2/18/12 – Bookworks Reconsiders; Invites Mikey Weinstein for Book Signing
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Update 2/18/12:
The following email was sent to Tyson Cornell, publisher of “No Snowflake in an Avalanche”:
Tyson,
The community has spoken and we are listening. This has definitely been an education. A few days ago, we made a decision regarding an author event with local author and activist Mikey Weinstein that we felt, at the time, was the right call. After hearing from many friends and longtime supporters of the store, we realize that we made a mistake. We have been asked to reconsider and we are doing so. Mr. Weinsteins book was always available for sale at Bookworks.
Since our March press release has already gone out and the month is quite full, April may work better for everyone.
These are the dates we have available; April 5, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 28. Please let me know if any of these days will work for you and we can work our any further details.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Danielle Foster and Wyatt Wegrzyn
UPDATE 2/17/12: Reactions to Bookworks Bookstore’s rejection of MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein’s book-signing appearance in Albuquerque
See below for statements from MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein, the book’s publisher, Vireo, as well as the original letter of rejection
Statement from Mikey Weinstein:
With great sadness and a heavy sense of disgust and ambush, I was informed that Bookworks Bookstore in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is refusing to host an in-store appearance and book-signing event for my new book, NO SNOWFLAKE IN AN AVALANCHE: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, its Battle to Defend the Constitution, and One Family’s Courageous War Against Religious Extremism in High Places (Vireo, 2012).
The letter, which was pathetically and disingenuously apologetic and evasively chicken-hearted, implied that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF; militaryreligiousfreedom.org) is somehow a divisive force in the Albuquerque region. On the contrary, MRFF is the sole New Mexico-based organization to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, not on one occasion but on four occasions spanning three consecutive years (2010 – 2012). The assumption that our much-respected civil rights organization — which enjoys a firm global reputation for our steadfast defense of servicemembers’ constitutional rights — would suddenly escalate tension within the context of the so-called “political climate of Albuquerque,” is patently absurd and breathtakingly false.
The specious stipulation that MRFF has some axe to grind with the evangelical community of Albuquerque (or nationwide, for that matter) is an outrageous smear which has absolutely no basis in reality. Our organization counts a heavy contingent of evangelical Christians among our nearly 27,000 clients within the United States armed forces. In fact, 96% of our total client base are practicing Christians of a vast variety of denominations. Our renowned civil rights organization is solely devoted to combating the pernicious influence of evangelical fundamentalists, religious extremists, and bigots of all stripes within the U.S. Military. As such, the overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians, who are disgusted by the zealous, militant, fundamentalist extremism that distorts the essence of their faith, constitute a firm pillar of support for our organization throughout our base of donors, supporters, Advisory Board members, and clients.
Additionally, the letter implies that Bookworks fears the possibility that a book-signing event would anger or offend active-duty military personnel at Kirtland Air Force Base, and that they would sooner walk on eggshells for fear of “alienating” them.
As you read this, please keep in firm mind
the following salient facts:
- I am an Honor Graduate of the US Air Force Academy, and a former 10-year Air Force officer and Judge Advocate General
- I am the proud parent of two sons, one daughter-in-law, and a near-term future son-in-law who graduated from the US Air Force Academy
- My brother-in-law is a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Academy
- My father is a distinguished graduate of the US Naval Academy
- One of my sons is an Active Duty Air Force Officer
- My other son and daughter-in-law are in the Air Force Inactive Reserve
- My near-term future son-in-law is an Active Duty Air Force Officer and Pilot
- My nephew is a USMC Gunnery Sgt. who has just completed his fourth combat tour in Afghanistan
- I have both a close personal and working relationship with the Commanding General at Kirtland AFB
- My daughter is a USAF civilian employee at Kirtland AFB, working in the same organization as the Commanding General
Considering the preceding list of my extensive qualifications, I find myself incredibly shocked and insulted by the presumptuous notion that the petty book-dealers at Bookworks are somehow more attuned to the culture of the United States Air Force than I am.
The good people of Albuquerque should feel egregiously denigrated and marginalized by the self-assigned, putrescent role as “community content regulators” that Bookworks has taken upon themselves. It’s not the role of small business owners to filter, censor, or otherwise regulate the content to which local residents should be exposed.
I urge the people of Albuquerque to recognize the foolishly paternalistic actions of Bookworks Bookstore, and immediately distance themselves from this terrible act of cowardice. They should know far better than to treat every single one of us as ostriches with our heads stuck in the sand.
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
Founder & President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Statement from Vireo, publisher of No Snowflake in an Avalanche:
LOS ANGELES—In the midst of releasing the new book, NO SNOWFLAKE IN AN AVALANCHE: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Battle to Defend the Constitution, and One Family’s Courageous War Against Religious Extremism in High Places by Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Los Angeles and New York-based independent publisher, Vireo Books, reports discriminatory practices in connection with a proposed event with Bookworks Bookstore in Albuquerque.
Bookworks owners expressed refusal to move forward on confirming an in-store appearance and book signing with Weinstein on the grounds that customers from Albuquerque’s evangelical community might oppose the civil rights message of Weinstein’s book while also noting that the bookstore “strive[s] to serve customers of all belief systems, backgrounds, and ideologies and try to never consciously marginalize anyone, of any philosophy, who might walk into our store at any give moment.”
Vireo publisher, Tyson Cornell, expressed heavy concern over these kinds of remarks. “It is absolutely outrageous for an independent bookstore in this day and age to pick and choose events based on whether or not they might upset individuals who are violently discriminating American military personnel based religious beliefs,” Cornell says.
“This is akin to declining an event with Alex Haley, author of ‘Roots’ and ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X,’ because it might upset racist white people. Booksellers have a long history of standing up for literary humanitarianism–defending ‘The Satanic Verses’ in the wake of Salman Rushdie’s fatwa, fighting against literature bans. This kind of censorship is appalling.”
Letter of rejection from Bookworks bookstore:
[Julia is a representative of Vireo, publisher of No Snowflake in an Avalanche]
Hi Julia,
Our store owners and I discussed this at length, and based on what we know about our customer base and the political climate of Albuquerque at the moment, we don’t feel that this event is a good fit for our store. We are trying to be conscious, in this election year, that tensions are running high between people with very disparate religious and social beliefs. We strive to serve customers of all belief systems, backgrounds, and ideologies and try to never consciously marginalize anyone, of any philosophy, who might walk into our store at any given moment. We are located in a city with an Air Force base and we do count many active-duty military personnel among our best customers, and we have to be cognizant of that. We also work with Albuquerque’s evangelical community at times on book events, and have many customers who are members of Albuquerque’s evangelical churches. While we do not specifically cater to that clientele, we cannot afford and do not want to alienate them either.
While I personally have tremendous admiration for Mr. Weinstein and sympathize with his activism, our event curation is not about me, and what I believe, or even what our owners support and believe. We are not at all sure that it would benefit the store or our community of customers to foment this kind of discussion in the midst of the heavy political tensions people are experiencing right now. And at the end of the day, we must do what we feel is best for our store and our customers, so that we can remain in business.
I hope you understand and will accept my apologies for declining the event, and pass on our apologies to Mr. Weinstein. We would be interested in working with you in the future, for other books. I can also make some suggestions, if you would like, for possible organizations that might be interested in hosting Mr. Weinstein. If you do find a non-bookstore venue in town that can host him, we might be able to sell books at the event (I would have to run that by my owners).
Thanks, Julia, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Amy Lahti
Marketing Manager
Bookworks
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6 Comments
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Hello,
This is Amy Lahti writing from Bookworks. I would like to clarify some things stated in this article.
First, Mr. Weinstein’s book is not “banned,” either “in Albuquerque” (Mr. Weinstein just had an event for his book at Page One bookstore in Albuquerque), or at our store, as we plan to stock the book for purchase at Bookworks.
While the factors I cited in my letter to Mr. Weinstein’s publisher (which the publisher unfortunately decided to make public, despite the fact that it was meant as a communication just for Mr. Weinstein’s publicist) were accurate, ultimately, the decision not to host Mikey at our store was based on two things: one was past sales of his book at our store. We sold zero copies of Mr. Weinstein’s previous book at the store, and have had no requests for copies of the new book, indicating low customer interest in his book and topic. We don’t usually tell this to authors, though, as we understand why authors are sensitive about hearing that their book has generated little interest among customers.
The second factor was the fact that Mr. Weinstein had just had an event for his book at Page One in Albuquerque. We try not to have an event for the same book and/or author too close to another bookstore event in Albuquerque, as we find that attendance and sales at our event is greatly compromised if the author has had a previous local event. Many bookstores have this policy, of asking for “event exclusivity” within a certain mile radius of their store. Mr. Weinstein chose to approach Page One about an event for his book before Bookworks, and therefore, we had to make a decision based on the idea that we were second in line to do an event. Again, we don’t usually talk about this with authors as by the time we get their request, it’s too late for them to do anything about it; they’ve already had a previous event.
Finally, we at the store are very proud of welcoming people of ALL creeds, beliefs, religions, etc. into the store and do not ever want to alienate anyone based on their personal beliefs. We are proud of this and I am glad that Mr. Weinstein chose to share that portion of my letter.
We’re sorry we couldn’t host Mr. Weinstein at Bookworks. We do regret that Mr. Weinstein, and his publisher, have apparently taken our decision personally, and are using it to draw attention to his book and their cause in an inappropriate and frankly unfortunate way. Contrary to what Mr. Weinstein said on his website, his book is not “banned” in Albuquerque, or at our store, as we plan to stock his book for purchase. We simply cannot accommodate an event for him, at this time.
Thanks, and I welcome any questions or comments at events at bkwrks dot com.
Hi all
One more thing I’d like to clarify. A couple of folks have emailed me asking why we canceled Mikey’s event, or invited him to Bookworks and then withdrew the invitation. Mikey never had an event scheduled with us, and we had also not extended him an invitation. We received an unsolicited event request from Vireo Books (Julia and Tyson both claim our store has worked with Vireo in the past, although no one at our store has any recollection of that) for an event with Mikey. I totally understand that many people don’t understand how book events at bookstores usually get scheduled – it’s more of the “sausage getting made” side of the business. In short, sometimes we “invite” authors to the store, and sometimes we get unsolicited requests from authors or publicists. In Mikey’s case, it was the latter. We just don’t want any further confusion to circulate. Thanks much, and please do feel free to email me with any comments or questions at events at bkwrks dot com. I would be happy to share Julia’s original email to me with anyone who would like to see it.
Response to posts by Amy Lahti above:
The “business decision” by Bookworks is an obvious smoke screen for the actual basis of the decision by Bookworks to deny Mikey the opportunity for an in-store event. I base this smoke screen accusation on the following factors:
1) If the denial of the in-store event by Mikey was based on poor past book performance and event exclusivity in Albuquerque, then say it and move on. This makes for a clean business-like letter without all the hemming and hawing about belief systems, ideologies, and Air Force bases. In poker, Bookworks’ hemming and hawing would be called a ‘Tell’. The so-called sensitivity of authors is totally irrelevant in a business decision of this nature. If this is the case for Bookworks’ business practices, then I fully expect them to pay me for my wonderful writing skills exhibited in this response, or my feelings will be hurt.
2) To make a business decision on the sales of a book by an Author/Organization with 4 Nobel Peace Prize nominations (1 pending decision), and living in your community, due to low or no sales of an initial book is patently ridiculous. How many examples of fine/respected Authors with low 1st book sales would you like?
Now let’s address what’s really going on here, the ‘Poker Tell’ if you will. Ms. Lahti is pathetically and sufficiently upset that her denial letter was made public. She should be upset. Expecting confidentiality where none is requested or should be expected can be quite upsetting if you expect and desire complete censorship in this instance.
I guess most importantly…the ‘Tell’ of this situation comes when Ms. Lahti states, after pandering to ideological interests that disagree with Mikey, that “If you do find a non-bookstore venue in town that can host him, we might be able to sell books at the event (I would have to run that by my owners).” WOW….really, how thoughtful of you.
Mikey and MRFF are involved in a civil rights fight. Although I’ll certainly be accused of over-the-top hyperbole with what I’m about to say…I’m willing to stand up to the accusation.
Standing up for civil rights means standing up for a minority interests by definition. As such Bookworks’ denial in this instance reminds me of a restaurant operating in a Jim Crow law jurisdiction that just can’t seat you in good “conscience”, but would be more than happy to cater your event at someone else’s establishment.
In light of the recent media storm created when MRFF discovered and responded to the negligent response of the U.S. Military to the use of a Nazi SS flag by members of a US Marine Corps Scout Sniper unit, I am reminded of a very impactful quote. I am reminded of this quote due to the close relationship in the world between religious zealots, racism, and sectarian violence which results from what Mikey & MRFF is fighting against.
“I come from a people who gave the Ten Commandments to the world. Time has come to strengthen them by three additional ones, which we ought to adopt and commit ourselves to: thou shall not be a perpetrator; thou shall not be a victim; and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander.” (Yehuda Bauer, professor of Holocaust studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a speech to the German Bundestag, January 27, 1998)
Bookworks has decided to be a bystander in my opinion.
Andy Kasehagen
Albuquerque, NM
Hi Amy,
We go way back together, and you obviously felt the ability to be frank with us regarding the owners’ concern for potentially upsetting military and evangelical clients of Bookworks. However, if the issue really is sales data and lack of interest, I believe you would have felt the ability to be frank with us about those concerns as well.
Please stop backtracking on this issue. We both know that if your reasons for declining the event were actually based on these new reasons, you would have told us. The communication was happening between Bookworks and Rare Bird, not Bookworks and the author. There was no need to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings.
If you can’t stand behind your original statement on this, the credibility of everything you say after is completely null.
Tyson Cornell
Vireo
Hi Tyson
I’d love to respond further, but as we just got a letter from an attorney representing Mr. Weinstein threatening legal action, unfortunately, now any further communication with you, or Mr. Weinstein, will need to be done through Bookworks’ lawyer. I can forward any communication from you to our attorney if you send it to events at bkwrks dot com. We are also being assisted by ABFFE, as we are ABFFE members, and you can certainly feel free to contact Chris at ABFFE with any further comments for him.
I also got a great apology from Julia today about this whole debacle that I really appreciated. It’s really wonderful that you have such great, ethical, caring people working for you.
Thank you!
Amy Lahti
I am a meagre financial supporter of MRFF, and just from reading the dispatches and statement on the website, I have come to the opinion that Mr. Weinstein is a very lively and emotional person who skates the edges of a whirlpool at such a speed that he manages to avoid getting sucked into the black hole of rage that he is trying to calm. I would advise the people watching to stay farther away from the center because you probably can’t skate that fast.