Black-owned North Carolina bookstore shuts after threatening message targets owner's son

The first Black-owned children's book store in North Carolina is moving location amid repeated violent threats made against it.

Local news station WRAL reports that Raleigh's Liberation Station Bookstore, which opened last year on Juneteenth, aimed to offer a wide variety of children's books that were drawn and illustrated by Black authors.

However, the store was soon bombarded by racist threats.

The store's owner, Victoria Scott-Miller, told WRAL that she and her family sometimes didn't take the threats too seriously, but that they were finally pushed over the edge by a menacing message that targeted her 13-year-old son, who helps the family run the store.

"Since September, we’ve faced numerous threats following the opening of our store," Scott-Miller revealed in an Instagram post. "Some we brushed off, while others included a disturbing phone call detailing what our son Langston wore when he was at the shop alone."

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Scott-Miller said she doesn't want to be seen as a martyr for the anti-racist cause, although she did lament that "we live in a country that has given permission to the nameless and faceless people to make threats and cause harm, emotional harm."

The bookstore owner hasn't revealed any future location but vowed to continue being a book vendor in the community.

At the moment, she told WRAL, the plan is to "go back to the drawing board to reassess and redefine what we will need in our next location."

She also described her vision of the bookstore as an important place in the community for people to visit.

"It is a sanctuary," Scott-Miller said. "It is a home. It’s church. It is your grandmama’s dinner table."

Liberation Station at the moment plans to remain open until April 13th.