The Root: What books are you reading right now?
- Thread starter Primetime21
- Start date
Tag me with your findings.
get these nets
Veteran
Crowdfunding Project with provocative/offensive title
This story began nearly four years ago — though the roots stretch back decades, across generations, and through countless pages of Black resilience, resistance, and renaissance.
We are Sadiq Ali and Karim Ali — two filmmakers, collaborators, and brothers in vision — brought together by a shared calling to tell a story that’s long overdue. One that’s deeply personal, yet undeniably collective.
Our documentary, They Said, N*ggas Don’t Read: The Rise & Fall of the Black Bookstore (NDR), explores the untold story of the Black bookstore as a vital institution in America. A space of sanctuary and strategy. A portal for imagination and identity. A home for freedom dreams.
For Sadiq, this journey is rooted in family — his late father, Hodari Ali, was the founder of Pyramid Bookstores, a beloved and influential chain of Black bookstores based in Washington, DC. Growing up inside those walls meant being raised by books, elders, revolutionaries, and community. But as we quickly discovered, this wasn’t just one man’s legacy — it was part of a much bigger movement.
This film tells the story of that movement. Of how Black bookstores shaped generations — and how systems of power tried to silence them. Through interviews with bookstore owners, cultural leaders, and everyday people, we explore not only the rise and fall of these sacred spaces, but the little-known FBI efforts to surveil and sabotage them.
And yet, this isn’t just about what was lost — it’s about what we can reclaim, together.
We are making this film with love, with urgency, and with the community in mind. This story deserves to be told, and we believe the best way to tell it is with your help. Your support helps us reach the people, places, and stories still waiting to be heard.
This is not just our story — it’s yours too. Let’s bring it to the screen, and to the world!
This story began nearly four years ago — though the roots stretch back decades, across generations, and through countless pages of Black resilience, resistance, and renaissance.
We are Sadiq Ali and Karim Ali — two filmmakers, collaborators, and brothers in vision — brought together by a shared calling to tell a story that’s long overdue. One that’s deeply personal, yet undeniably collective.
Our documentary, They Said, N*ggas Don’t Read: The Rise & Fall of the Black Bookstore (NDR), explores the untold story of the Black bookstore as a vital institution in America. A space of sanctuary and strategy. A portal for imagination and identity. A home for freedom dreams.
For Sadiq, this journey is rooted in family — his late father, Hodari Ali, was the founder of Pyramid Bookstores, a beloved and influential chain of Black bookstores based in Washington, DC. Growing up inside those walls meant being raised by books, elders, revolutionaries, and community. But as we quickly discovered, this wasn’t just one man’s legacy — it was part of a much bigger movement.
This film tells the story of that movement. Of how Black bookstores shaped generations — and how systems of power tried to silence them. Through interviews with bookstore owners, cultural leaders, and everyday people, we explore not only the rise and fall of these sacred spaces, but the little-known FBI efforts to surveil and sabotage them.
And yet, this isn’t just about what was lost — it’s about what we can reclaim, together.
We are making this film with love, with urgency, and with the community in mind. This story deserves to be told, and we believe the best way to tell it is with your help. Your support helps us reach the people, places, and stories still waiting to be heard.
This is not just our story — it’s yours too. Let’s bring it to the screen, and to the world!