Fruita for Equality is a collaboration to support equality, inclusivity, and diversity through meaningful conversations and action in the community.
February 2021
Allyship event planned for late March
Fruita for Equality plans to host a panel discussion in late March about allyship, which is the process of building supporting relationships with members of marginalized communities.

The discussion will include members of Black Citizens and Friends, as well as members of the Latinx/Chicano and LGBTQ+ communities. To prepare, we would like to collect some questions for our panelists.

Click the link below to access our Google Form and add your own questions:

Details of the panel discussion will be finalized soon, and we will email time, date, and other information to this e-newsletter's subscribers as soon as everything is confirmed. Stay tuned!
Enjoy an insightful interview with
African American activist David Combs
Mesa County Libraries are pleased to present an interview with local activist David Combs, the first such interview in the Mesa County Oral History Project’s new Social Justice Archive (created in partnership with the Black Citizens and Friends organization, Colorado Mesa University Professor Sarah Swedberg, activist Shannon Robinson, and Mr. Combs). The Social Justice Archive will explore the local manifestation of the important Black Lives Matter movement and the lives of people in the movement.

In this premiere installment of Mr. Combs’ multipart story, he talks fondly about growing up in a multiethnic neighborhood in Minneapolis, and about excelling as a student and football player in both high school and college. He then discusses working in the oil fields in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and in Grand Junction just before the oil shale bust, and working with teenagers for social services agencies.

Book/Media Recommendations
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
In my mind, Homegoing is a “new classic.” The book begins with two half-sisters who don’t know about each other. One marries an Englishman and lives a privileged life on the Gold Coast of Africa while the other is sold into slavery in America. The novel follows eight generations of their descendants. Some of the material made me feel uncomfortable in the beginning, which told me that I needed to stick with it.
Initially, I was confused about the characters as there were new characters going back and forth between settings; however, once I got the rhythm and pattern of the generations, I became fully engaged. Coincidentally, I was also reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. I found these two books to complement each other as a powerful fiction/nonfiction pair.

Suggestion and review by Rachael From Mesa County Libraries staff.

Staff Picks and Book Lists are available at mesacountylibraries.org.
Slavery by Another Name
Narrated by Laurence Fishburne, Slavery by Another Name challenges one of Americans' most cherished assumptions: that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The film tells how, even as chattel slavery came to an end in the South after the Civil War, new systems of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force and brutality.
Check out our new digital media streaming service, hoopla®! There are countless movies, ebooks, and audio books available to help you explore different cultures.

Slavery by Another Name is part of hoopla's Bonus Borrows collection. Through the month of February, you can borrow this title without using any of your monthly hoopla Instant Borrows.
Please contact fruitaforequality@gmail.com for more information about Fruita for Equality.
If you haven’t had a chance to answer the questions from our in-person event, Start the Conversation, last September, please do so!
A NOTE TO READERS

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Contact Mesa County Libraries at 970-243-4442 or visit mesacountylibraries.org