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White Compassion for Black People: Why is This Time Different?


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Now Black people have always supported AALBC.  Indeed, they have allowed the site to grow for over nearly a quarter of a centurydespite ferocious competition from Amazon, social media, and the reckless behavior of Google's search algorithm.

 

But starting in the end of May and continuing to this day White folks are buying books from AALBC and other Black booksellers at historical levels — I mean HISTORIC!  I have never sold as many books, in any three month period, as I have sold in the top three days of the last three weeks.

 

I have only taken off one day in the last three weeks and that is with an additional employee who has also worked every day save today, and last Sunday. 

 

The only bad part is that everyone wants to buy the same few books, like Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. The combination of a spike in demand the pandemic have made replenishing inventory difficult.  This impacts customer service and creates more shipping costs, as I've been breaking up orders into separate shipments.  I have to raise the threshold for free shipping from $40 to $75 and spend a lot of time writing emails explaining why orders would be delayed or refunded.

 

Despite it all my customers have be amazing understanding.  The Hardcover version of So You Want to Talk about Race because unavailable so I offered people the paperback version and a $10 for the difference. Do you know that EVERYONE said something to the effect of , "No problem. Keep the $10 I just was want to support!"  Imagine that!

 

Libro.fm has pledged to share 100% of revenue on Juneteenth with their Black bookseller partners.  That is over $1,600 to AALBC.  I use Libro.fm to sell audiobooks here on AALBC. 

 

The outpouring of supportive email, purchases, sharing of AALBC content by folks customers, has been remarkable. I feel like, I'm finally getting my reparations. 🙂

 

Seriously, it made me think: what AALBC would have been like with this level of support over that last two decades.  It also confirms that there is a vast number of potential customers who have can actually enrich all Black-owned bookstores.  I hold no illusions that this level of support from white book buyers will last forever (I hope I'm proven wrong). The reality is that it will most likely be a temporary thing.

 

I also wonder what it would be like to get 90% of the Black community to consistent support our stores — not just readers, but authors, and publishers.  The potential is unlimited and even exciting to think about, because what we could do with those resources for our communities is virtually limitless.

 

Far too many Black folks (I was one too) give our money to Jeff Bezos' company.  It would not be so bad if Amazon returned a fair share how much money does a company need to earn? How rich do a few people have to become before they share any of their wealth with their workers and contractors?  I pay my employee more to sit behind a desk than Amazon pays a warehouse worker to bust their ass packing shipments . I boycott Amazon because Amazon has done everything in the power to control or impoverish Black-booksellers (indeed all online merchants)

 

...But this is not an Anti-amazon rank

 

Why do you think white folks have been so supportive of Black-owned bookstores these last few weeks? Have you increased your support of our stores, or were you always on board? 

 

Could this simply be the collective reaction to the senseless murder of George Floyd by a sociopathic cop, in the context of a Trump presidency?  I do know that social media influencers have issued a call to action to buy specific books and to buy those books from Black-owned bookstores.  Both could be true, but I think it is deeper than either of these explanations.

 

 


 

@Pioneer1 this is one reason my "white people" anecdotes, don't lead me to conclude that all white people are rabid racists even the 45 supporters.  I did not begin to really understand this until I left the racially segregated community of the Harlem of my youth Harlem and get to know some white people beyond the stereotypes shown on TV.

 

Today I live in a racially diverse community and I find that people are people.  They are dumb and smart, racist and colorblind, homophobic and gay. Some kiss dogs in the mouth and others can't stand them.  We humans are a complicated mix, and stereotypes are a shortcut to understanding each other that does us a disservice, because they can never adequately describe any individual.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Troy said:

Could this simply be the collective reaction to the senseless murder of George Floyd by a sociopathic cop, in the context of a Trump presidency? 


Uh...yeaaah.


What else could it have been, given the timing?

At any rate, congratulations on your success.
I think we should enjoy it and take advantage of the times Caucasians are being nice, supportive, and generous REGARDLESS as to why they're doing it.

 

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1 minute ago, Pioneer1 said:

I think we should enjoy it and take advantage of the times Caucasians are being nice, supportive, and generous REGARDLESS as to why they're doing it.

 

In a group text with some buddies one of them wrote:

 

"At some level we have to act as spirit for our brothers and sisters [white people] .... some are trying to make amends, but they just don;t know how..."

 

I agreed with the sentiment. There is also the realization that what we want is all over the map, so the inability to understand what will make Black folks happy is understandable confusing.

 

The global reaction to what is happening here is America is also so telling isn't it?

 

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Troy
 


"At some level we have to act as spirit for our brothers and sisters [white people] .... some are trying to make amends, but they just don;t know how..." 


Well I don't know about the rest of your buddies but watch out for THAT buddy....lol.
That's the type of brother who will get you in trouble!
 

For one thing, he calls Caucasians his "brothers and sisters".
Most Caucasians KNOW they aren't our brothers or sisters because we didn't come from the same origin.  But him calling them brother and sister is an example of him HOPING and WISHING for intimate acceptance by them.  
Often times AfroAmerican men who think like that get caught up in some sexual legal problem from being to reckless with a Caucasian "sister" he thought was cool.
Until she called "the man".


Second, he sincerely believes that THEY are sincere about "making amends" but don't know how.  Which tells me he's easily deceived, by Caucasians atleast.

Most people who have wronged you and SINCERELY want to make amends will first STOP doing you harm and THEN rectify the situation by repaing the damage.

If he believes that someone who just called the police on him the other day while he was peacefully watching birds in the park and even told the police it was an "aggressive black guy" hoping for a violent response....is a "sister" who is remorseful and wants to make amends, he's a natural born sucker....lol.

Like I said, watch out for them kind of buddies because they'll MESS YOU UP and won't even know he did it.

He's the type of friend who will get chatty with one of his Caucasian "brothers" about you and unwittingly pass on some important personal information about you that may be potentially damaging and he wouldn't even know what he did wrong.


You'll be laying on a cot somewhere looking up at the ceiling wondering what happened, and he'll STILL be chatting away to his Caucasian "brothers and sisters" giving them more information.

 


There is also the realization that what we want is all over the map, so the inability to understand what will make Black folks happy is understandable confusing. 
 

Well, I know what MOST AfroAmerians want.

When a Caucasian ever wanted to REALLY know what most AfroAmericans wanted they asked ME....lol.
 

Most AfroAmericans want to be loved and accepted by Caucasians.  
They don't just want justice and respect, they want MORE than that....they want ACCEPTANCE by Caucasians because many of our people see Caucasians as the epitome of humanity and being on an intimate and accepted basis with them is one of the main goals of many.


Having a nice big house isn't good enough for them.
They have to have a nice big house in a Caucasian neighborhood!
Infact, a small cramped apartment will do....as long as it's OUT of the hood and in a Caucasian neighborhood.


The global reaction to what is happening here is America is also so telling isn't it? 
 

Yes.
Because they know what happens in America is simply a prelude to what will happen over the rest of the globe.

 

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3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

For one thing, he calls Caucasians his "brothers and sisters".

 

Well they are our Brothers and Sisters.  Now they may not be out "Soul Brothers and Sistas" but we all belong to the same family man.  Failure to recognize this is why we are still running around killing each other.

 

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Well, I know what MOST AfroAmerians want.

 

See that is the problem you can't know what all so called AfroAmericans want.  Many Afro-American don't even know what they want. For example I never had a desire to live in an all white neighborhood, shoot I found working in an all white work environment bad enough.

 

I always wanted to live a nice, crime free neighborhood with people who shared my cultural background.  Find me that neighborhood, and if I can afford it I will move there. (Remember ladies I'm single 🥰

 

Most of my peers who live is white neighborhoods settled for the nice and crime free, but were willing to sacrifice not living with people who shared their cultural background.

 

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Because they know what happens in America is simply a prelude to what will happen over the rest of the globe.

 

...and recognize America's blatant hypocrisy.

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Troy

 

Well they are our Brothers and Sisters.  Now they may not be out "Soul Brothers and Sistas" but we all belong to the same family man.  Failure to recognize this is why we are still running around killing each other. 
 

Not sure what you mean by "we"....lol.

It seems that Caucasians are doing a lot of the KILLING while people of color are doing a lot of crying, begging, weed smoking, and head scratching.

 



 

...and recognize America's blatant hypocrisy. 
 

What we as AfroAmericans need to understand is that Western civilization was FOUNDED on lies and hypocrisy; so exposing them is no big deal.
 

Too many of our people keep trying to appeal to some sort of "morality" they are assuming these racists have.  They don't care about lying and being hypocritical as long as it serves their purposes of oppression and domination.
 

Yes, the average person around the planet may see the hypocrisy....but how much weight does THEIR opinion hold?
What power do THEY have to do anything about it even if they recognize it?
They know they better shut up and go back to that rice-paddy  or factory and get to sweating again before THEIR leader puts a foot in THEIR ass.

Who cares what powerless people think.

It's like those people standing on the sidewalk jumping up and down squealing and hollering while a race-soldier is beating and killing a brother.
They feel holding up a cell phone camera and recording it while saying, "We got yall on tape.....better stop it!"  is real power.
The race soldiers are steadily whopping the brother's ass and bouncing his head off the pavement while the crowd is pointing out how wrong and hypocritical it is.


Why is THIS time different?

...…who said it was.
 

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