MATTAPOISETT — Tri-Town Against Racism, a local grassroots activist group, hosted a crowd of supporters as it unveiled its newest Little Free Diverse Library at Ned’s Point on Friday, Sept. 10.

The Little Free Diverse Libraries are similar to regular little free libraries — which have become very popular in recent years — but they focus on supplying the community with books that highlight diversity in some way. An almost identical little free library was built by the group in Marion in November 2020.

During a speech at the event, President and Co-Founder of Tri-Town Against Racism Tangi Thomas thanked the town for its support of the group and the Little Free Diverse Library initiative.

“Thank you so much to the town of Mattapoisett,” she said. “Not only did they provide us a beautiful spot for our newest Little Free Diverse Library, but they went one step further and built it for us. Thank you Mattapoisett for being active partners in working toward an anti-racist Tri-Town.”

Apart from the speech and ribbon cutting, the event featured cupcakes, free books for children and adults, and a visit from Town Administrator Mike Lorenco.

“Tri-Town Against Racism would be nothing without the support of our community,” said Thomas. “You understand how important it is for everyone to be able to see themselves in books. You understand that our Free Little Diverse Libraries not only provide those books, but they speak to people who never even take a book. Our TTAR libraries show that we believe that every single person in this community matters.”

Thomas is also responsible for Tangi’s Diverse Book Drive, an initiative to collect and donate books that highlight diversity to local schools for use in their libraries. According to Thomas, the program is nearing its goal of donating 25 new diverse books to each of the six Tri-Town public schools by the end of September.

So today we come together to celebrate,” said Thomas. “We celebrate being a community that cares. We celebrate the difference that books make. We celebrate not only this new Little Library but we celebrate every person who has linked arms with TTAR to create a better Tri-Town for everyone.