A Virginia bookstore owner is facing a major backlash and boycott campaign after he phoned police because a woman called former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a “piece of trash.”
The owner of Black Swan Books in Richmond, VA, Nick Cooke, says he called 911 on Saturday after a woman confronted Bannon in the store who was “simply standing, looking at books, minding his own business.”
A woman peacefully confronted Steve Bannon at Black Swan Books in Richmond, Virginia. The owner of the store called the cops on her. Siding with a white supremacist like Bannon is a terrible business model. I predict Black Swan Books will be out of business soon.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 8, 2018
A woman saw Steve Bannon in a VA book store. She took the opportunity to call him a “piece of trash.”
Nick Cooke, the owner of Black Swan Books, called the police.
Black Swan Books
2601 West Main St
Richmond VA 23220
804.353.9476
info@blackswanbooks.comhttps://t.co/uFqN8KZNhy— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) July 8, 2018
“I asked her to leave, and she wouldn’t. And I said, ‘I’m going to call the police if you don’t,’ and I went to call the police and she left,” Cooke told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We are a bookshop. Bookshops are all about ideas and tolerating different opinions and not about verbally assaulting somebody, which is what was happening,” he added.
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Following the Richmond Times publication, Steve Bannon began trending on Twitter with many people calling for a boycott of the store. Cooke was accused of siding with a “white supremacist.”
Black Swan Books was one of my favorite local, independent bookstores … until they defended Steve Bannon and turned the store into a safe space for white nationalists. Bad move, Black Swan. You are now blacklisted. pic.twitter.com/hy5WHbx5Ox
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) July 8, 2018
Black Swan Books in Virginia must be called out immediately for siding with white supremacist Steve Bannon and calling cops on a peaceful woman for no good reason whatsoever. https://t.co/SJzLlPTWg1
— Ale (@aliasvaughn) July 8, 2018
Bannon, who reportedly grew up in Richmond, is the latest associate of President Donald Trump to be accosted in a public place. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was recently asked to leave a restaurant, while Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been confronted by protesters, due to their association with the administration.
Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.