Urban Reads Bookstore owner receives over 500 racist messages

By Linnea Hoover

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    BALTIMORE (WMAR) — “I started posting your f****** phone number for everybody to call you up and talk to you about it.”

Doxing.

“I didn’t want you to be a liar, so I thought I’d give you a call and call you a *** and a monkey, you f****** *** monkey b****.”

Racism.

“We’re all three, about two hours away from that 3008 address that you have listed.”

Threats and intimidation.

“A lot of them are calling from Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Cali, New York, Philly,” said Tia Hamilton.

Hamilton, owner of Urban Reads, has been dealing with messages like these since February.

“So this, these are some of the texts, I mean the actual threat that came through, this is what sparked everything,” said Hamilton.

She says she’s sent over 500 phone calls, text messages and social media posts to the police, FBI and Maryland Attorney General.

“I just got off the phone with the Attorney General Brown’s office. They got more messages from me because I’m getting them every day, like as we talk right now they are in my inbox,” Hamilton explained.

This started because Hamilton decided to stand her ground, 10 toes down.

“They choose to come in my DM, send me messages, threatening messages, and I post their profiles every day,” said Hamilton. “I couldn’t believe that it was to this magnitude. I’m used to saving everybody else, right? Now, I gotta save myself and I couldn’t believe the messages, the amount of messages. I’m talking about these people are at it all hours of the day like they have no life.”

Hamilton isn’t just standing tall for herself, but for other Black business owners in Baltimore.

“It’s just a dope environment we have here, we don’t bother nobody. Out of the five years I’ve been here, we never had a problem. Until the problem came, then it’s a community problem because the community is not having it,” said Hamilton.

“Baltimore don’t stand no bullies, and if it ain’t working for everybody, it ain’t working for anybody. We have to come out hard and be here and be strong for all of our community members, especially the most vulnerable. Black women are always the most vulnerable, and we have to protect them,” said Michelle Finzel with Love Thy Neighbor.

If you want to know how you can help Hamilton, and Urban Reads, she says buy a book, donate to her prison literacy program and take and take a stand to protect the heart of the neighborhood.

“Just protect my store, because my store is your store. This is a community hub. We hold meetings in here, book signing kids events, children literacy programs, protect the environment. It’s just not protect me, it’s protecting Urban Reads and protecting what we love in the Waverly community,” Hamilton said.

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