Announcement from the desk of our Sister, Raven R. White, a 2023 update on "Brown Sugar Books & Cafe."
"Some of you may have heard the news, we are moving from our Katy Location. We will continue to operate online & as a pop up store.
Brown Sugar Served as visual confirmation to myself & countless others what could be done when you put your vision to work.
Having envisioned this bookstore for over a decade & finally seeing it in a physical form is simply amazing… it’s just the beginning!
Being a bookseller & hosting events over the last year + showed to me that although that was extremely fun , exciting & amazing, it wasn’t quite the true vision that I had in mind. It took me over 20 Years to put my vision in physical form & I need to be true to it in order for me to continue this life’s journey. BSCAB is more than a store, it’s my life’s mission & I envisioned it a different way.
I was blessed to gain business mentors & coaches to help me understand why I was having a disconnect even though I knew in my heart exactly what that was…
Community. Not just any community but my own community. It’s no secret that I’m not a native of Texas & have no roots here. It was challenging to make the best connections especially within the school districts. The biggest vision I had for BSCAB was to implement literacy programs into schools to help increase the low literacy rates in black & brown children. Unfortunately I received major push back from Katy & CyFair independent school districts Over banned books. Critical race theory & other mediocre fears that the district has against BIPOC Literacy. (Another fight for another day)
Katy is a beautiful community & I’m honored to have been welcomed & received well overall. As I close this chapter in this State I journey on a new one in my home state of Chicago Illinois.
The Vision: To Serve underserved communities, Schools & homes with enlightening , necessary & useful curated books, programs & opportunities that wouldn’t be available otherwise to those who are less likely to have
access to it without our assistance.
I’m going back to what I know, starting with My old communities & Neighborhood Schools. Coming up in several underserved communities, I more than understand their plight & I’m more relatable to those children, teachers & decision makers.
Coming from exactly where they currently are, Showing them where they can go! That’s the vision. That’s the mission. The truth is, I’d rather give away a book than to sell one anyday.
The bookstore serves as a shell & visual representation of the world of books & art & music & community, however I don’t need a store to carry out my true vision. I want the store, & will have it indeed, the physical store is important but I want the opportunity to work with children who have been counted out, over looked, left behind, forgotten about more… I want to show them how a book, a community & a hand up changed the trajectory of my entire life being 1 of 13 kids with parents suffering from addictions , being poor & often with no food, nor heat feeling over looked, left behind, forgotten about until a teacher put a BOOK in my hand, until the community center took me to see Dr. kings memorial, until a journalist who looked like me & had my same life as a child stood before me & told me that I COULD FLY & they all gave me BOOKS that changed me life. The Vision is to be that. To do that. If not that, then nothing.
I know I didn’t have to share all of that, but those of you who’ve been around know that I’m very transparent. You’ve been with me on this journey & you should know our truths. Although we love our store in Katy, it’s not serving our true vision & mission.
Thank you all for your tremendous support & constant Encouragement. We are glad to have caught our stray so early on & over the moon about the opportunity to impact many more moving forward.
We’ve sold thousands of books & highlighted over 100 independent authors & artist in the Houston area. Thank you for supporting their local talents & please continue to do so!
Remember We will continue to function as an online platform & will host pop up & community events until our official move this summer. We hope that you’ll stick around, buy your books from us online & at local events/venues.
BSCAB isn’t Stoping. Just the Katy store. We’re a big movement & the goal is still to have a franchise in every state, we just have to ensure that our vision stays on track in order to be the most impactful to our deserving youth & the community’s that we serve.
As always, It’s All Love, All ways #Fortheculture
Love, Proprietress
Raven Rose White "
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