Why Should My Store Be Boycotted Over a Law I Despise?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/opinion/why-should-my-store-be-boycotted-over-a-law-i-despise.html

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Asheville, N.C. — Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe is an independent bookseller in the center of Asheville, a beautiful, culturally diverse city surrounded by the mountains of western North Carolina. We host author events several nights a week, offer space to a dozen book clubs, set up forums on community issues, and welcome all kinds of folks through our doors. We’re a place away from work and home where a person can relax, feel safe and be inspired.

But there are days when I skip my yoga practice for an adult beverage. Radical vegans protested an author’s grilling meat in front of our store, and evangelical Christians were angered when we hosted Reza Aslan. I’ve fielded threatening calls and emails demanding we cancel events and been likened to Adolf Hitler when I didn’t back down.

We’ve just entered a particularly rough patch, though, as we endure the repercussions of a new law that bars transgender people from the bathrooms of their choice and permits discrimination based on sexual orientation. This horrible legislation goes against what we stand for: human rights, tolerance and inclusiveness. We’ve held meetings about how to respond. We’ve helped write a letter from North Carolina independent bookstores to the State Legislature demanding a repeal of the law, and we’ve signed onto a letter from children’s book authors in the state speaking out against it. We are heartened that Asheville’s City Council just passed a resolution calling for the law’s repeal.

But now we’re being made to pay a price for a law we vehemently oppose, as artists, businesses and government officials have begun to boycott North Carolina. Our store, too, is being boycotted. Customers from other states tell us they won’t visit until the law is no more. More threatening to us financially and to our community culturally is the cancellation of events by authors.

The National Book Award-winning author Sherman Alexie canceled an event in May that included a talk in a large ticketed venue and two school visits. Although we deeply respect the author’s reason for boycotting, we lost out on much needed revenue through book sales tied to his appearance. We also lost an opportunity to connect a beloved, charismatic author with fans in a city who would have been empowered by his outrage over the law.

After he canceled, other writers and booksellers let us know they stood with us. But this shows how precarious social protest can be, especially when it involves boycotting bookstores, which are financially vulnerable, and often the best place in a community to discuss controversial ideas.

As justified as a boycott can be, we ask authors to consider a way of protesting other than boycotting bookstores. We need your voices, your presence, your art. When you cancel events with us, you deprive readers of a voice that can buoy them up, enlighten them, and demonstrate the fellowship of being there for each other, in community.

For 34 years we’ve had authors’ backs when their books were challenged or their events protested. We need authors to have our backs, too.