Iconic Portland bookstore Powell’s Books announced that it would not place conservative journalist Andy Ngo’s new anti-antifa book on its store shelves after protesters gathered outside its flagship location.
“Unmasked by Andy Ngo came to us through an automatic data feed via one of our long-term and respected publishers, Hachette Book Group,” the store said in a statement. “We list the majority of their catalogue automatically, as do many other independent and larger retailers. We have a similar arrangement with other publishers.”
“This book will not be on our store shelves, and we will not promote it,” the statement continued. “That said, it will remain in our online catalogue. We carry books that we find anywhere from simply distasteful or badly written, to execrable, as well as those that we treasure. We believe it is the work of bookselling to do so.”
The statement went on to say that they have sold books despite bomb threats in the past, insisting that they cannot go back on that commitment in the present.
“Decades ago we received credible bomb threats for selling the work of Salman Rushdie, and yet we carried on,” the statement said. “We cannot behave any differently today when we feel differently about the book or writer in question.”
The decision came after an online movement formed to “picket” the store, with a small crowd of protesters making its way to their flagship location and causing the store to close early for the day “as a safety precaution.”
Protesters claimed the bookstore was “propagating racism and right-wing ideology” and supporting a “fascist gravy train book for a Nazi-collaborating Portlander” by selling the book.
The backlash caused Powell’s to issue a short statement on Twitter, saying that the store carries books it finds “abhorrent, as well as those we treasure.”
“We believe it is the work of bookselling to do so,” the statement continued.
Ngo has become one of the country’s most outspoken critics of antifa, rising to prominence by documenting some of the group’s more violent protests on video, leading to him being physically attacked by some activists.
The store’s lengthier statement reiterated its commitment to the First Amendment, despite its decision to pull Ngo’s book from shelves.
“We are dedicated to providing a wide array of books, authors, viewpoints, and voices, and our selection is one of the things that sets Powell’s apart from our peers in bookselling. We provide these options out of deference to the First Amendment,” the statement said. “While we understand that our decision to carry such books upsets some customers and staff members, we do not want to create an echo chamber of preapproved voices and ideas. It is not our mission or inclination to decide to whom our customers should listen.”
Powell’s did not immediately respond to a Washington Examiner request for comment.
