Fruita for Equality is a collaboration to support equality, inclusivity, and diversity through meaningful conversations and action in the community.
January 2022n
Complete a survey to help the library create its new strategic roadmap
This year, Mesa County Libraries will create a strategic roadmap to guide our operations starting in 2023. We’re asking for your help.

Local history: a unique perspective on
Black Lives Matter
As a former sheriff’s deputy and an African-American woman involved with community and educational efforts through Black Citizens and Friends, Janielle Westermire has a unique and very personal perspective on race relations and the Black Lives Matter protests that gripped the United States following the 2020 death of George Floyd.

In her interview with the Social Justice Archive at Mesa County Libraries, Westermire discusses her view on social justice protests in America, one informed by a respect for law enforcement and the other by racism she has experienced.

Listen to Janielle Westermire’s interview and the other interviews in the Social Justice Archive, a part of the Mesa County Oral History Project.
Neighbors Night
with Black Citizens and Friends
Join us for Neighbors Night at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in the Central Library Mesa Community Room.

David Combs and other members of Black Citizens and Friends will talk to kids and their families about Black History Month, which happens in February. Learn about the amazing accomplishments of African-Americans!
2022 Meeting Schedule
The Fruita for Equality Committee announced their 2022 meeting schedule. Meetings will start at 5:30 p.m. The meeting dates are as follows:

February 28
March 28
April 25
May 23
June 20
July 25
August 22
September 26
October 24
November 28
December 19
February Meeting Agenda
The February Fruita for Equality meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, at the Fruita Branch Library IdeaLab or virtually via Zoom.

Agenda:
  • Committee Mission, Priorities and Goals
  • 2022 Planning
Book recommendations
Fiction - Echo Tree: the collected short fiction of Henry Dumas
"Championed by Toni Morrison and Walter Mosley, Dumas's fabulist fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on real, magical, and mythic quests. Humming with life, Dumas's stories create a collage of midcentury Black experiences, interweaving religious metaphor, African cosmologies, diasporic folklore, and America's history of slavery and systemic racism.

Henry Dumas was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas, in 1934 and moved to Harlem at the age of 10. He joined the Air Force in 1953 and spent a year on the Arabian Peninsula. Upon his return, Dumas became active in the civil rights movement, married, had two sons, attended Rutgers University, worked for IBM, and taught at Hiram College in Ohio and at Southern Illinois University. In 1968, at the age of 33, he was shot and killed by a New York City Transit Authority police officer." - Amazon.com
Fiction - The Jigsaw Man: Inspector Angelica Henry series by Nadine Matheson
A serial killer and his copycat are locked in a violent game of cat and mouse. Can Detective Inspector Angelica Henley stop them before it's too late? On the day she returns to active duty with the Serial Crimes Unit, Henley is called to a crime scene. Dismembered body parts from two victims have been found by the river.

The modus operandi bears a striking resemblance to Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer, who has spent the past two years behind bars. When he learns that someone is co-opting his grisly signature, the arrangement of victims' limbs in puzzle-piece shapes, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

As the body count rises, Henley is faced with an unspeakable new threat. Can she apprehend the copycat killer before Olivier finds a way to get to him first? Or will she herself become the next victim?

Drawing on her experience as a criminal attorney, debut novelist Nadine Matheson delivers the page-turning crime novel of the year. Taut, vivid, and addictively sinister, "The Jigsaw Man" will leave you breathless until the very last page. - Description from the library catalog
About Fruita for Equality
Fruita for Equality is an initiative to promote and support equality, inclusivity, and diversity through meaningful conversations and action in the community. Collaborators in Fruita for Equality include Mesa County Libraries, Fruita Rotary, the City of Fruita, and Lithic Bookstore and Gallery.
Have a question about Fruita for Equality?
Contact fruitaforequality@gmail.com for more information.
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Contact Mesa County Libraries at 970-243-4442 or visit mesacountylibraries.org