Urban Reads Bookstore is a Black-owned shop in the heart of Baltimore. Recently, the store and its owner, Tia Hamilton, have been facing harassment and attacks by white supremacists and fascists. These attacks are due to Hamilton’s involvement in the struggle for prisoner justice and liberation.
She is engaged at all levels: advocating for better conditions inside the prisons, fighting to get people released early, and supporting them once they are out. Hamilton is marching side by side with the people enslaved and entrapped by the state every day. It is this Black power that scares the racist core of this country, and the reactionaries come out in droves to suppress it.
When met with these vulgar attacks, the store did not back down. Hamilton took to the internet to expose the racists who were harassing her privately. They were sending her photos of lynchings and previous martyrs of police brutality, along with hate-filled messages and slurs. Not only did she bring their actions out into the open, but she also went on the attack.
The bookstore turned to the community for help, and the community responded immediately in lockstep. People were able to help pull the IP addresses of the attackers, and other information regarding where they worked and what groups they were affiliated with.
Community defense was set up around the store, with participation from members of the Tendea Family, UNIA-ACL, the Nation of Islam, the Struggle for Socialism Party, and others who were not affiliated with any group. Online campaigns to raise awareness of what was going on in Baltimore led to the connection of this struggle to similar attacks happening all across the country, from California and Washington state to New York and Washington, D.C.
On March 13, Urban Reads Bookstore opened its doors for a community meeting. At the meeting, people and organizations came together. They exchanged ideas on next steps, not just to protect Urban Reads but on how to create a support network across the country, protecting Black educational centers.
A representative of the Baltimore City Council and her Baltimore City Police escort also attended the meeting. Other than explaining how the city was absolutely unable to protect the community from racism, she also ironically claimed that no one in the city, not even she, could get security from the city.
Needless to say, the room rejected the pitying words from the councilmember and refocused the conversation on action and results.
These fascist assaults on the Black community will not succeed, but they will bring out an even stronger unity, bringing communities together to act swiftly and decisively, using every means necessary to protect and defend one another.
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