Just about thirteen years ago, when we began Free Black Space we imagined a need for a digital media platform that could articulate the changes in the concept of blackness as it operated in the larger society.  Free Black Space was a phenomena that occurred in the context of Karibu Books.  

Karibu operated from 1993 to 2008.  When we closed in 2008 our six locations made us one of the largest, if not the largest black bookstore in the country.  Free Black Space describes the internal dynamics of the bookstore.  All our staff were black, and many of our locations were in black communities.  Our mission was empowerment of African-Americans through literature.  

After the bookstore closed, I became aware of how privileged our position as a black bookstore was.  For we had the luxury of existing in an environment where language, thought, and ideas mattered without the pressures of the larger white world.  Our customer base was diverse; and though they included academics and members of the highly educated Prince George's County demographic, all segments of the black community were represented.  

Free Black Space represents this diversity and free space outside of the walls of academia and the larger white society, where much of blackness is muffled, stiffled, and prevented from free expression.  The benefit of Free Black Space is the freedom of expression that occurs when the environment is predominantly black.  

This "freedom" must be weighed against the lack of access to resources or educational opportunities provided by white institutions.  The beauty of Karibu was the owner's commitment to investing their limited wealth in the institution.  It was possible to work and shop in Karibu and imagine that black Bookstores were not really less than, but viable and thriving.

In 2016, I published on Free Black Space my essay "The Fifty-Four", which functions as part narrative of the Karibu story; but also engages the idea of the black bookstore within the black community and American society.  The title comes from an article I had read that year, that noted there were only fifty-four black bookstores left in the country.  Mind you Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me was published in 2015 and was instantly a best-seller and has remained so.  Yet, in the beginning, and perhaps even now, that had little to do with black bookstores.  

A black book is not necessarily connected to black people or black institutions.  In fact, at this point in time, in our culture, it is a lot like black people themselves.  The consciousness articulated by the book or its relationship to black people and black institutions can only be determined by careful examination.

Ironically, after the death of George Floyd in 2020, black bookstores in particular, surged into the public arena.  In the beginning of the pandemic,  they had gathered to contemplate their survival.  And while some might argue their tactics in terms of positioning created the surge in sales post Floyd's death, that approach is less than sophisticated.  Many "black bookstores" sold more books in the few months after Floyd's death than they had in the entire year before, and in contrast to the Coates' moment, which was followed by one of the all-time lows for black bookstores, black book store sales numbers surged.  

The irony, or perhaps tragedy, is that a publicized murder during a pandemic, seemed to create an environment blacks booksellers were incapable of producing on their own.  Business after all involves luck, but is not dependent on it.  A tragic publicized murder as stimulant for economic growth is not as progressive as it seems.

The Free Black Space approach has always been internal dynamics.  But the difficulty is obvious.  Over our brief history we have seen authors we know, and had we been white institutions of power, could have easily published and made millions.  They have been great years for black writers.  Indeed, publishing based on diversity has been as profitable as slavery,  There are virtually no black competitors to "own" authors as the white houses do.  

The real benefits of publishing are not the authors and the success; but instead, the collective cash flows, the increase in profile of the brand, the internships, the excess profits towards infrastructure, or as in the case of  The Atlantic, the appreciation of the asset as a whole.  An author who makes black history specials and heads out the Aspen Institute, or suddenly makes 50K speaking fees could arguably be a sophisticated distraction away from the true complexities of  systematic racism if we analyze the situation with ideas of say, a Black Wallstreet.

We stressed as much throughout the years from here in Free Black Space.  Some could argue it was a fool's position fortified by having actually made an honest, decent, living selling books to  black folks and achieving a marginal success.  Our big dreams were not simply individualistic, but also communal.

The record of Free Black Space shows the preceding years did not lend much weight to black bookstores or independent black institutions.  In fact, the Obama years, which began with the idea of a post-racial society, privileged black writers and intellectuals in the larger society.  A black President suddenly made blackness and its "experts" more valuable than they had ever been.  It was a great time to contemplate how blackness intersected with the larger culture.  

Yet, black institutions only received a boom via trickle down economics.  They were impractical at least.  Black writers and intellectuals who excelled were published for the most part by white publishing institutions.  The increased value of blackness in the open market made it more difficult for African-Americans to compete.

As important, is the idea that as intellectuals and writers they were not competing.  Though they have received numerous awards and seem to be winning, the public narrative for their winning is they are the best by measure of craft.  The idea suggests the enormous popularity was based on their commitment to ideas about scholarship, craft, and fit well with ideas of the American sage scholar, who does the work regardless of circumstances.  Not for money, not for fame; but in pursuit of the truth.  The trope is caricature as much as it is opportunity for publishing houses; one can rest assured, those houses, which buy up black titles and promote black authors are always competing.  Though their acquisitions are lauded as black history moments and examples of increased diversity, they are also highly profitable.  

The Free Black Space approach remains, even at this strange crossroads.  Internal dynamics and embracing money making as much as the authors who will never reject their millions is key to any collective success in our community.  The trends show all the opportunities are right in front of us.  The power is in our hands.