On Juneteenth, their dream of bringing a bookstore to Liberty City becomes reality
For years before his untimely death in a car accident, the late Danny Agnew had been conjuring up the idea for a bookstore. He'd come back home from his native Chicago with 'a ton of books' and would speak it into existence: 'He was like, 'Man, I want to do a bookstore,'' partner Isaiah Thomas told the Herald. At the time, their nonprofit Roots Collective, which was founded by Danny Agnew, his brother Phillip and Thomas, was located at the Blackhouse on Seventh Avenue, and only had one shelf with books. 'We didn't have the space back then, but that moment planted the seed.'
Now, two years after Agnew's death, Phillip Agnew and Thomas opened up the storefront in Liberty City, with at least 2,000 books for sale, including several copies of 'Their Eyes Are Watching God,' 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,' and 'The Bluest Eye,' other books recently banned from Florida's classrooms and school libraries. Visitors can find books from indigenous and Hispanic authors as well as local authors inside the bookstore, which will also sell food and Roots Collective merchandise in the coming months.
Thomas emphasized the store is a labor of love from community members and volunteers who helped raise more than $12,000 of their $14,000 goal. 'I think our community gets confused and brainwashed with this 'self-made' concept, but Roots, this bookstore, is highlighting what community really looks like when we come together for a big purpose,' he said.
'They're planting seeds'
The three friends met more than a decade ago when Thomas, a Miami native, was feeding the homeless during the holidays. Danny and Phillip Agnew showed up to help and the trio clicked instantly. The brothers often referred to Thomas as the 'other Agnew.' Coincidentally, Phillip Agnew and Thomas had just missed each other at their alma mater, FAMU, with Phillip Agnew being a senior when Thomas was a freshman.
After college, Thomas had an opportunity to teach in the Mississippi Delta, but instead decided to come back home. 'I wanted to make sure other kids felt that love from their community,' he said. 'I always say, having your community stand behind you and support you, that feeling… I can't even explain that feeling. I wanted to make sure that other kids from Miami received that love from the village and that support where they can make it anywhere.'
That love of community blended well with the Agnew brother's love of books, fostered by their father Barney, a book salesman in Chicago. 'That's all we knew growing up, going around with my dad to different places around the city and selling books that he had gotten from one place to other bookstores,' Phillip Agnew said.
Their father gave them books from his collection to start their bookstore and some books have been donated. 'They're planting the seeds in an area that a lot of people have thought couldn't support this type of growth,' Barney Agnew told the Herald as he sat in a chair sorting through books at the Liberty City bookstore.
'Everyone that comes to the bookstore or patronizes the bookstore looks around to the bookstore. It creates another option that people around here might not believe existed,' he continued. 'This is not just roots. This is a community place.'
It is part of why the very existence of the bookstore is a form of resistance, Phillip Agnew said.
'This is a state, and this is a country that wants to take Black people and poor people back to a whole other time, that we've fought to be delivered from and deliver ourselves from,' Phillip Agnew said, adding that it was important for them to have books that have been taken out of school libraries in the bookstore.
Since word spread of the bookstore's opening, Agnew said libraries and teachers have contacted them because they can't keep books deemed 'dangerous' by the Florida government on their shelves.
'It's just crucial that our young people, in particular, but our people have access to this knowledge and this understanding because we will repeat these patterns if we don't understand where our people have come from and where they've fought to get us to,' Phillip Agnew said.
While the bookstore is not limited to works of Black authors, they do have some criteria: no books by presidents and no books by people known to do damage to Black communities.
'In that way, we are at least attempting to be a radical space where we are very clear that there are some people that are for us and there are some people that are against us, and if you're against us, we're not going to have your book in the shop,' Phillip Agnew said.
It's also why opening on Juneteenth was crucial. Prior to it becoming a national holiday —marking June 19, 1865, the day when the last enslaved people in the U.S. were notified that they were freed— the Roots Collective would regularly hold Juneteenth events, such as barbecues and events at the Blackhouse. 'We had music, food, and we'll have hundreds of people come out just for the Juneteenth barbecue,' Thomas said. From there, they realized their Juneteenth events were gaining momentum in Miami.
'Juneteenth is just one of those days that we make sure we're doing something for the community, and it was the perfect day to open the store,' Thomas said.
'I want people to feel like it's theirs'
Beyond being a literary hub, the bookstore's opening will include a resource fair with partners such as the human rights nonprofit Dream Defenders and Dade County Street Response, a nonprofit that serves those affected by poverty. Phillip Agnew and Thomas want the bookstore to be a refuge for Liberty City, where people can relax and be in community with one another.
For Thomas, who was born and raised in Miami, the bookstore is also an opportunity to reinvigorate the 15th Avenue corridor. 'I grew up seeing 15th Avenue just be the life of Miami at one point with the cars, the music and people,' he said, adding he saw a chance to invigorate the community as the redevelopment of the new Liberty Square began to take over the area. Liberty Square is one of Miami-Dade's oldest public housing and has been razed to make way for a new mixed-income development that will reshape the historically Black neighborhood in Miami.
'I felt if we can get there now, we can really represent Black Miami, in a good way at the right time during this transition,' he said.
Agnew said he wants it to have a familiarity but with an updated vibe. 'I want for people to come in the store and be like, 'Oh, I remember the other Black bookstores that we had in Miami' but also see the newness,' he said. 'I just want people to feel like it's theirs already. We want the community to feel like it's their spot.'
IF YOU GO:
What: Roots Bookstore & Market
When: June 19, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: 6610 NW 15th Ave., Miami
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