The Human Library

An excerpt from CNN - 

This library lets you borrow people instead of books. It just may help bridge our bitter divisions

By John Blake, CNN 

Two women -- one Muslim, one not -- talk at a
Human Library event in London in 2018.

(CNN)On a rainy spring morning in Muncie, Indiana, a White, middle-aged, conservative woman met a transgender woman for a date.

It did not start well. The transgender woman was waiting at a table when the other woman showed up. She stood up and extended her hand. The other woman refused to take it.

"I want you to know I'm a conservative Christian," she said, still standing.

"I'm a liberal Christian," the transgender woman replied. "Let's talk."

Their rendezvous was supposed to last about 30 minutes. But the conversation was so engrossing for both that it lasted an hour. It ended with the conservative woman rising from her seat to give the other woman a hug.

"Thank you," she said. "This has been wonderful."

This improbable meeting came courtesy of the Human Library, a nonprofit learning platform that allows people to borrow people instead of books. But not just any people. Every "human book" from this library represents a group that faces prejudice or stigmas because of their lifestyle, ethnicity, beliefs, or disability. A human book can be an alcoholic, for example, or a Muslim, or a homeless person, or someone who was sexually abused.

The Human Library stages in-person and online events where "difficult questions are expected, appreciated, and answered." Organizers says they're trying to encourage people to "unjudge" a book by its cover.

This setup leads to some of the most unlikely pairings anyone will ever see.

A feminist meets with a Muslim woman in a hijab and asks if she wears it by choice or compulsion.

A climate change activist meets with someone who thinks global warming is a hoax.

A Black antiracist activist meets with a supporter of former President Trump.

Or, in the case of Charlize Jamieson, a transgender woman meets a conservative Christian woman who thinks she is living in sin.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/14/health/human-library-blake-cec/index.html