By KAYLA DEMICCO
Opinions Editor
Last year in February, I wrote an article during Black History Month as an ally for the Black community. I still stand by the community as an advocate and wish to share some thoughts.
It is 2020, and we have just started a new decade. It has been decades since there were laws put into effect with the intention to desegregate America and for people to be treated as equals no matter what race one was. It has only been a handful of years since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement that proves the continuous inequality and injustice that black people face.
How some people still deal with the topic with an insensitive manner irks me. How the country still has an openly racist person leading this country with other racists behind him cheering him on never ceases to confuse me.
Recently, there was a trending topic that caught my attention in regards to Black History Month. On Feb. 4, Publishers Weekly announced that Barnes and Noble (specifically the store on Fifth Ave. in New York City), a national bookstore chain, was going to attempt to promote diversity by releasing a new line of classic books with new covers. This partnership with Penguin Random House was going to give 12 classic novels a makeover and they were going to be called the “Diverse Edition.”
After the news broke, many Internet users expressed their disapproval of this idea. Now, if you spend more than 30 minutes with me, there’s a good chance I will mention Barnes and Noble as I consider myself a fan of the chain. When the news of this broke, multiple people sent me links to the story and asked me what I thought about it.
While I was very confused about why the company would do this, I was relieved that it would not be happening in all locations (specifically the ones we have close to us in Albany). I asked a couple of employees at the Barnes and Noble in Colonie Center and they said they were not happy with what the company did. They were very reassuring that the local store would not pull a move like that.
Twitter user @Vanessid said, “Ah yes the white canon in Blackface. Yes, please further commodify Blackness to sell more copies of Moby Dick and pay yourselves instead of hiring, promoting, and publishing people of color.”
Many Twitter users expressed similar feelings of displeasure for this.
Kealan Patrick Burke, novelist, tweeted, “Jesus. Slapping cartoon POC on books by white folks when the words within those books don’t promote anything but the white narrative isn’t diversity. Diversity is giving POC equal opportunity to be published in a predominately white marketplace. Do better.”
There was set to be a special in-store launch on Feb. 5 for these “special” books, however following the online feedback, the event was canceled. Barnes and Noble headquarters released a statement saying, “The covers are not a substitute for black voices or black writers of color, whose work and voices deserve to be heard.” In the same statement, they said they are going “suspend the initiative” and “will continue to highlight a wide selection of books to celebrate black history and great literature from writers of color.”
I still keep myself updated on what’s happening at the library at the high school that I went to. The librarians have taken the initiative to feature a “Black Book of the Day” right at the front desk. Even though a high school library is much different than a bookstore, this is a great move in getting young people to see what black literature actually is.
Our own school’s main library, the Neil Hellman Library, even has a Black History Month display at the entrance directly in front of the Circulation Desk that says “We Are Made By History.” On their display, it has pictures of notable black people along with books written by some of them and books discussing the topic of race in society and politics.
Obviously there are many more instances where companies (and people) have dealt with race in an insensitive manner. Obviously, Black History Month is way more than about books, or other forms of entertainment media. It is way bigger than that.
As someone who is not black and does not personally understand the struggles and oppression those face, I am obviously no expert. As I cannot speak for everyone and my personal thoughts will not fully cover what Black History Month truly means, I highly encourage those to speak up.
Let your voices be heard. Don’t let yourself be silenced. Stand up to bigotry. Don’t let the racists win. It is up to those with an open mind and an open heart to educate and motivate people so we can move towards a better society.
