When she first opened Books Ink in Portland, Jennifer Hay's father told her that he had known it was her dream to own a bookstore since she was 7 years old.
Originally from Jamaica, Hay came to the United States to pursue higher education. After living in Boston for a few years, she made her way to the Lone Star State to attend Texas A&M University. However, Hay would drop out of school and enlist in the military instead.
For 20 years, Hay served as a parachute rigger for the U.S. Navy.
Once she returned to the States, she found her way back to the Coastal Bend. "When I retired from the military, there were very few jobs available that were not minimum wage or 20 hours," Hay told KRIS 6 News. "I figured after 20 years of military experience, I was not quite willing to do that and saw something in the newspaper saying bookstore for sale."
After a brief talk with the seller, Hay purchased the store located in the Crescent Center. "I did spend the night before I opened moving all of the 1980s romance novels from the front," Hay said. "Although that's a very big demographic. Usually that's not the one, the first thing you wanna see."
With a few more tweaks, Books Ink was open for business.
Once the business was secured, Hay began to become more involved with the local reading community. Today, she serves on the Friends of the Library board, and currently serves as the San Patricio County Democratic Party Chairperson.
However, Hay does much of her advocacy inside her store.
"If any child who's 12 or younger comes into the bookstore, they get a free book, $5 or less. That's a whole other story. If they're over 5, they have to 'quote unquote' work for it," Hay explained. "They have to answer a question, but they're always gonna get the book.
She continued, "And then I have another program for teenagers where if they bring in their report card and if you improved from your last grading period, if you got a 78 but you got a 79 this grading period, you get a free book for every class you did that with."
Hay advocates strongly for literacy among all ages, working to combat accessibility challenges rural communities often face.
Another cause Hay speaks out against is the banning of books.
"If you don't wanna read a book, you don't want your kids to read a book; that's your decision. You don't get to make that decision for everyone else," Hay said. "So that's why I literally have a designated banned book section, because the books that they want to ban, particularly if you run the numbers on them, are the ones that tell of different experiences than the majority in our country."
Studies have found that when it comes to books being banned, a disproportionate number of them are related to, or focus on, people of color.
PEN America found more than 10,000 instances of schools and school districts removing books from the curriculum and classrooms in 2024. Of the 4,218 titles from that study, 36% of them featured characters or people of color.
Additionally, 44% of the banned history or biography titles featured people of color, and 26% Black people.
"It really does show that they want to, they want to erase the experiences and the fact that we are a multicultural country, and we're trying to discount history."
Hay says the solution is simple: Reading more.
"Reading takes you places that you would not have gone. Reading gives you an opportunity to see people who are like you. It builds empathy. You find people who are not like yourself, and you realize that they, too, have dreams and ambitions and in some way they are like you."
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