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<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 26.6667px;"><b>10/29/2020</b></span></font></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold;">ALA Statement on Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping</span><br>
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<p style="color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">CHICAGO - On September 22, the White House issued its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-race-sex-stereotyping/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-race-sex-stereotyping/&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNGvcggPV1VSmepvRdJB8xGJ_sWU7w" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Executive
Order On Combating Race And Sex Stereotyping</span></a>, prohibiting federal employees, contractors, and grant recipients from discussing or considering concepts such as critical race theory and white privilege and discouraging diversity education and training.
This order is based on the patently false and malicious claim that diversity training—which is aimed at fostering a more equitable and just workplace and dismantling systemic racism and sexism—reflects a "Marxist doctrine" that is itself racist and sexist. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">The American Library Association rejects this claim. We are painfully aware that libraries and the profession of librarianship have been—and still are—complicit in systems that oppress, exclude, and harm
Black people, indigenous people, and people of color, and deny equal opportunity to women. We assert that a commitment to learn from the painful and brutal legacies of our history is essential to the fulfillment of our promise as a country of equal rights
and opportunities. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">This executive order is already having a chilling effect, with some colleges and universities suspending all diversity trainings and canceling cultural celebrations for fear of losing federal funds. A hotline
has been established to encourage informants to report those whose words and deeds do not comply with the order or the dictates of its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/M-20-34.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/M-20-34.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNHql3WDjZro_rOA1tJbi5qn2utJ8g" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">accompanying
memoranda</span></a>. We are reminded of another time and another era when the Council of the American Library Association adopted the <a href="http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNF34iOqv2Ilfp0GsOIhwU_2ZWEWGg" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Freedom
to Read</span></a> statement in response to growing concerns about censorship in the McCarthy era. That statement reads in part:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Totalitarian systems attempt to maintain themselves in power by the ruthless suppression of any concept that challenges the established orthodoxy. The power
of a democratic system to adapt to change is vastly strengthened by the freedom of its citizens to choose widely from among conflicting opinions offered freely to them. To stifle every nonconformist idea at birth would mark the end of the democratic process. </span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">It is the longstanding role of libraries to foster intellectual freedom by ensuring access to the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular, or considered
dangerous by those in power. The pursuit of social justice and equity, diversity, and inclusion is equally a core value of the American Library Association. Consequently, the American Library Association opposes the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-race-sex-stereotyping/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-race-sex-stereotyping/&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNGvcggPV1VSmepvRdJB8xGJ_sWU7w" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Executive
Order On Combating Race And Sex Stereotyping</span></a> and all other actions that result in the curtailment of free expression and social justice and pledge to continue to pursue social justice and further our work against systems of oppression. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and
services. For more than 140 years, ALA has been the trusted voice of libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit <a href="http://ala.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ala.org/&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNFgYSQ23AZpmQLm0XBh7kmXVAa8Rw" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">ala.org</span></a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">Tags<u></u><u></u></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);"><a href="http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/2225" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/2225&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNFUEC3rz612AC7T9Qx07qRLh1GzfQ" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Governance</span></a>, <a href="http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/793" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/793&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNGOttFn8P7zhZ16TeDzxEgsfKAd9Q" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Diversity</span></a>, <a href="http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/618" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/618&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNGGwxqE2IVRKJevC12OIpvhnCLahA" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Office
for Intellectual Freedom</span></a>, <a href="http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/608" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/608&source=gmail&ust=1604076685927000&usg=AFQjCNEGh6e2RmPk46s-OB5QOfI1SCU4FQ" style=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 122, 183); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Governance
Office</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p style="color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(73, 73, 73);">Julius C. Jefferson Jr., ALA President</span></p>
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<div dir="auto" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jennifer L. Dean - PhD, MLIS - she, her, hers</span><br>
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<div dir="auto" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">MLA President & ALA Councilor </span></div>
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Dean of Libraries and Instructional Technology<br>
University of Detroit Mercy<br>
deanjl@udmercy.edu<br>
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Sent using <a href="https://aka.ms/ghei36">Outlook for Android</a></div>
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