When the nonprofit Friends of the Library Montgomery County, Inc. first advertised for vendors for tables at its MoComCon event, it strove to bring in more minorities.
It set rates at different levels for minority and non-minority vendors.
However, that is considered discriminatory and not legal according to Montgomery County law.
“The disparate pricing on vendors that has occurred between the Friends of the Library Montgomery County, Inc. (FOLMC) and BlackRock Center for the Arts is not permitted,” Scott Peterson, Manager- Media Relations and Strategic Partnerships for the county, wrote in an email to MCM.
“The County did not approve nor condoned this decision,” Peterson wrote.
The event, now scheduled for March 2 at the Germantown Library with vendors manning tables at the nearby Black Rock Center for the Arts, first came under criticism about the discriminatory prices in a story in the Washington Times.
Friends of the Library is a nonprofit organization that raises money, mostly through used book sales, to provide supplemental funding for library programs.
FOLMC Executive Director Ari Brooks did not respond to MCM’s email or voice message requests on the matter.
The event that features comics, graphic novels and pop culture was canceled Friday due to bad weather. Friends of the Library rescheduled the event and posted new vendor prices. Those prices apply to all vendors and do not differentiate on who is working at the table.
Vendors who were preregistered for the original event’s date of Jan. 20 do not have to reapply. New vendors will be charged $125 for a six-foot table, tablecloth and two chairs and $175 with electricity access.
According to Reardon Sullivan, former chairperson of the county Republican Party who ran against Marc Elrich for county executive, the original prices were $275 and $325.
However, the listed price dropped to $225 for women and minority owned businesses and $250 with electricity access.
Sullivan said he became aware of the reduced prices for minorities when someone who wanted to be a vendor contacted the county GOP to complain.
“It’s stigmatizing racism at its worse” Sullivan said. “I’m Black and it’s insulting. Policies like this propagate the myth that because you are Black, you automatically need the help? No, I just need a level playing field.”
“Pricing by race, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation is just plain wrong,” Sullivan stressed. “Marc Elrich and his administration need to step up, admit their mistake and change the policy.”
He added, “Personally, I am saddened that Marc Elrich is running away from this issue and trying to hide behind a County sponsored vendor for the racist agenda of his administration.”
“In a week where we started off celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, this County has turned its back on his dream that we will live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
During his weekly meeting with the press Wednesday, Elrich said he was unaware of the situation.
“This is the first I’ve heard about this,” he said. If minority businesses are charged a different rate, “That’s clearly illegal,” he said, promising to look into the matter.
Councilmember Kristin Mink, the council’s lead for libraries, told MCM to speak with the Friends of the Library or Black Rock Center for the Arts, noting in a text, “the disparate pricing issue did not involve Montgomery County government.”
Related Post
