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In May 2020, Minneapolis’ white policeman Derek Chauvin killed the black George Floyd. The murder sparked demonstrations for racial justice across the country. It also sparked interest in topics like anti-racism and encouraged people to support black-owned businesses.
That was over a year ago. What about now?
Katrina Brooks owns Black Pearl Books in Austin. It opened the store as a pop-up in November 2019, but now has a permanent location in Ten Thousand Villages on Burnet Road. Brooks calls what happened to her business in June 2020 a “June Boom” because she saw increased interest in “books on anti-racism and the African-American plight of the people in history.”
But Brooks says the intensity and interest didn’t last until 2021. She says some people wanted to continue pursuing issues of racial justice that they investigated in 2020, but others were “just” [saying], ‘Hey, everyone is reading this, I should do that.’ ”
Brooks says she hopes the awareness raised in 2020 will put people in the mood for racial justice issues so that “it doesn’t take another big event” to “bring it back to the fore of people’s minds “.
Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below to learn more from Brooks about the ups and downs of her business in black.
This transcript has been slightly edited for the sake of clarity:
KUT’s Jennifer Stayton: Why did you open Black Pearl Books?
Katrina Brooks, Owner of Black Pearl Books: Our mission then and now is to go into the community, to spread these books so people can access them and really just make them aware that they exist.
Do you notice ups and downs in the rhythm or in the strength or “bustle” of your company, depending on what is happening in society as a whole? For example, after the murder of George Floyd last year, was there more interest in your books?
Absolutely, 100%. Last summer I called it the June boom. With the death of George Floyd and in the middle of a pandemic and all of these other events, we saw a tremendous influx of orders and people really looking for books on anti-racism and the African American plight of and searching people in history. And we’ve seen a lot of that.
In any case, there are ups and downs. And as you can imagine, it has obviously leveled off since then. Those who keep searching and wanting to keep learning are there. Back then it was just the people [saying], “Hey, everyone is reading this, I should do that.”
At the same time, not only was there a big push to self-educate, but it was also a big push in general, just helping black owned companies.
Do you feel like the interest in the black-owned companies you spoke of is still there?
This is an interesting question. So not to the same extent. Yes and no is the short answer for that. I think what happened last summer really raised awareness of black owned businesses. So I think people who have actively tried to use a black-owned or minority company will continue to do so.
For the same reason, there are people who said, “I’m going to do this or order at this restaurant. And OK, I’ve done my part.” Or you can just forget about it and go back to your normal routine because sometimes that extra step is required. It’s a lot easier to go online and place an order with a large retail company than actually looking for it and saying, “Oh, I’ll make sure I order from a Black owned company.”
The interesting thing is that there have always been black companies. It’s not a new phenomenon. We were here. It’s the heightened awareness that came last summer from people who really looked for it and said, “Look, I want to do my part.”
But how do you feel that some people’s interest is driven by a major national event that attracts everyone’s attention?
Children do not learn – they are missing parts in school. You don’t get it at home because the parents didn’t learn it. Yes, it took events to create awareness. If you don’t live in these communities, if you don’t regularly fellowship with people of color, then these are likely problems or things that you are not aware of.
On the one hand, yes, the event itself is heartbreaking. And the fact that it was necessary to do this to raise that awareness is heartbreaking. But now it is encouraging that people are aware of this. What do you do with it? It’s one thing to say, “OK, I’m going to read a book.” But how does this book change the way you think and what do you do after reading this book?
This is the piece that I and we as a bookstore are really focused on. It’s wonderful to have sold books over the past year and how many orders we have received. But we’re really looking at each other: what are the next steps? How do we move the needle forward so people don’t see another big event or come back to the fore?
Do you have a tip? Email Jennifer Stayton at jstayton@kut.org. Follow her on Twitter @jenstayton.
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