Confederate monument enthusiasts targeted a Bookstore & it backfired

[lludwig]

Confederate monument enthusiasts targeted my store—and it comically backfired by Alissa Redmond

"I purchased an independent bookstore in Salisbury, North Carolina just six months ago, after taking leave from my career as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State. After tours in Afghanistan, India, and other cities overseas, I was eager to give my four-year-old daughter stability and sidewalks for a while as she learned what it means to be an American at such an interesting moment in the history of our nation.

Flash forward four months: my grandmother passed away; COVID-19 loomed large on the horizon for so many others, particularly those living in retirement communities like hers. I was grateful to be near her towards the end and to live in a town so fiercely loyal to my bookstore in its hour of need. The store was deemed essential by the government of North Carolina as a purveyor of educational materials and remained open for business throughout the pandemic. To honor my beloved grandma, and show appreciation to all the customers who phoned or emailed in their orders, my daughter and I filled the Little Free Libraries in Rowan County with over 500 new books directly from our shelves. I knew so many people were struggling, and this felt like a great opportunity to give a little back to a community that warmly welcomed us with open arms and tremendous support.

Zoom ahead another month or so, and here I am planning to flood the Little Free Libraries of Rowan County again—this time with antiracist titles in response to a boycott some white supremacists launched against my store. My bookstore was added to an anonymously created Facebook page (since taken down) called “Boycott Salisbury” and its list of businesses to boycott “into bankruptcy.” The boycott targeted over 20 local businesses which organizers deemed overtly supportive of moving a Confederate monument away from the center of our downtown (currently perhaps 100 yards from my storefront in Salisbury) and was called in response to the Salisbury’s City Council unanimous vote in favor of moving the monument. The council’s vote was supported by public safety concerns surrounding the statue in the wake of a nonlethal shooting, committed by a white supremacist, in front of a crowd gathered nearby the week prior..."

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[sigmapsidelta]

Are 'white supremacists' the same as the 'far right'?

It gets a bit confusing sometimes as you have so many groups and parties with so many designations, some with more than one, and many that don't really apply.

All we've ever really had (in my lifetime) is Labour, Liberals/Liberal Democrats, and Conservatives.

But only Labour and Conservative have enough support to matter. The Lib Dems seem to be there to fill in the gaps if a coalition is needed, or otherwise just muddy the waters.

They've never been a threat to the other two because they tend to have too many daft or unpopular policies.

For several years now Labour have stolen their ground by having even worse policies and 'leadership' than was the Lib Dem norm. In response the Lib Dems just lost the plot completely. So we got Boris. He is striking fear into the EU as we elected him to do. And I still defy anyone to point to somebody who could, in only the third month of their government, have handled a pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen in living memory, as deftly, as knowledgeably, and as successfully as Boris's decriers seem to believe could have been done by some-mysterious-one else.

There was talk here of 'CANZUK', a proposed trading organisation involving Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. I know 'CANZUKUSA' sounds a bit like some Japanese crime syndicate, but the US should really be invited to such a thing. If nothing else, we can drop Canada until they get a sensible government, with a leader who isn't so fond of 'black face', hypocrisy, and the occasional fascistic use of law enforcement to intimidate critics. At least such a trading group wouldn't spend much on interpreters. Sorry, interpreters.

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[wri-8727]

"Are 'white supremacists' the same as the 'far right'?"

Enoch Powell would be the English equivalent to a American White supremacist, and the current version of the 'Brexit' Little Englander the 'far-right'.

Lludwig--->one of the disputed Confederate statues blew down in a resent hurricane after winning the right to remain standing. Funny old world, innit.

[sigmapsidelta]

Thank you.

I can see the Enoch Powell comparison. But he is no longer here. Nor is anyone like him in any position of power.

Not sure I'd go along with calling 17.4 million people, the highest number ever in any vote in UK history, the 'far right'. Take a look at the last general election here - Labour and the Lib Dems did so very poorly because many of their regular voters had voted for Brexit. Seeing their usual party then acting against the will of the people in any way they could, they naturally voted Conservative in December 2019, the only party willing to carry out the lawful result of the referendum. Many Brexit voters were life-long leftists. Wanting their nation to leave a trading organization that had metamorphosed into a big government with lavishly paid unelected leaders hardly makes them 'far right'. I would say they were just 'right', to mean correct.

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