Americans turning to books
Boynton Beach store offers books about Black experience as many, alarmed by the killing of George Floyd, want to learn more about racism in the US
BOYNTON BEACH From every corner of America, orders for Black themed books pour in to Akbar Watson’s website each day. Watson is a Boynton
Beach bookseller who specializes in books on African-American history and culture. And business has never been better.
Despite a pandemic that has closed businesses across the country, Americans are deluging booksellers with orders for books with Black themes. Many of these customers are white people who, confined to their homes because of COVID-19 and alarmed by the death of George Floyd and others by police in recent months, want to learn more about the Black experience in the United States.
Popular titles include “Me and White Suprema
“Everyone is becoming aware of racism on so many different levels. I hope it’s not a fleeting moment.”
Pamela Hall, a Barry University associate professor
cy,” “So You Want to Talk About Race” and “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?” Many large booksellers, such as Amazon, have run out of these best sellers. The demand is evident in the charts: All 10 non-fiction paperbacks on the New York Times Bestseller List this week relate to racism, Jim Crow, segregation or white supremacy.
Although supplies are running low, many Black booksellers have these books in stock. They have cultivated contacts with publishers and distributors over the years to preserve a stable inventory.
The booksellers include Watson, 60, director of Pyramid Books in Boynton Beach. He used to sell about 75 books a week before Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter protests; now he’s sending out 250 to 300 books a week. He said sales have surged from $1,000 a week to $18,000.
A list of Black-owned bookstores that has circulated on the internet helped readers across the country connect with Watson, who has sold books for more than 30 years.
He has hired four people in the past few weeks to help him order books and deliver them (free) to South Florida customers, including Adrienne Bellovin of Boynton Beach.
“White people, of which I am a part, haven’t been aware of what Black people have suffered through,” said Bellovin, 74. “I never realized how hard the police were on Black males. To know more, you have to read. You can’t just listen to talking heads on TV.”
Reading about racism is not always a solitary activity. Pamela Hall, a Barry University associate professor of psychology, said she has been hearing about lots of Zoom book clubs that are exploring the topic, including her own family’s club.
“People are not reading in isolation,” she said. “Everyone is becoming aware of racism on so many different levels. I hope it’s not a fleeting moment.”
Readers are also getting Black-themed books from public libraries. Palm Beach County libraries are encouraging “Conversations About Race,” with a suggested reading list. Broward’s library system is promoting a community read of “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander, which explores the American criminal justice system. The libraries have made online copies available with no holds or wait lists.
To accommodate readers who prefer to buy their books, Watson operates out of three small warehouse bays in Boynton Beach. He has about 9,000 books organized by category, such as History, Fiction, Cooking or Poetry. He owned a traditional bookstore on Gateway Boulevard in Boynton Beach until about two years ago, when he realized his future was on the internet and he could operate online while maintaining a local customer base.
He’s been in the book business for 32 years and has hosted an assortment of famous Black writers, including Michael Eric Dyson and Tavis Smiley. In 2000, he attracted headlines for hosting Ward Connerly, a foe of affirmative action, who was promoting his book “Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences.
Watson said he’s grateful for the rush of sales over the past few weeks but is concerned about deeply systemic problems with racism in the United States that reading books won’t solve.
“You can’t buy your way out of this problem,” Watson said. “I’m not trying to be ungrateful. But America will go back to what it’s always done, which is be oppressive and reactive.”
Rudy Jean-Bart, an assistant professor of history at Broward College, said reading is essential to learning about the Black experience, but he said it’s important that the transformation doesn’t end when the reader finishes the text.
“Books should not displace honest dialogue between the races,” Jean-Bart said. “You need to engage with Black people in an authentic way. The danger is people feel as though they’ve read a book and therefore they are a warrior for social justice. The important thing is the intention. It’s about listening, not talking.”
Here are the books Watson is currently recommending: “The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors,” by Frances Cress Welsing, and “Stamped: Racism, AntiRacism and You,” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.
He hopes reading becomes the first step to ending American bigotry.
“Let the ignorance die out,” he said.