In the 1960s, lunch counter sit-ins were used as a protest against segregation of public spaces. These were businesses that would take Black dollars for their merchandise but refused them service at the food counters. In Greensboro, North Carolina, a protest of F.W. Woolworths started with four black students sitting at the lunch counter and refusing to leave until the business closed. The next day, they returned with 25 people. Then 63 and then they were joined by three white women from a nearby women’s college. Then more than 300 protesters showed up. The company said they would make changes but didn’t.
So boycotts happened, and the corporation was forced to change. This was an action to a real problem —an actual offense not the “illusion” of an offense. Woolworth’s wasn’t a safe place but they had to accommodate everyone. It was a collective action against a powerful force.
When Woolworth’s didn’t want Black people, Black people made the space more Black.
Witches Brew Coffee is a small, Black, woman-owned coffee shop that has made itself a welcoming space for all communities, the witchy and the weird. The owner, Mariah Tran, has been facing attacks over a Harry Potter-themed pop-up in the store. The reaction stems from the author of the Harry Potter series JK Rowling’s attacks against the transgender community and others. Those in Witches Brew comments are threatening boycotts, and personally attacking Tran for not removing the theme. Tran employs transpersons in her business, and talks with her staff about her ideas.
Here is a situation where the Laws of Unintended Consequences seem to have played in reverse. JK Rowling created the Harry Potter series and when each book was released, bookstores had midnight release events that saw everyone come as their weird and wonderful selves to get the new books. For so many people the books created a shelter where marginalized people felt like they could express themselves against the people who pressed down on them.
In retrospect, it seems that JK Rowling didn’t write the story thinking that queer kids would feel safe. But, they did. They felt happy, safe, and seen through the characters in the pages of a work created by a terrible person.
In so many ways, like Black folks made Woolworths open their lunch counters, LGBTQ+ folks have taken these works by Rowling and made them a source for personal power.
It is not unlike the stories of Dr. Seuss. Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote many books that made people who felt unseen feel seen. He also supported the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and drew racist caricatures of Black and other people. But the things that worked in his stories still work for the people who need them.
Sometimes, the art stands far outside of the people who created it. That speaks to the power of creation. Even in the most terrible of humans sometimes lies a bit of beauty and wisdom that leaks out to the world. In many ways it can serve as a window, even for the creator, to learn from. JK Rowling is still struggling to learn but her art, whether she sees this or not, empowered many of the people she claims to reject. Her art could teach her a thing or two.
For Witches Brew to create a pop-up theme for the holiday season is not unreasonable. It has nothing to do with JK Rowling, and everything to do with the fact that the art for so many is a point of community and a beacon for doing your own weird thing. I mean fuck yes… in your face JK. The work belongs to the people.
Now, as a form of protest, folks are welcome not to drink the coffee assuming that somehow this tiny coffeehouse’s event bolsters Rowling in any way. But more likely, those same folks beating on this local coffee shop owner slide through Starbucks on a too regular basis sending real money directly to a genocide, or participating in capitalism in some other way and there is no ethical consumption in a capitalist system so to attack a small business but not the corporation is hypocritical.
The problem is neither the coffee shop here nor the Harry Potter theme. The issue is that we forgot how to fight power.
We pick low-hanging fruit — a small business with no political motive — and go all-in thinking that it is a show of solidarity, protest, and standing on the right side of history, when all sorts of “JK Rowlings” publish books, play shows in the city, and no one writes their publishers to ask them to stop or tells the venues to stop booking their concerts. The Louisville Orchestra has been hosting sold-out Harry Potter shows for years with the next one coming in 2025.
For all of the noise about this one shop, we’re not staying home on Black Friday because the Walmarts (Sam’s), and Home Depots are pushing their money towards Project 2025, and supporting congressional and presidential elections that are ACTIVELY constructing laws to prevent LGBTQ+ people from using bathrooms, getting married, adopting kids, getting healthcare. Bet you’ll get that TV deal you’ve been watching.
To reject the actual power structure, it’s too hard to use our voices and money. Instead, a community is projecting its rightful frustration over JK Rowling’s horridness, but fighting the owner of an actual safe space about some decorations, and specialty drinks that mostly remind many people of times they enjoyed growing up, and something that, despite its creator, made them feel seen and happy.
I’m at a loss trying to understand. I mean, I get that to some folks the whole of Harry Potter now represents JK Rowling’s views. It’s a broad brush but I can see the road folks walked to arrive at that idea. I don’t agree with it, because I’ve seen too many other folks bloom because of these same stories. The writers it created, and the folks who felt confident to step out of the shadows because of an imaginary world Rowling created deserve to keep that feeling even if Rowling herself is missing out on the beauty of it. The art can exist as something enjoyable, and Rowling can still be a menace to be dealt with. Art is interpreted through our own lenses and experiences.
Currently, there are about 41 active pieces of anti-trans legislation across the United States. I hope the energy folks have to destroy a small business in our community — over candles and some banners — gets directed toward the people in power who are actively pursuing harm.
When we fight the “illusion” of being offended or hurt, we miss the concrete, tangible laws, barriers, and issues that need to be addressed. It’s how we lose elections and end up fighting over silly shit on repeat.
We may not agree on the methods, but we should agree that punching down is never the way to affect those in power. This little fight is completely off the radar of the power structure that actively oppresses the queer community, and in the end, only hurts the local community and the small local business… and guess what… it won’t make JK Rowling better but we will have one less actually safe community space.
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This article appears in Nov 20 – Dec 3, 2024.
