Oakland
In ZORA. More on Medium.
An interview with one of its co-owners on the coronavirus and the importance of indie bookstores in the digital age
One industry that has been astronomically hit by the Covid-19 pandemic is publishing. Authors have had to cancel book tours or postpone book releases, and independent bookstores across the nation have been fighting to stay open. One in particular is Marcus Books, America’s oldest Black bookstore. Started by Drs. Raye and Julian Richardson in 1960, the Oakland, California, bookstore — which was named after Marcus Garvey, leader of the Pan-Africanist movement — is a staple in the Black literary community, where its visitors include stars such as Malcolm X, Oprah Winfrey, Bobby Seale (co-founder of the Black Panther Party), and…
The Radical Monarchs earn their badges by fighting for people of color
Anayvette Martinez wanted to start a different kind of girl scout troop after her then fourth-grade daughter expressed her desire to join one. What Martinez found, however, was that her daughter Lupita would have been one out of two Brown girls to join. She knew this statistic had to change.
“The traditional scouting model wouldn’t center her experience as a woman of color, and it would have been a watered-down version of what she could be exposed to,” says Martinez (who identifies herself as Queer) of the idea of starting the Radical Monarchs. …
