The Resistance Bookstore, which will open February 28 at 515 W. Ionia St. in downtown Lansing, Mich., "wants the literature it sells to spur change in the streets," the Lansing State Journal reported.
Activists Fae Mitchell and Emily Dievendorf, who met on Juneteenth in 2020 while working on a Black Lives Matter mural on Capital Avenue, launched the bookstore as part of their ongoing collaboration. They were seeking a space where the community could gain knowledge to put into action.
"We can be out in the streets protesting or I can create art that's jarring and illuminating," said Mitchell, an artist who also coaches youth basketball. "But if people don't have the background and the knowledge of what it is--where it came from, the historical background, statistics and facts--it's just people yelling in the streets and considered angry."
Dievendorf, a political consultant and organizer, leased the space last April following renovations at a pair of downtown buildings that were redeveloped with retail space on the ground level and apartments above.
Mitchell and Dievendorf "stocked the store with personal favorites and popular titles. They aimed to represent books that aren't always found in bigger stores, including those by Native American, Black and transgender authors. Both Mitchell and Dievendorf are nonbinary themselves," the State Journal wrote.
Not far from the Resistance, in the Lansing Mall, is Socialight Society, where Nyshell Lawrence spotlights books by Black women. Mitchell attended the same church as Lawrence growing up, and the Reistance co-owners consulted with Lawrence to seek advice and avoid overlap between their stores.
"The goal of both bookstores is to get as many books that are typically underrepresented in traditional bookstores into the hands of the people in our community. The more the merrier," Lawrence said.
"We are here to represent multiple communities, and that's recognizing the different identities that we all have that cross," Mitchell noted.
Mitchell and Dievendorf want to establish a community board and pursue nonprofit status, too, in order to receive donations. The board will comprise locals from various advocacy organizations.