Ignited out of a passion for serving the community in the wake of George Floyd's death, an effort is underway to open Minnesota's only Black-owned bookstore.
Black Garnet Books founder and owner Dionne Sims took time off work after George Floyd was killed to be fully immersed. It was that time that she felt called to do something different to support the community. She questioned what part she can play in a larger cultural moment.
Sims sent a tweet about how it was her dream to open a bookstore. The response offering support and enthusiasm was explosive.
"The people are being very vocal about how much a Black-owned bookstore would mean to them and how much having that space would be validating and affirming," Sims said. "And I felt strongly that it was something that I could do."
A few weeks ago, I spoke my dream of owning a bookstore into the world. Y'all heard it, saw the need, and helped me shape that dream into something tangible.I'm so excited to announce that Black Garnet Books is here to radicalize your bookshelves. --https://t.co/Xqib98WmWw pic.twitter.com/7ENa49RHUc
— are you there god? it's me, dionne (@OhDionne) June 30, 2020Mind's Eye Comics in Burnsville is Black-owned. Shops Ancestry Books in north Minneapolis and Uhuru Books in south Minneapolis have closed. Sims knew this was the opportunity she was looking for. Now she's setting sail on her first small business venture.
Black Garnet Books will focus on the young adult and adult contemporary genres, prioritizing Black and racially-diverse authors.
"No matter what book you pick up it's going to be from an underrepresented voice and it's going to be an underrepresented story," Sims said.
Anti-racist titles have become huge sellers after Floyd's death as many try to educate themselves about systemic racism.
"I think it's interesting that we are in a time where so many of our interactions are online, so many of our interactions are digital and yet we see a really apparent push toward buying books and moving back towards reading as a source of storytelling and education," she said.
Sims said those books are important, but there is so much more to share.
"So often Black authors, especially racially-diverse authors in general, get pigeon-holed into certain aspects of their identity," she said. "It's such a fundamental part of the Black experience in America that it's important that we honor the struggle of being Black, but without making it the only part of being Black. There's so many beautiful, joyful, amazing and harrowing and lovely, but painful things about being Black because Black people are human."
Sims aims to launch a crowdfunding campaign by the end of this week. Eventually she hopes to open a brick-and-mortar space.
"We really want to use the momentum and the excitement right now as a jumping off point, as a way to get people engaged and excited, but we also want to make sure that we are working in a way that makes Black Garnet Books established and makes Black Garnet Books a stable part of the community so that we can last for many years," she said.
