I remember the old Atherton library (ie a trailer). The new Atherton library has attracted a lot of "supremacists": but not the white kind (who don't really exist very much, especially not in CA; where whites are actually a minority) . I'm talking about those who think they are superior to white people .
I'm a "white person" (although never thought of myself as such growing up) who has lived all over the world, & been very successful, including numerous academic degrees; & studied several different languages (including Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, & Arabic; oh, I almost forgot, also Aramaic) & yet I've experienced people here who assume I am a "stupid white boy" . It's the most disgusting grotesque racist thing in the world.
And the white staff at the library, as good as they are (the best!) don't know how to handle it. If a white person (esp white male) gets wronged by a non-white person (maybe a micro-aggression, or even a more overt aggression) in their minds it's been so ingrained that the "minorities" (who are actually the majority in CA ) need special treatment and empathy and extra patience etc, or even assume that the white person is to blame for "triggering" them (or if we did unintentionally trigger a person; find a way to educate us as to how sometimes unknowingly we are triggering them so we can try to accommodate without also compromising our intellectual honesty & integrity, & freedom).
San Mateo library needs to start training for the increasing opposite scenarios where the minority person (who is actually a majority in CA, repeated for emphasis) is the aggressor. They need to at least begin entertaining the idea that a "person of color" can and will become an aggressor at times; and how not to re-victimize the white victim by assuming the white person intentionally did something to "trigger" the minority person (who is the majority, repeated for emphasis) and therefore "deserves" the wrath of the person of color. Please start discussing this amongst staff and management before it is too late !
