So many people are coming in to the library to photocopy things like birth certificates and wedding certificates and social security cards and drivers liscences.
Most of them, yes, are visibly NOT WHITE. Some white people have come in too. Usually to do this for not white family members.
I never say anything. I do my best to act the same way I do when someone comes in to photocopy a news article about thier favorite child to send to the relatives. It is not my bussiness, I am just there to make sure they get the copy right the first time and don't waste too much paper. Or to assure them it's fine and I won't charge them when they do.
But man- I know I have a terrible poker face. These people have got to be reading the sorrow in my eyes while I smile at them.
Should everyone have copies of these things? Yes. Absolutely.
Is that why there is a huge uptick in people copying these things?
I live in a place with some of cleanest freshest air you can find on earth.
When someone comes in to photocopy a birth certificate these days, I swear for a moment the miasma of fear is so thick you can see the haze.