{
"type": "rich",
"version": "1.0",
"provider_name": "Action Network",
"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
"html": "",
"author_name": "Concerned Archivists Alliance",
"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/users/concerned-archivists-alliance/profile",
"title": "A Statement to the Archival Community",
"thumbnail_url": "https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg",
"description": "January 15, 2017 Colleagues: We are a diverse group of archivists who are deeply concerned with the current state of American politics based on the election of Donald Trump and the subsequent legitimization of his advisers’ and surrogates’ damaging views and policies. The Core Values and Code of Ethics established by the Society of American Archivists note that “underlying all the professional activities of archivists is their responsibility to a variety of groups in society and to the public good… the archival record is part of the cultural heritage of all members of society.” The Core Values also note that, by “documenting institutional functions, activities and decision-making, archivists provide an important means of ensuring accountability.” As professionals committed to these values and as custodians of society’s historical records, we have a responsibility to ensure that what we do, and how we do it, benefits society as a whole, while holding public officials and agencies accountable. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to speak out when the public good is jeopardized by political action. As information professionals, paraprofessionals, and information science students, we are devoted to equitable access to information, committed to the right of citizens to know what their government is doing in their name, and dedicated to the idea that a democratic society cannot thrive in an atmosphere of secrecy and oppression. Therefore, we stand wholeheartedly in opposition to any attempt by the incoming administration to violate these concepts. President-elect Donald Trump has made a long series of statements and proposed policies at odds with our Constitution, our history, our system of law, and our international human rights obligations, and which are a direct affront and threat to justice everywhere. With specific respect to record-keeping functions, he has done the following: He has pledged to introduce a discriminatory ban from Muslim-majority countries and has publicly advocated for a large-scale registry targeting Muslims in the United States, regardless of citizenship status and without taking into account that criminals are routinely tracked elsewhere as part of the existing justice system. Such a registry, which would single people out based merely on religious affiliation or national origin, would violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments as well as our long tradition of robust defense of civil rights and liberties. Historically, data collection has been used as a tool to support racist, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic policies. In light of this history, we are alarmed by and opposed to any proposals advocating for data collection as a tool of discrimination and persecution. He has been revealed to have systematically destroyed thousands of emails, other digital records, and paper records, in the course of government investigations of his businesses and in defiance of the law. We have grave concerns that, as president, this pattern of behavior will put the documentary record of his administration at risk and will allow him, his staff and supporters, to avoid the accountability that federal records laws are designed to ensure. He has lied repeatedly, in the course of his campaign and his transition. He has continued to avow these lies even when confronted with documentary proof. He has made harmful statements – for example, about millions of fraudulent Democratic votes in the recent presidential election, about the election being “rigged,” or that the recent CIA revelations about Russian influence over the election are really a Democratic plot -- that demonstrate disdain for supportable truth as proven in records. As archivists, we are dedicated to the preservation of records precisely because they can be used not only to determine but also support evidence-based, nonpartisan conclusions. He has also demonstrated contempt for documentary evidence once actually presented to him, i.e. in denying CIA conclusions about Russian hacking, or in continuing to foster the discredited Obama “birther” myth. We are facing an administration led by people who do not feel bound to accept historical realities as documented in available evidence, even when that evidence is readily available and/or documents the very recent past. This troubling idea, that “there are no such things as facts” and that everything is a matter of opinion, goes against the fundamental tenets of the archival and historical professions. This concern for his inherent distrust of documentary evidence is shared by many of our colleagues and by members of the scientific community, who are working to secure and preserve data related to climate change, which they fear the incoming administration will seek to suppress or destroy. As archivists and information professionals, paraprofessionals, and students we serve communities who want and need access not only to information but also to the richness of the American and international cultural record. We, therefore, have an obligation to protect our shared cultural heritage from abuse, misuse, and censorship or destruction. Based on this commitment and professional obligation, we are obliged to speak out, in the name of protecting our culture, our history, and the public good. Therefore We will not be intimidated, but will continue to provide equitable access to information. We will not be prejudiced, but will continue to serve all our communities to the fullest extent of our abilities. We will remain committed to protecting the fundamental right of people to know what their government is doing and why. We will not act out of fear of elements of the incoming administration, but will continue to preserve the documentary record that holds our leaders accountable to law and justice. Specifically, We adamantly oppose the proposal by Trump adviser Kris Kobach to reinstate the failed National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) or a similar system. From 2002 until its suspension in 2011, NSEERS required registration of foreign nationals -nearly all Middle Eastern and Muslim-- from certain countries as they entered the United States, as well as in-person registration of non-citizens from certain countries living in the United States. NSEERS was not only completely ineffective as a security measure, but was a blatant example of racial and religious profiling. While the Department of Homeland Security, based on an order by President Obama, deleted the published rules for the National Security Entry-Exit Registration in December 2016, we remain concerned that a similar system may be re-established. We are also concerned that the Trump administration will continue the practice to use large-scale data collection -- including data collected under the DACA program--as a tool to enforce deportations. We stand with our colleagues and alongside members of the scientific community that are working to secure and preserve data related to climate change, which they fear the incoming administration will seek to suppress or destroy. We stand in support of those donors who are increasingly fearful that materials they submit might be used later by government agencies to profile and persecute individuals and organizations, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation did during the COINTELPRO programs between 1956 and 1972. We support the continuation of the Open Government Initiative begun under President Obama, designed to encourage greater transparency in the federal government by giving Americans wider access to the decisions that their government makes and helping them to help ensure government accountability. We encourage the immediate development of a professional support structure for colleagues who are working at federal agencies that may be under threat of being restructured or abolished, as well as archivists working with organizations under distress, such as labor unions. We encourage improving the collective professional support for initiatives that are documenting the “now,” including human rights violations committed in the United States and abroad both before and after the 2016 election, as well as those documenting the growing anti-Trump administration movement, such as the volunteer initiative documenting the upcoming Women’s March on Washington. We encourage ongoing issue-specific collaboration by the Society of American Archivists and regional archival groups with other national and international professional organizations, such as the ALA, the AALL and ARMA, to ensure that the archival, library and record management communities speak with a unified voice against the misuse or destruction of public records, while holding public officials and agencies accountable. We pledge to remain vigilant in this moment of rapid change, seeking opportunities to put our skills and resources as archivists and information specialists to work as part of the resistance. The authors’ and signatories’ references to their professional affiliations are for identification purposes only and are not intended to imply an endorsement by the institution.",
"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/a-statement-to-the-archival-community"
}