Welcome to another episode of Lurie Breaks It Down, a podcast where we dig deeply to connect the dots on the issues that shape our world.

I'm Lurie Daniel Favors, author, activist, attorney, and the host of the Lurie Daniel Favors show on Sirius XM's Urban View, Channel 126. If you like what you're about to hear, go ahead and give us five stars and then tell everybody that you know. And if you don't like it, just, child, keep it to yourself and pray our strength. Okay? Thank you so much.

Also, don't forget to check out my YouTube page, Lurie Daniel Favor's Media, where you should subscribe, like, and share because then you'll get notified when I post videos from my show, which I do just about every single day and when I go live with my YouTube audience. All right. So today is Tuesday, September the 30th. Let's get into it because I feel like we should be calling this.

They still playing in our family. audience. All right. So today is Tuesday, September the 30th. Let's get into it because I feel like

we should be calling this. They still playing in our faces. They stay playing in our faces. Now, in this

day and age, I'm going to call for a shifting of presumptions. You know how, like in this country,

if you're white, you get the presumption of being innocent until proven guilty. That presumption

is called the presumption of innocence. Now, we don't get that as black people. We get guilty until proven innocent. And even then, there's always an asterisk because of the blackness. Really, it ain't because of the blackness. It's because of the racism. That ain't got nothing to do with us. That's all to do with them. But there are new rules for today's blacks. And that rule, or at least today's new addition of the new rules for today's blacks, is that we must now presume the most racist outcomes and intentions, unless we have been proven otherwise. Now, I wished I shopped at Publix just so I could stop shopping at Publix and boycott it, but I don't because I don't live in Florida. So I'm going to just tell y'all about this story instead. And those of you who are living next to our Publix, we'll have to take it on and figure out what the boycott should look like. Now, Atlanta Black Star is reporting in an article entitled, Take Notes from Target Publix Sparks, boycott after disrespectful move against Black Book Festival in Florida, blaming the political climate. According to the Atlanta Black Star, the grocery store known as Publix, again, I ain't got one near me so I don't shop there. But they are facing significant backlash and calls for boycotts because they withdrew as a sponsor for this amazing event known as the Black Book Bash, which takes place in Jacksonville. Now, I want to just say that they didn't just pull out as a sponsor.

They pulled out as the exclusive sponsor.

Remember the new rules for today's blacks?

We are presuming it's all racially motivated unless proven otherwise.

Now, this three-day festival, the Black Book Bash, is going to be taking place October 3rd

through the 5th at the Hyatt Regency.

And it's essentially a celebration of black culture, black literature. It's where readers can meet with authors. They can purchase books and other items from black-owned businesses. There are going to be vendors there. They're going to be bookstores. They're like actual bookstores. You remember how valuable they are? Yeah, right. That. So Publix was really excited about this, or so they fronted like they was. They were actually the title sponsor. They were the exclusive sponsor, not because that's the way the Black Book Bash had intended it, but that's because it's what Publix insisted on. Now, even though they have pulled out, organizers have stressed that festival is going to still go on, and they said the following, quote, we didn't flinch, we doubled down. When folks pull out, the community pulls up and y'all have shown out. And this was in a statement that they published on Instagram. Black Book Bash was built by us for us, they said, the support, the shares, the donations, the love, it's been overwhelming in the best way. And if you're just finding us, welcome to the family. If you've been rocking with us, thank you for writing harder than ever. This is bigger than books. This is about black stories, black joy, black freedom. Now, obviously, this is a phenomenal event. I wish I had known about the Black Book Bash prior to this because I might, well, I'm not going to make my way down to Florida for really much of nothing, but I would have definitely wanted to promote it.

And so, well, thank you to Publix for giving us this opportunity to pay attention to something

that had largely slipped by.

Basically, Publix decided at the last minute that they were going to pull their exclusive

support.

Now, there is a phenomenal Facebook food critic

and writer who goes by the name Hungry Black Man, the Hungry Black Man. And he basically penned an

open letter to the leadership. And he really did a lot to praise the cultural significance of the event

describing the supermarkets as this space where democratic notions of freedom and every family

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