A Letter to Our Redding Community
Dear Redding Community,
Like you, we have watched the hundreds of thousands of people across the country coming together in defiance of all forms of racial inequity and racism and reminding us that Black Lives Matter. There are times in this nation’s history when it is no longer acceptable to be silent without being complicit. We are in one of these times. This is especially so for institutions that were founded upon and remain committed to the highest ideals and aspirations of this nation and its people. This Library resolutely and without qualification condemns all forms of racism and any forces that support it. The Mark Twain Library chooses to do everything it can to strengthen the ties that keep the Redding community strong as we as a nation heal and learn.
This Library has an obligation to help inform, educate, and enlighten, and we know we can do better. The Library has always been a safe space for intellectual, educational, social and cultural enrichment. We’ve done this by providing materials, programming and a balanced collection. We plan to further enhance our collection by purchasing more books on understanding the history and solutions being offered by many current as well as seminal works. We are also developing a webpage with curated links to balanced, well informed resources and plan to constantly refresh that page.
We look forward to providing even more opportunities for civil discussion, such as our past series which featured Dr. Charles Dew (see our program on YouTube here.) We want to do our part and pledge to fulfill our mission of providing an open environment for such programs.
We commit that the Library will continue on in the spirit of its tradition. We invite your suggestions and ideas to help us do so.
