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The Justice Library initially was started to try and meet a very specific need in a specific moment. When the doors opened, public libraries we closed and a gap existed in the access to information and learning that the Justice Library aimed to fill. Since that time, access to materials through the local library system and a wide array of other channels have returned, and the original need has diminished. 

All this said, there has been a decision to remove the Justice Library. Perhaps, sometime in the future, there will be a need to reboot the concept, but this season, this chapter is closing.

Thank you to all who donated books, time, and energy to this concept and idea. Those efforts were not in vain. I am optimistic that the impact this project had no matter how seemingly small helped shift perspectives and create openness even if the full extent may not be fully known for some time.

We’ve got another Justice Library to share!

On Wednesday, April 21, at 4 pm, we will dedicate the second Justice Library in our region at Waterfall Park, 101 Third Street, in Bay City. Like the Justice Library in Saginaw, it will be filled with racial justice titles for children and adults, for community residents to borrow and return.

Come to the event if you can! We’ll have Rae Chesny, a local author, who will lead the audience in interactive story-telling, along with Leopard Print Books, who will have select titles on sale at the event.

Hey everyone—we’re doing another Justice Read!

Based on the success of the Justice Read in Saginaw, the Justice Library (in conjunction with the SVSU Community Writing Center) received funding from GLBR Women in Leadership to create a Justice Library in downtown Bay City AND to do a community-wide read on a fiction book focused on racial justice this spring in Bay County.

Pretty cool.

Now we just need to pick the book. So take a moment and let us know which book you’d like to read—and discuss—by March 20 at https://forms.gle/LNcwTp3Sfvhnwt7u9

Here’s our list:

All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

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The Justice Library is without a doubt a physical space (small as it may be), but more than that, the concept and goal of the library is to connect the community and provide education through the exchange of ideas and experiences related to racism. To that end, we’ve been working  with the The Community Writing Center, Ezekiel Project, Public Libraries of Saginaw, Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum and Leopard Print Books to put together a community read. A community read is where everyone in the community reads the same book and then gets together in groups to discuss.

In this age of COVID-19 what the community read looks like is still a work in progress, but we are moving toward book selection and this is where you can help. We want your help selecting the book we will be reading. Use the link below to cast your vote and look for more information soon!

CLICK HERE TO PICK THE BOOK

Click the links below to learn more about each title!

• The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (2010)
• Black Girl Lost by Donald Goines (1974)
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (2019)
• Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979) AND graphic novel version of Kindred by Damian Duffy, (2017)

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The Justice Library is now active! It’s been a wonderful week for this project.

Ken and Michele generously donated the library. A marking stamp arrived, and there are books ready to be ‘checked out’!

This project would have fallen flat without the many people who got behind the idea. THANK YOU to everyone who contributed ideas, books, encouragement, and wise council. I am hopeful to steward this space well and so it can serve as a place for growing our community. Looking forward to what’s ahead!

You can find the library outside the Saginaw Art Museum located at 1126 N. Michigan Ave. Saginaw, MI 48602

Get some books

Get some place to put the books

Invite people to borrow and return the books

For the record. I have exactly zero experience in library science and I am likely going about this all wrong. What I do have is an idea and belief that the best way to combat inaction is to take action. In the past week or so since America started to come to grips with racism collectively lists of books about racism and the black experience started popping up into my news feed. “Top Ten Books On Race” or “30 Books that will help your kids learn about blacks” (I’m making these up but you get the idea). Along with a cry for people to educate themselves about racism and anti-racism. These are well and good, but what if I don’t have any money to buy books? Well in that case I go to the library

But what if we are in the middle of a pandemic and the library is closed?

Well I’m going start my own library

The more I can do to remove excuses for ignorance (my own included) the better.

This library may fail, but it must be attempted.