The spaces we inhabit carry specific histories and contexts, some of which have traditionally been and currently are violent to the people we are centering. Please be mindful of how different people are policed in contrast to your privileges. Expect to have your privileges pointed out, and honor people’s responses to normalized oppression. Always refrain from tone policing; naming oppression pushes back against the status quo and demands better ways of relating, seeing, and thinking.
Before you make any decisions related to #PubWorkers4Justice, ask yourself: who have I run this idea by? Any decisions made without the consultation of BIPOC organizers will be swiftly and unequivocally denounced by our community, regardless of the aims or consequences of those decisions.
It is wholly possible and likely for anti-Blackness to exist in POC spaces. Don’t underestimate how pervasive anti-Blackness is to our conditioning. Always honor the nuance with which an accusation of anti-Blackness might be leveled.
Please treat our community as a safe space and prioritize the safety of your fellow workers. If you are inviting people to participate in our actions and initiatives, be responsible for directing them to our principles and making sure they have all the resources they need to feel empowered. Please don’t forward on any of our materials without accountability.
Best not to invite anyone with hiring/firing power into our spaces unless they are explicitly oriented toward collective action and can be trusted to be allies in our fight against white supremacy and racial capitalism. Make sure that trust is earned.
#PubWorkers4Justice is a BIPOC-centered community of publishing workers with concerns about the present and ideas for the future of book publishing. This is not a corporate diversity & inclusion initiative. This is not a professional development fellowship. This is not an opportunity to supplant current power structures for personal gain. This is a movement for radical change.
Please do not record any #PubWorkers4Justice events. Take lots of notes, but please, no screenshots or audio/video recordings—not even (especially) if your boss has asked you to. Obtain consent before sharing anything posted in any of our forums, or identifying any of our comrades to someone outside of our community. If you are a member of the press at Pubworkers4justice@gmail.com.