Last month, I celebrated my 15-year reunion as a graduate of Agnes Scott College, a small, liberal arts, women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia. It was wonderful to spend time with lifelong friends, visit old haunts, and see how the campus has evolved and changed. I was particularly heartened to see how intentional about and dedicated to inclusion the college has become: what was once a very predominantly white institution really isn’t any longer. My heart leapt with joy to see all the young faces of color on campus, learning, growing, becoming the badass women leaders of tomorrow. My college days may have been a foreshadowing of what it would be like to join the library profession–white women everywhere–but that’s not the case for today’s Scotties. And I love it.

The highlight of my trip, however, was being awarded the 2019 Agnes Scott Alumna Award for Outstanding Young Alumna. I was so humbled and honored to be nominated by fellow Scottie librarians and archivists Sofia Becerra-Licha, Lindsay Cronk, Ann Lindell, and Jennifer Townes and to be chosen by the Alumnae Board for the award.

At the awards ceremony, we were asked to give a speech. Below is the text and a video of my speech where I shared some of what motivates me to do the social justice work that I do:

I often get asked why I insist on doing social justice work.

Why I insist on making it a central part of what I do, professionally and personally, how I live, how I navigate the world.

April, why DO you do this work?

Because I am living a life beyond my ancestors’ wildest imaginings, from the warm, sun-kissed plains of the kingdom, to the dehumanizing trauma of the Middle Passage and the Trail of Tears, to the sun-scorched cotton fields of plantation land that once stood where we sit and celebrate now, from the marches against Jim Crow to the fight for Black power and Black excellence.

That is why I do this work.

Because my Daddy, who taught me the importance of faith, duty, and honor, gave 30+ years of his life serving a country that has militarized its police forces and continues to murder innocent Black lives day after day.

That is why I do this work.

Because my Mama, who has committed her life to education, spent part of her schooling in segregation and another part fighting for an equal chance despite the color of her skin, raising my siblings and me to work hard, shine bright, and believe in ourselves no matter how others will inevitably prejudge us.

That is why I do this work.

Because my sister and brother, a doctor and computer scientist, work at the very top of their fields, yet still have to combat racism, sexism, and prejudice of all kinds on a daily basis.

That is why I do this work.

Because I work in a profession that is 87% white and still has a long way to go to truly represent intellectual freedom for all.

That is why I do this work.

Because my queer and trans and nonbinary friends and family have the right to live and love and learn and grow with dignity without fearing for their physical or emotional safety.

That is why I do this work.

Because we have the honor of meeting on land that is the ancestral home of the Muscogee Creek nation, lands that were ripped away from a people whose commitment to culture, community, and the protection of the land persists even in the face of ongoing settler colonialism.

That is why I do this work.

Because the children, regardless of nationality, should never be locked in cages but deserve instead to live in a world where they are free to be who they are, how they are, why they are, fully comfortable and present in their own skin, regardless of the labels others may want to put on them.

That is why I do this work.

Because we live in a country that has elected a leader who has no qualms spewing racist, sexist, ableist, Islam-hating, immigrant-hating, queer- and trans-hating bigotry each and every day and that is beyond unacceptable.

That is why I do this work.

Because I have been blessed beyond imagining with a loving family, wonderful friends, and outstanding opportunities.

That is why I do this work.

Because my alma mater, an institution I love, a place that nurtured for four years of my life, educated me “to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of my times.”

That is why I do this work.

Because I am living in this time, in this place, and I owe it to all the ones who have come before me, and all those coming after me.

That is why I do this work.

And that is why I will continue doing this work.

Thank you so much for this award. Let’s keep doing the work together.

 

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