The 20 Nashville Library branches let hundreds of groups host meetings within their walls each year.
Library staff say they have three core principles.
“Open to everyone, everything is free and everyone is welcome,” said library spokesperson Andrea Fanta.
The local Black Lives Matter group was one of the groups using the library, meeting weekly at the North Branch, according to members.
Until this week that changed.
“We were made aware about another patron's concern about this particular meeting,” Fanta said.
“It basically said our reservation would be canceled because we did not comply with their policy,” said Black Lives Matter organizer Rhiana Anthony, referring to an email from the library.
The complaint was that the group restricts white people from the meetings. The flyer they have posted on Facebook states the meetings are open to black and non-black people of color only.
BLM General Body Meeting location has changed. See you tomorrow!
Posted by Black Lives Matter Nashville on Friday, February 19, 2016
“It gives us a little bit of safety to really just discuss and get down to things that we feel like are priorities in our community,” Anthony said, when asked why white people who care about civil rights would not be included.
The flyer also blames “white supremacy in local government” for the meeting changing locations from the library to a local church.
But the library is taxpayer funded, and staff say that dictates their long-time inclusion policy.
“To have the meeting in our library space they would have to meet those two requirements: open to the general public and open to news media,” Fanta said. She says when people request meeting rooms the library doesn’t check up on them unless there’s some sort of complaint.
Anthony says she doesn’t blame the library.
“We were frustrated and not necessarily frustrated with the library,” she said, explaining that the group is more frustrated by the online accusations of racism that have surfaced in light of the story.
Anthony says that's not what their meetings are about.
“If you’re not a member of this organization you wouldn't just show up,” she said, “that's kind of how I think of it, it’s more of an affinity group dynamic.”
The Nashville Library’s Main Branch on Church St. has a Civil Rights Room where staff host racial sensitivity training for new recruits with Metro Police and TBI. Library staff say Black Lives Matter is welcome back any time they feel comfortable following the library’s policy.
