For nearly three years, Rohi鈥檚 Readery in downtown West Palm Beach has been a local staple for diverse, inclusive books and live literacy programming for children and adults. Its founder, Pranoo Kumar, told 港澳天下彩the 鈥渟ocial-justice driven bookstore鈥� is growing as it continues to include books that spotlight historically marginalized communities, untold stories by Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, and immigrants, such as herself.
Amid a contentious debate over banned and challenged books across Florida and across the country, this popular children鈥檚 bookstore in Downtown鈥檚 CityPlace won the city鈥檚 bid earlier this year to expand to a larger location in the Northwest Historic District 鈥� a predominantly Black neighborhood in the northwestern side of the downtown area.
Kumar, an education consultant who is of Indian descent, said the bookshop and art workspace continues to garner community and fundraising support ahead of its plan to submit a July update to city officials on the new location.. The new location is funded through the city鈥檚 .
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In the meantime, she said, she鈥檚 still grappling with those who disapprove of her persistent need to infuse cultural competency in her lessons and shop, experiencing a 鈥渇air share of death threats, negative comments, emails.鈥�
鈥淎s a human, I would be remiss if I didn't say that it does bring a level of fear,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I also really channel the strength of my ancestors and those who've come before us who have been doing this work so unapologetically and with harsher consequences.鈥�
Laws limiting conversation
Kumar鈥檚 work to expand her bookstore comes at a time when Florida continues to lead the effort nationwide to ban books from public school libraries.
PEN America, a group that fights book bans, issued a last month noting that more than 4,000 books have been pulled from the nation鈥檚 schools in the first half of the current school year. Florida had the country鈥檚 highest number, with 3,135 bans across 11 school districts, representing 72% of all banned books. The majority of banned books were produced by Black and LGBTQ+ authors.
PEN America reports that more than 10,000 books have been banned by public school libraries over the last two and a half years, July 2021 to December 2023.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has referred to the term book bans as a 鈥渉oax鈥� and 鈥減olitical theater.鈥滺e has championed policies that allow the censorship and challenging of books based on whether they are appropriate for children in schools.
In 2022, DeSantis signed into law a bill that allowed any person to challenge books as often as they wanted. Once challenged, a book had to be pulled from shelves until the school district resolved the complaint.
Last month, DeSantis backtracked on the 2022 law when he signed a bill narrowing its focus. He blamed liberal activists for abusing the law, not the citizens whose objections to certain books account for the majority of book removals from school libraries and classrooms.
鈥淭he idea that someone can use the parents rights and the curriculum transparency to start objecting to every single book to try to make a mockery of this is just wrong,鈥� DeSantis said the day before the bill signing. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 performative. That鈥檚 political.鈥�
The new law, which takes effect July 1st, says residents without children can only object to one material per month, but it doesn't limit parents from requesting book bans..
Books, such as Huckleberry Finn, had been challenged in Palm Beach County, but there have been no reported book bans in the county.
Kumar said 鈥渢he damage is done鈥� because there is a level of fear in the air over the use of words that imply anything to do with race and identity in various educational spaces outside of the school.
鈥淲e have developed over 175 partnerships in the past three years. Certain partnerships with organizations that now are not allowed to use certain words like 鈥榙iversity, equity, inclusion,鈥� anti-racism work, even the word liberation,鈥� she said.
Kumar said parents, however, often come to her bookstore in search for banned books 鈥撯�� a pushback against the social sentiment surrounding the state's which regulates and restricts 鈥渨oke indoctrination,鈥� teachings surrounding racism, gender identity and sexual orientation in the workplace and public schools.
鈥淭hese books are liberatory books. That's what I say when people come in here and they ask, 鈥榗an I see what a banned book looks like?鈥�, Kumar added. She said it 鈥渞eframes鈥� the conversation to feel more accessible.
Story behind bookstore name
鈥淩ohi鈥� is named after her grandmother, an education activist.
鈥淪he was someone who fought for children's rights, for the emancipation of women's rights and really wanted to ensure liberation of everyone, especially during colonized rule in India,鈥� Kumar said.
Inside her current bookstore, the availability of handcrafted art and books in the shop illustrate the various ways people express their racial and cultural identity. Across from a James Baldwin painting on the wall, for instance, the 鈥淩evolutionary Readers鈥� section has a dark-skinned girl perusing through a children鈥檚 book with her tiny, clinched fist in the air.
The new, 1,600-square-foot location, named Rohi鈥檚 Liberation Station, will be located in the between Rosemary Avenue and Sapodilla Avenue, directly across the street from Heart and Soul Park and the Historic Sunset Lounge, the renovated jazz venue.
The two buildings and its two courtyards will serve as a retail space and the other space will serve as a flex space, which will include free educational programming, offering early childhood, adults and financial literacy programs.
The space has received a donation of a bus from Palm Tran, the county public transit bus system.
鈥淲hen I think of Liberation Station, I think of it as a physical space where people can just feel seen, feel valued, but also are able to just breathe and be,鈥� Kumar said.
