i just read an article that said all african-american books (romance, mystery) are in the african-american section no matter what genre. why do you think this is and do you think it is fair?
2006-12-06 12:37:22 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
I work in a bookstore.
At first, I took issue with this myself. I could not understand why those books--which are just as good as books written by people of different races--are seperated. Also, books by Asian authors, British authors, etc. are not seperated.
However, over my three years of working there, I have discovered the reason. The vast majority of our African American customers want the section. They come in and ask, "Do you have a section of books by African American authors?" In fact, I've had only one person make any sort of negative comment about it being segregated, and she laughed while she said it.
Now, if it was de-segregated, the number of people asking for it may diminish. It may just become natural to go over to the general fiction section and find books by everyone. This is my personal ideal. However, for now, it is for convenience's sake--both for the workers and the readers.
Hope that helped!
2006-12-06 13:24:14 · answer #1 · answered by Esma 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not having seen that article, I can't comment on it. But bookstores are free to arrange their books however they like, and not all of them do it the same way. It's possible that some stores might find they have a sizable African-American clientèle who are interested in specifically African-American subjects and authors, and create a section for that. That also doesn't prevent them from having other copies of the same books shelved in more general categories.
I know where I shop I see biographies of African-Americans in the biography section, novels by black authors in fiction and genre categories, etc.
2006-12-06 20:52:32 · answer #2 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if it is an african american section it is proabaly to celebrate and make aware of african american contributions to society.. like a black history thing.... where is this segregation occuring? is it from a reliable source.?.....well it might also be that there are also sections for Hispanic literature or European books or asian studies... make sure of all of the possibilities.
2006-12-06 20:51:53 · answer #3 · answered by Police on my Back 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have not found that to be true. That would not be fair, at all. Maybe they have them in a section for Black History, or something. I would hope they did not do that.
2006-12-06 20:41:13 · answer #4 · answered by Garnet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this is SO crazy. it is just wrong. i used to be a page at a library, and we certainly never did anything like that.
2006-12-06 20:40:23 · answer #5 · answered by Robyn T 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋