher stakes. So what we MUST do is embrace solidarity, learn from our history and engage the new administration and legislatures together. We must become activists, each in her own way, and hold those in government accountable. We must counter their cuts with new and innovative ways to help each other, and through it all we have to find ways to support each other. As librarians we are the holders of many keys. We know how to find knowledge even if it is scrubbed from a web site when a president takes office. Let us be there for our sisters and others; support people, encourage them and raise our voices and look for effective tools and actions that will make a difference or give messages that we will not accept hate and discrimination.

This issue of //Women In Libraries// has two articles that can guide us as we counter this new reality. The first introduces material from the Ogontz School for Girls Archives at Penn State Abington College and reminds us from where we have come; how much life for women has changed, yet remained the same, and hearkens back to another March in Washington. The second, written by transgender activist Sophie Kandler, gives important information about how we can better serve our transgender patrons, actions that will send a message that we as librarians support all identities and genders and that the tenets of our profession revolve around freedom of information.

There is no way to go back and change the events of November 8 but as we move forward we can join together to hold Donald Trump and all those who seek to disenfranchise, harm or discourage people in anyway accountable for their actions. Those of us from the 1970s remember the song that said, ‘I am woman, hear me roar” and although there are other important feminist ballads, right now I am listening to my sisters roar at marches across the country and we will all make ourselves heard. We will find new ways to be sure that our rights are protected.

In her speech at the Women’s March on Washington Angela Davis stated that “the next 1,459 days of the Trump administration will be 1,459 days of resistance: Resistance on the ground, resistance in the classrooms, resistance on the job, resistance in our art and in our music” and I would add … in our libraries.