Candace Owens of The Daily Wire attacked the American Booksellers Association and its CEO Allison Hill. The ABA had mistakenly promoted Owens’ book, calling it “racist” while also apologizing.
Owens reacted to the ABA by calling for an apology, accusing Hill Of “unspeakable and explicit racism” as well as slandering Hill for their characterizations of Owen’s book “Blackout: What Black America Can Do to Make its Second Escape from The Democrat Plantation.”
“For those of you that don’t know, the CEO of American Bookseller’s Association (@ABAbook) recently sent around an email, apologizing for promoting my book and labeling my book as racist. The is the CEO, Allison Hill, who sees no irony in calling a black woman racist,” Owens stated in a tweet.
I am calling for a public apology from @ABAbook and Allison Hill. It is an act of unspeakable, explicit racism for a white woman to send around an e-mail slandering and denigrating an autobiographical book from a black woman who came from nothing.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 11, 2021
We cannot accept this racism. https://t.co/0aCk47Xbvd
“I am calling for a public apology from @ABAbook and Allison Hill. It is an act of unspeakable, explicit racism for a white woman to send around an e-mail slandering and denigrating an autobiographical book from a black woman who came from nothing. We cannot accept this racism,” she stated.
Earlier in the year, the ABA mistook Owens’ book for another and promoted Owens’ book to hundreds upon hundreds of book shops.
In August, Hill wrote a letter apologizing to the booksellers and explaining that an internal audit had found that staffing changes and improper training were to blame for the mistakes. She explained that Owens’ mistake was caused by inept staff who pulled the cover photo of Owens’ book and didn’t recognize the conservative author.
“It was a terrible mistake with terrible racist implications. However, based on our investigation and the demonstrated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitment of these individuals, we have no reason to believe the action was malicious in intention.” Hill stated.
“The employees are very apologetic and very committed to vigilance going forward. They have been held accountable and have agreed to training, both on procedures as well as on DEI, and we have added layers of checks and balances to this process,” she also said.
Hill claimed that Shrier’s book wasn’t detected by the postal system they use, which has always been “pay to play.”
“The box mailing has been an effective mailing service for publishers, ABA, and booksellers. Publishers pay ABA to include titles in the box, and ABA sends it to eligible bookstores” she said. “Until now, no one has ever reviewed or screened the titles submitted by publishers.”
