TKC MUST READ!!! PROSPERO'S POSTS DEFIANT SCREED AFTER REMOVING CONTROVERSIAL 'KANSAS CITY'S INDIGENOUS BOOK STORE' STICKERS!!!

Yesterday our blog community broke news of a bitter Midtown Kansas City culture war regarding promotional signage for a beloved local bookstore.

And now . . .

AMID DEATH THREATS AND SOCIAL MEDIA HATE FROM PROGRESSIVES . . . PROSPERO'S WAS FORCED TO REMOVE THE STICKERS!!!

Even better . . .

IN TYPICAL PROSPERO'S FASHION THEY WRITE AN EPIC POST EXPLAINING THE PR EFFORT GONE HORRIBLY WRONG!!!

There's a lot of good stuff in the response . . .

What we like is that Prospero's calls out fellow progressives on their hypocrisy and offers a behind the scenes look at a bitter debate among people who might otherwise be allies.

We cut out a lot of tribute to friends of the store & post-racial White/Native-American genealogy but wanted to leave the post mostly intact because it's actually quite enlightening. For now, it's still on the bookstore's FB.

Checkit:

Edited (a little) for brevity . . . A few moments ago Prospero's posted this:

I am not here to ask for YOUR forgiveness. I do not seek it and, frankly, YOU do not have the power in my life to 'bestow' it upon me.

UP FRONT: the fucking stickers are gone. Period.

Aht, aht, aht ! before you crow and thump your chests in some sort of self-proclaimed 'VICTORY' - you need to read what else I have to say. You may not like it.

I AM ACTING across an arc of reasons:

First: TWO individuals who, when I can afford it, come to work the shelves. They are decent people with a deep love of the power and beauty of words, and an understanding of the kind of people who read books. They are front-line shock troops in our never ending war to wrest order from chaos, to struggle back against entropy. One is gay, the other a father and educator. They deserve better.

For those who need an identity approval seal, BOTH have a RIGHT to lay claim to the NARROW definition of the word INDIGENOUS. Enuf blood and DNA to satisfy most of the holiest PURITY gatekeepers.

I am also doing this on behalf of my biz partner - who loves nothing more than swatting a bee's nest. He won't say it, so I will: A Jewish man, he refuses, though entitled, not to have much to do with that identity (DO WE REALLY need to be reminded what the identity people, given reign, did to others like him?). A curmudgeonly intellect, he relishes using words to challenge and engage and push against notions, even if sometimes it makes everyone in the room squirm.

* * * *

NEXT (and most importantly, for me), I am doing this because of a little boy who's journey into adulthood rests in no small part on me.

HE IS WATCHING. Closely.

He is drawing conclusions and developing reactions based on how WE conduct ourselves, and he will be a part of how this discussion evolves into the future.

This week is spring break, and all day I've been fielding questions: "What's wrong, Dad? Are you sad?' "These people know you, right, dad? ... ", "why are they so angry?" "didn't you help...,". "why would someone be like that..."

... then the questions began to change: "are you going to just take that?" "you should do ____, that'd teach them a lesson ..." "what about if WE get someone to ..." "let me do ___"

My fucking heart broke.

I spent the afternoon today explaining that to surrender, to give in to anger, to lash out is to let others shape who you are. I did my best to deflect his visceral reaction to strike back. I tried to explain that YES one has to stand up for one's self BUT once you cede yourself to anger's powerful current, that IT OWNS YOU, not you it.

I did not tell him about my thoughts today of filing police restraining orders or carrying a gun against those who have suggested some sort of 'physical action,' (yes, there are captured screen shots). Hell, two people, once so-called 'friends' went so far as to imply we had 'killed' a mutual acquaintance in our ravenous pursuit of bookstore profits...

I DID feel that I had to reassure my girlfriend, also a mother, and my son's mom that most of the vitriol posted is just letting off steam....

* * * *

To the hundreds and hundreds of people who've called, texted, posted (often at very inappropriate hours) your solidarity, if not in the particular, in the affirmation of your continued love and belief that in shared effort we CAN do better. You are the shit.

* * * *

I stand by YOUR right to fly whatever flag you think you have to fly to give yourself meaning.

I do not denigrate your choice even if I find it elemental in much of what's wrong in our ability to deal with each other decently as human beings.

I do CLAIM one thing: to be a Kansas Citian, INDIGENOUS of this time and place. YOU, whoever you think you are, YOU cannot take THIS from me cause you did not give it to me.

To the opportunists who think this is your ticket to a seat at the table with the cultural gatekeepers, to all those smug in their social media bravado, to those who expect but don't offer, to those who never cross the lintels of a small, indie bookstore anyway - FUCK YOU.

To the proclaimed poets who love to parade their ever-so-brave "shock" and "confrontation" and "cultural challenge" (as long as it's stamped 'acceptable') - your hypocrisy is palpable.

FUCK all the identity divisiveness - it is not welcome in my life.

AND Unless SOME think that they've somehow extracted some economic 'pound of flesh' - since the commencement of this shit storm - business is up. Proving once again the triumph of pettiness and spectacle (yet more trumpian values) over anything meaningful - "no press is bad Press", right? RIGHT?!

Frankly, It turns my stomach.

The stickers are gone ...

... we have books to sell
##########

You decide . . .