The Cafe Resistance Bookstore is scheduled to open later this month at 5007 Soutel Dr. in Jacksonville, Fla. First Coast News reported that owner Angie Nixon, who is the Florida House District 13 state representative, is launching the business "in response to low literacy rates and state laws on books in classrooms," and "understands the need for educational spaces within a community."
"We are currently in a food desert, amenity desert and entertainment desert," Nixon said. "And so, I wanted to open not only a bookstore, but a coffee shop and a community hub. A cultural space.... I just wanted to give back and offer free tutoring programs to help get the children on grade level. In addition to that, you know, I serve in the state legislature, and there's been a lot of book bans and book challenges."
Operated through nonprofit the Moxie Group, where Nixon is the executive director, the bookstore "will primarily house books about Black history and by Black authors. Included on the shelves are books that have been removed from classrooms around the state in compliance with Florida HB 1467, which requires books to be 'free of pornography or certain race-based teachings,' " First Coast News wrote.
"Some of those books would actually teach us and our children accurate, true history, particularly Black history," Nixon said.