The sellers at Underdog Bookstore in Old Town Monrovia — an LGBTQ-owned bookshop uplifting diverse authors and local presses — are combating hate with love.
After several recent experiences with racism and homophobia, the owners have added temporary discounts to their diverse book selections as a way to encourage knowledge and empathy. The bookstore, which opened its brick-and-mortar on Myrtle St. in 2023, prides itself on being organized by demographic — with books categorized by AAPI, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, Black authors, etc.
On a quiet Friday afternoon, Underdog bookseller Muse Lee was getting the shop ready for the neighborhood’s weekly evening street fair market, when he was confronted by a customer. Lee, who was working the store alone at the time, said a woman came into the shop around noon on Friday, Feb. 2, looked around for some time, and then began arguing with him about the selection of books in the store. Lee said it was the first time he had ever seen the woman in the store.
“She had a lot of objections, which she proceeded to voice to me — and that included racism, homophobia, and how overall she felt ‘oppressed as a white person’ by the presence of books like this in a store like this,” Lee, 27, said.
She also ranted about slavery and the Holocaust, Lee said.
Lee said the woman then went on to say that “everyone faces oppression,” and that continuing to talk about oppression is “counterproductive.” He noted that he didn’t feel threatened, but tried to steer her away from the many assumptions she voiced, while also trying to get her out of the store as quickly as possible.
“The one thing directed specifically to me was her assuming that I was Japanese, just because I am Asian,” Lee said. “As an example, she mentioned that ‘my people’ attacked America during WWII, and that isn’t talked about. I am not even Japanese.”
Though the woman eventually left and everyone was reported safe, it wasn’t…
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