Mahogany Books Celebrates James Baldwin’s 100th Birthday With Black Books Matter Fest
National Harbor’s Black-owned bookstore Mahogany Books hosted a Black Books Matter Fest commemorating legendary author James Baldwin on Aug. 3. During this event, books by Baldwin, a storyteller whose works have greatly inspired other writers, were spotlighted, while other authors sold their works.
“As a reader, I can see [Baldwin’s] influence in other writings I’ve read. His impact is that his words gave people the permission to be fully free and to experience their Black humanity in full,” said Derrick A. Young, who co-founded the bookstore with his wife Ramunda Young.
The husband and wife take pride in hosting events to celebrate Black authors like Baldwin, particularly as conservative legislators across the nation are actively removing books by Black authors from libraries.
“The job of a writer is to connect people to different worlds, whether it’s a fictional world or a past history or someone’s present experience. An excellent writer can bring emotion that makes a reader fully appreciate the moment. Baldwin was able to put people who are viewing Black and queer existence from the outside, to help them understand what those communities were experiencing,” Derrick Young told The Informer. “Baldwin helped writers contextualize things in a way that readers can feel and understand things in a way that isn’t abstract. His impact is the emotion, the passion, the love he carried for people, his radical concern for the queer community, something that we see even more now from writers today. His writing has given people permission to speak loudly and boldly about their humanity.”
Both of the Youngs connect emotionally and deeply with Baldwin’s writings.
“What I’ve learned from Baldwin as a person, not just his writing, is that there is a sense of caution, an underlying rage that is always with me because I see so many inequities. Seeing him and understanding him from his writing, his writing helped me to process that rage,” said Ramunda Young. “He was fully engaged in his community, in activism, in the church, and still learning to harness that rage in a way that is not dangerous or destructive, but productive. It’s wonderful to embrace that side of ourselves, and his writing does a great job to explain that parallel thinking within us.”
Ivey Appointed to Attempted Assassination Task Force
Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) was appointed to the Attempted Assassination Task Force on July 29, alongside 12 other lawmakers. In a rare display of bipartisanship, the task force passed the House with 416 votes in favor and none opposed.
“I stand with Democratic Leader Jeffries and Speaker Johnson in wanting to follow the evidence and seek the truth about this awful incident in Butler, Pennsylvania. Regardless of political party, we must follow the facts and work with the evidence and first-hand witnesses to come to the conclusions as to how and why this happened,” said Ivey after the appointment. “We will do the work necessary to present to the American people a fact-based assessment of what went wrong and what we can do better. I look forward to serving on this task force.”
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who was present at the rally in Butler, will be chairing the task force and former U.S. Army Ranger Jason Crow is the highest-ranking Democrat. ‘
Following a previous hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her position.
“Safety and security of our presidential candidates is paramount. Getting to the bottom of the security failures which allowed such an attempt is of the utmost importance. Political violence is unacceptable and protecting folks seeking elective office is a step we should take to protect our democratic process,” Ivey declared.