NC bookstore owner: Online trolls are trying to ruin my business. I won't back down.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article263810128.html

Every few years my independent bookstore in Salisbury ends up on a boycott list by a racist Facebook group.

In 2020, I agreed that Salisbury’s city council should remove a Confederate monument from our town square. The “Confederate Wire” then added us to a list of small businesses to boycott. Instead, we were inundated with customers who wanted to prove our town’s economy is not driven by racism. While exceedingly stressful, this incident ended on a positive note for my store.

Last week, we held an inaugural “Readers for Change” meeting to discuss nearby Faith, N.C.’s Fourth of July parade, which allowed Confederate “soldiers” to shoot weapons over attendees. Some at the meeting were unaware of Faith’s past as a “sundown town” and the home of a former Grand Dragon of the N.C. KKK.

We encouraged participants to write to corporate sponsors of the parade and ask them to put money toward promoting anti-racism in our community. So far, three of the seven major ones have pledged to recalibrate future sponsorships. Our social media sites were flooded with vile comments and bigots tried to argue that I was the true racist in this situation.

There is a new social justice mural in my bookstore, just above the shelves, that contains an image of protesters, including one holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign. Before the paint was dry, racist trolls began leaving one-starred reviews of my business online, arguing that I was ignorant of long-debunked falsehoods about Black Lives Matter organizers.

*snip*

[SoCalDavidS]

1. South Main Book Company

In case you want to give them 5 Star Reviews.

[COL Mustard]

2. If you really want to support them....

Shop there.

https://southmainbookcompany.com/shop/

[Blue Owl]

3. Just placed an order

Fuck the trolls!

[COL Mustard]

4. Excellent!

I'm going to do the same!

[electric_blue68]

6. Good idea. Next month's check

Hmmm... what should I order... 👍

(Rheotorical, I can think of alot! 😁 )

Screen grabbed url 👍

[samsingh]

16. thanks for the link. We should support them.

[iscooterliberally]

18. I just did. Thank you!!

I ordered a book called - Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill. I heard it was really good.



https://www.npr.org/2019/09/12/760215017/forget-what-you-think-you-know-about-the-manson-murders

[lees1975]

19. me too!

thank you

[Fullduplexxx]

5. You can get malcom's book there

[2naSalit]

12. +1

Thanks for the reminder! I need to order a copy and I guess I was just waiting for the right place to buy it. I was going to go to a brick and mortar but this will be better.

[usonian]

7. Kick

[ms liberty]

8. Hmm, I suddenly need to buy a book. Salisbury's only about an hour away

Might have to go down there this weekend.

[bahboo]

9. there's more of us than there are of them...

and we actually read books...

[Nevilledog]

10. You could have left of "books"

[AverageOldGuy]

11. Illegitimi non carborundum

"Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

[Wednesdays]

13. Bookmarking.

Next time I need to order books, I know where to shop.

[Kittycatkat]

22. ditto

[MLAA]

14. I went for what looks like a guilty pleasure novel

https://bookshop.org/books/the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo/9781501161933

[flying rabbit]

15. Not sure what my next book is

but I know where its coming from.

[mainer]

17. The people "boycotting" probably don't buy books, anyway

Unless it's from their hero MAGA stars.

[SWBTATTReg]

20. Can't have enough books, I say. Even though I do go to the library (not as much recently), I still

like buying that special book, or something like that, and plus, to support those people that work so hard to bring these books to our attention and enjoyment, learning, etc. I think it takes a special talent or gift to do this.

Thanks for FYI'ing us on the site, etc. Appreciate it.

[Traildogbob]

21. Born and raised in Salisbury.

Left for the Navy and have no desire to go there. It’s loaded with white superior jerks. Including family. But I will order Malcom Nance’s lasted book from this store. I was football captain and class President and local high school. Refuse to go to reunion’s although constantly asked to come speak. They came out of the woodwork when Obama won first term. Lots of class mates I did not know where so hard core Christian racists. Fuck em. Faith, a shit hole town.

[Truth_Serum]

23. I grew up not too terribly far from you....

in an incredibly racist SMALL town. I hauled ass out of there when I graduated high school, like Josh Hawley did, lol. I absolutely know where Faith is. I guarantee you that you'd know my hometown and call it the same (a shit hole town) I also refuse to go to my high school reunions. Facebook has been my nemesis - I deactivate it all the time because I can't stand to see my friend list (yeah, I've unsubscribed to almost everyone's updates from my hometown). I never wanted ANY of them (save a handful) as FB friends.

[Traildogbob]

25. 🤜🤛

BBQ, Cheerwine, Goodies Powder and Food Lion. I don’t eat read meat, don’t drink soft drinks, don’t shop Food Lion or use the head ache powder. Never been on face book and don’t need racist, so nothing else there I need. Glory days are long gone and nobody cares. Plus, they all got old along the way😉.

[Truth_Serum]

26. Glory days are definitely long gone...

and you're right - nobody cares, except the "typical" cliques. And we're all getting older, lol. BBQ - love it (sorry!); Cheerwine - loved as a kid, but haven't liked it in 40 or so years - too sweet; can't take aspirin, so no Goodies Powder for me; Food Lion - have to shop there since they're only about 5 minutes from my house and the others are almost 20 minutes away.

What a walk down Salisbury's memory lane - filled with good things and not-so-good things. But I'm counting the South Main Book Company there as a very good thing! 👍

[Traildogbob]

27. I hear you

BBQ is really good there. Just a health choice I started in the Navy. And Food Lion is good. They are up here and in the Mtns too. They do scholarships for young folks for college and Employ so many at the headquarters. And so many good musicians there. My brother is in 3 bands. Always could start a Band. There was a time it seemed the city was going progressive. Guess they just could not shake the baked in racism and Evilgelicals there. Good on the book store. Cheers to ya ole “Bury” friend. And it’s called Saws-bury, right. None of that SALsbury. And, I think CB’s is still there. (College Barbecue) out by Catawba. Our high school post game hang out. Great sharing with ya. Remember the 601 drive in? Mean ole grandad owed it at one time. Ole the stories!!!

[Truth_Serum]

28. BBQ

Could probably talk about BBQ for days - pretty easy to find a good sandwich or plate of it in this state, thank goodness. CB's is still there. It can be a touchy subject - asking which "style" you like can be akin to asking if you're a Duke or a Carolina fan, lol. Food Lion gave a lot back to the community, especially in scholarships, from what I remember. Had a friend work at HQ a few decades ago, and was/is a good place to work as a teen for a first job. And it's definitely Saws-bury, lol. I personally never made it out to the 601 drive in, but knew of it back in the day, and how cool your grandfather owned it for a time. NC has always had a prolific music and arts community, for sure - too many artists to name!

It did seem that some of the smaller cities and towns (and ultimately, NC) were going progressive back in the 2000's, especially with NC going for Obama in '08, but you're correct in that they couldn't because of racism and crazy evangelicals. The NC Confederate soldiers statue removals after Charlottesville definitely shined a light on how racism is just always *right* below the surface. And now - Tim Moore's suit that SCOTUS will rule on this fall could unravel our entire democracy.

Sorry - that paragraph ^^ went off on a whole other tangent, lol.

[Traildogbob]

29. Great discussion

Wish ya best.

[Truth_Serum]

24. Great article!

Thanks for posting.

Keep up the good fight, Alissa Redmond, and hope you get lots of love for your bookstore! ❤️

[Kid Berwyn]

30. Kick for Readers

And Good People, Everywhere.

[rockfordfile]

31. Support her 100%