Liberation Station, a Black-owned bookstore in downtown Raleigh, N.C., is leaving its bricks-and-mortar location on April 30 due to threats and racial harassment, WRAL News reported.
Owner Victoria Scott-Miller, who founded Liberation Station as an online store and pop-up before opening a bricks-and-mortar space in June of last year, announced on Tuesday that she and her husband have been receiving threats since about September. There has been hate mail as well as threatening phone calls that mentioned her eldest son.
In the months since, Scott-Miller wrote, she and her husband have tried "strategizing within our means to avoid being targeted," which has included changing operating hours, creating content after-hours, and alternating who oversees the store.
She reported that after discussing her safety concerns, and a potential move, with the store's landlord, she learned that her landlord had shared that information with others. Instead of receiving offers of assistance, "we were informed that our unit would be showcased to potential new tenants leading up to our potential departure."
"Despite the challenges," Scott-Miller wrote, "our bookstore has brought immense joy, and we've been determined not to become another headline of controversy. We've worked tirelessly to create a safe space not just for our community but for our own family as well."
And while the store's time at 208 Fayetteville St. will end this month, "it certainly won't mark the end of the Liberation Station Bookstore. There is so much more work to be done."