Sankofa bookstore on track for tax relief as it fights to stay alive | WUSA9

WASHINGTON — An independent African-American owned bookstore in D.C. is on track to get a big tax break.

Sankofa bookstore near Howard University has been a cultural hub through decades of D.C. history– but it’s now struggling to survive the rising tide of property values in the city.

Sherikiana Gerima opened the bookstore and café with her husband 20 years ago, just down the street from Howard University.

“The cost of development has been devastating to the black community. There’s no other way to put that,” Gerima said.

Those costs haven’t devastated Sankofa yet, but they have amounted to a crippling 75% increase in property taxes in 10 years.