My wife and I go out of our way to visit this bookstore. The store just outside of Baltimore will not do well if they don't advertise on Black radio. The mall they are going in is, for the most part, for hoppers.
Finding a Warm Welcome Prince George's Karibu Caters to African American ReadersBy Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page E01One recent afternoon Simba Sana chatted on the phone with his payroll consultant. As co-owner and founder of the Prince George's County-based bookstore chain Karibu, Sana is responsible for ensuring that the company's 40 employees at its five locations are paid on time -- but he'd forgotten a cashier's last name.
"Oh, let me call and get her slave name," he said into his cell phone, using the term that militant civil rights leader Malcolm X coined for the European surname borne by blacks whose ancestors were enslaved.
From such back-office discussions to the African American themes of the literature displayed in its front windows, Karibu is a far different enterprise from the giant chain stores that dominate the book-selling business. Its clear focus on a specialized market -- African American readers -- may be the key to its survival as an independent bookseller, publishing industry experts say.
This is starting to smell more and more like Tavis isn't being upfront.
Tavis Smiley's NPR Show Is History, but the Talk Lives On
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page C01
When Tavis Smiley walked away from his National Public Radio show last month, he did not go quietly.
In a series of interviews, he cast aspersions on his former employer, telling Time: "It is ironic that a Republican president has an administration that is more inclusive and more diverse than a so-called liberal-media-elite network."
But NPR executives say Smiley simply would not negotiate after an agent delivered his demands. "We tried to meet, we tried to talk by phone," says Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, who represented NPR. "We were woefully unsuccessful. . . . I have been doing this 30 years, and I have never had an experience like this. I was disappointed because I wanted to make a deal, and more important my client wanted to make a deal."
Says Smiley: "What NPR is apparently upset about is not that I would not negotiate, but that I wouldn't acquiesce. I do not do my best work in chains and shackles. For black kids and brown kids yet unborn, I felt I had to say no. They were being disrespectful."
Finally, I have to find out if my daughter went to this one:
Funk and Go-Go's Energizer Pep Cats
By Sean Daly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page C01
Pity the poor young suckers in the skin-on-skin crowd who tried to keep pace with Chuck Brown and George Clinton at the 9:30 club Friday. On their own, the Godfather of Go-Go and the Master of Funk can unleash enough booty-bumping grooves to bring the heartiest of party pros to their wobbly knees. But put these legends together on a historic double bill and, well, that's just wicked.
And exhausting.