Along with our fellow caucuses in MLA, the MLA LGBTQIA+ Caucus affirms the strength and resilience of our Black members, colleagues, and allies in MLA, the African American Medical Librarians Alliance (AAMLA) Caucus, and the country at large. We stand with AAMLA and echo AAMLA’s statement calling out institutional oppression, the perpetual cycle of violence affecting African Americans, and the racist, unjust legal system in this country, which targets and shames Black individuals across the United States.
We encourage all MLA members to turn toward AAMLA’s statement, read it in full, and commit these words to memory. We encourage collective action and call for an end to the epidemic of violence against Black trans and queer individuals, who experience harm at a higher and more pronounced rate, and whose voices, along with other queer persons of color, have all too often been obscured and minimized in order to further a white queer agenda. In this month of Pride, we hold firm our belief that queer communities must push for true inclusion and equity for all Black Americans before we can truly realize a future determined by queer justice.
i can’t stand your ground. i’m sick of calling your recklessness the law. each night, i count my brothers. & in the morning, when some do not survive to be counted, i count the holes they leave. i reach for black folks & touch only air. —Danez Smith
Mary Catherine Lockmiller, AHIP, Chair