BookWoman, a feminist bookstore in Austin, Tex., was vandalized earlier this month, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
On June 15, assistant manager Sarah Schoonhoven arrived at the bookstore to find that someone had thrown a piece of concrete through the store's front window overnight. A Pride flag was hanging in the window and the piece of concrete knocked over a rack of greeting cards inside the store. There were no signs that anyone had entered the store or stolen anything, and the vandalism occurred the night after a No Kings protest was held in downtown Austin.
"As an openly feminist and queer space, we are no strangers to pushback and attempts at silencing the voices of women, LGBTQA+ people and POC. This isn't new, and it isn't going to stop us from living out our values," store owner Susan Post, Schoonhoven, and the BookWoman team wrote on Facebook.
"We don't think it's a coincidence that a piece of concrete was thrown directly at our rainbow Pride flag, underneath the feminine symbol. We don't think it's a coincidence that this happened the night after Austin's No Kings rally, and recently following our stop on the Austin Against Apartheid bike ride.
"We will always continue to be a bookstore and community space that promotes feminism, LGBTQA+ rights, antiracism, anticapitalism, anti-apartheid, and the rights and freedoms of immigrants. In short, we will continue to be BookWoman."
Schoonhoven told the Austin American-Statesman that the store has "gotten a tremendous amount of response," with community members offering to donate and help repaint the window. "People have been really, really kind."