HOMES+ C O M M U N I T Y
little
Diverse lending libraries
Dinah Murdoch Local Teacher & Diversity Advocate
Social media is better known for breeding inertia than inspiration, but it was while scrolling lazily through my Instagram feed that I first heard of Sarah Kamya. Kamya, a New York City school counsellor, was back home at her parents’ house in Arlington, Massachusetts when the world shut down last spring. Like many of us, she walked a lot on those quiet days. Passing her neighborhood Little Free Library often, she noticed that the titles in it were lacking in diversity. Same white authors, same old titles. Kamya had a classic lightbulb moment -- what if we could fill Little Free Libraries with books by Black authors? To share Black stories, inspire Black children and give voice to Black experiences? She wasted no time getting organized. Within a few months, she’d raised thousands of dollars, collected hundreds of new books, and filled not only the Little Free Libraries in her neighbourhood, but in all 50 states. Watching Sarah’s Little Free Diverse Libraries project unfold, I thought: Well, we could do that here! In my Midtown neighborhood, there are close to a dozen Little Free Libraries within a few blocks of my house, and many more in Kitchener-Waterloo beyond. It 34
felt like an actionable project I could sink my teeth into -- raising some money, buying some books, and just getting to work. It also felt right. My family and I marched in Downtown Kitchener’s Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death last June, and I had been reading and listening to educate myself to know more and do better. But bringing Little Free Diverse Libraries to KW felt like a way to take action, to use my privilege to amplify the voices and centre the experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who are frequently not heard or appreciated. As an early literacy teacher at a beautifully diverse local elementary school, my heart also leapt at the idea that my students might find a book in a Little Free Library and think, “Hey, that kid looks like me!” I knew the members of this wonderful community would step up, and they have. Some folks have donated money -- about $2,700 to date, just from individuals. Cash has been spent at independent
