https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/08/01/louisville-cuban-community-rally-support-la-bodeguita-de-mima/5562669002/
I guess that destroying the business, lives, and dreams of minority and immigrant small business owners isn't quite enough for BLM and their supporters, it looks like they now want to extort that immigrant small business owners.
At least they aren't going to get away with it.
At least the Minneapolis city government has a firm hand on the drastic increase in crime. They put out some helpful hints for those who get robbed.
Two of the bizarrely named "Robbery Prevention Tips" are...
"Be prepared to give up your cell phone, purse/wallet."
"Do not argue or fight with the criminal"
Those aren't prevention tips, they're literally "help the criminals" tips.
People are confused and struggling for answers to explain this surge in crime. All the while trying to downplay the decrease in cops on the street.
If only there was a catchy slogan that might explain why criminals feel more emboldened....Think dammit, think! There must be something that can explain this.........
14 comments:
"Phelix Crittenden, an activist who works with Black Lives Matter Louisville, said the demands and related "NuLu social justice health and wellness ratings" were not meant to be a threat but were instead intended to start a conversation with owners about how their businesses can better reflect and support Black people."
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/07/30/louisville-protests-nulu-businesses-respond-gentrification-demands/5546810002/
But don't let facts get in the way of trying to demonize BLM and black and white supporters.
This is the neighborhood where my church is, next to where I live. I'm very aware of the very real problems of gentrification in this neighborhood where poor black people's lives, once again, were placed below the needs and lives of others. Asking for a place at the table is not mafia tactics. Asking to acknowledge the very real history of oppression and denial of rights in this area - and we're talking recent history - is not fascism.
But again, don't let facts get in your way. Embrace ignorance. It's the Trump way.
Just know that it's a losing proposition.
"Defund the Police"?
I find it hard to believe that those who are seemingly adults would encourage the enabling of criminal activity. Why not just wall off the whole city ala "Escape From New York" and call it a day?
Dan,
As shown below your issue isn't with me, it's with Fernando Martinez, the Courier Journal, and the news media.
"Members of Louisville's Cuban community plan to gather Sunday in support of a NuLu restaurant owner who says he was threatened by Black Lives Matter protesters during a recent demonstration.
Fernando Martinez, a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, was one of dozens of business owners in the downtown Louisville district who recently received a letter from protesters laying out demands that aim to improve diversity in the area, which is known for its locally-owned shops and restaurants.
Martinez has publicly denounced the demands on Facebook, calling them "mafia tactics" used to intimidate business owners. And on Thursday, a small group of protesters confronted him outside his newest restaurant, La Bodeguita de Mima, on East Market Street.
"There comes a time in life that you have to make a stand and you have to really prove your convictions and what you believe in," Martinez wrote in his Facebook post. "... All good people need to denounce this. How can you justified (sic) injustice with more injustice?""
You concern for facts would be touching, if it was consistent.
As we've seen up here, it's pretty much screw non black minorities and immigrants when BLM starts making demands or rioting.
Art,
Are you suggesting that when criminals hear things like defund the police, or that police departments are spread thin because of the current situation, that they might adjust their behavior? That they might become more bold and active ?
IF there were some people threatening this man, that's wrong.
IF they were connected to BLM, that person connected with BLM was wrong.
But, as things stand right now, we don't know anything beyond this allegation and the OFFICIAL stance of BLM was that they were NOT threatening and there words should NOT have been taken as a threat, because they weren't.
There's no support for the allegation. There's no support that BLM said anything threatening.
Just an allegation. One that you appear willing to accept simply because it's been made and because you appear to distrust BLM blindly.
Myself, I'm not saying this restaurant owner is lying. I'm saying that it sounds like there was a miscommunication and that he misunderstood, since he is EXACTLY the sort of business BLM supports.
Here in Louisville, at least, the Cuban community is often more conservative and perhaps this man, like many conservatives, have just misunderstood BLM.
OR, possibly, there were some outsiders not officially connected to BLM that truly did make threats. But no evidence, at all, that BLM threatened him.
Dan,
Once again. Your issue is not with me as much as it is with the most current reporting at the time I posted this.
Your tendency to excuse any actions connected to BLM is interesting and suggests something about blind support. I will say that it is refreshing to see you actually, sort of, (in a conditional and equivocal way) mildly condemn BLM for something.
It's also interesting that folks on your side tend to respond to allegations so differently depending on who makes them.
Maybe you should listen to all Cuban voices.
""better put the letter on the door so your business is not f*cked with.""
No, that's not a threat. It's absurd that anyone would take someone saying that their business was going to be "f*cked with" if they don't comply as a threat. Especially in this climate where "f*cked with" for an immigrant small business owner can mean burned down.
FYI, I read the letter. It starts with a list of demands, that aren't based on the actions of the businesses of whom the demands are being made. Then it ends with "REPERCUSSIONS of NON-COMPLIANCE"
"Failure to accept and adhere to this contract will result in the following measures"
I'm not sure how "Do what we want or there will be repercussions" isn't a threat.
Further, this is presented as a contract. Unfortunately, contracts signed under duress aren't legal or enforceable.
In the current climate of businesses, public property, and people being violently attacked, burned, or destroyed, I'd say this constitutes a threat.
I'll note that I wrote on gentrification issues in MPLS a while back, and how the biggest group of people engaged in gentrification are white, progressive, millennials, who are simultaneously engaged in gentrification and supporting those who are rioting.
I'll have to go back and look, but I'd be willing to bet that you either ignored that, or were at least mildly supportive to the white, milennial, progressives who are gentrifying blacks and immigrants out of affordable housing.
"A threat is a communicated intent to inflict harm or loss on another person."
"a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done."
"an expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage"
I'm not sure, but I think that,
Insisting that someone " following demands enlisted below" or face "repercussions" pretty much IS the dictionary definition of "threat".
But, you spin it however you'd like.
The "threat" was that each business would get a letter grade ( you know, like in school) as to how well they are cooperating with black lives matter concerns.
But yes, the threat of getting an F IS like terrorism and the mafia. That's rational.
https://www.bossworld.net/nulu-social-justice
Actually, you've just acknowledged that there was a threat. Which contradicts your earlier jump to exonerate BLM. "There's no support that BLM said anything threatening."
Actually I'm not sure it was technically BLM that's doing the threatening, it could be some splinter group, the manifesto just isn't clear.
"The "threat" was that each business would get a letter grade...", again with the false claims. That was the first level of "repercussions" that would follow the refusal to be coerced into signing this unenforceable contract. We know that your claim is false because the text of the manifesto is available for all to see.
"Reduction in Racial Index Score/bias report to the Better Business Bureau.
Social Media Blast: Notification, via all social media platforms, of non-compliance.
Boycott: Public boycott. coordinated through social
media and mail announcements, of your NuLu establishment AND any other business ventures owned by you.
Protest: Visible, media-covered demonstration/sit-in outside your establishment.
Invasive Reclamation: Placement of booths/tables outside your establishment where competing Black proprietors will offer items comparable to those offered by you."
Ignoring that the BBB is a joke, every repercussion is directly aimed at causing the business owners to lose customers.
So, let's look at context. We're in a period where small business is being hard pressed by the restrictions related to the Covid situation. We've already seen 10's of thousands of business go out of business because of Covid, and many more are on the edge. Additionally, when small business go out of business, it hurts that employees at least as hard as the owner. So, yes this threat is reasonably perceived as "We'll put you out of business."
Further, we're in climate where "Protest" has come to include arson, theft, destruction, etc and where protests that include these behaviors are referred to as "peaceful or mostly peaceful". Again, I light of the current situation a "Protest" could certainly be a significant threat.
Of course, this ignores the fact that these businesses (almost certainly) aren't responsible for the gentrification, or for the destruction of the 1955 high density housing. But in these absurd times, I guess it makes total sense to threaten minority/immigrant small business owners for the actions of other people.
It makes almost as much sense as informing your citizens that their best option is to either stay off the streets, or hand over everything you're carrying to the criminals. Both of those are excellent ideas.
As I've been trying to dig deeper into the Loiusville part of this, it's worth noting that the terms, "Extortion, Mafia, Shakedown, etc, are pretty much the terms that the news media is using to describe the situation.
More reading material on the area in question.
https://www.rootcauseresearch.org/post/copy-of-understanding-nulu-clarksdale-and-louisville-s-politics-of-dispossession?fbclid=IwAR2-_lP2_uydS8-d0cY9d3P3LgFFbBv9EgHr0H1onLZ7wz4i7aGKe76vSzM
Dan,
I've noticed some things with you.
1. You continue to demand that others read/watch the material you approve of.
2. You ignore/don't respond to others giving you things to read/watch.
3. When confronted with black voices that disagree with you, your response is to bitch about me, rather than to address the black voices.
Dan,
I read the piece and it, in itself, didn't shed any new light in the topic. If time permits, I'll look at the research they cite.
What I find interesting is that my Google search, through the first several hundred results showed virtually nothing regarding this controversy. That could be my fault for not putting in the proper search terms, but I tried more than one combination.
Given the situation up here, I've started paying more attention to who controls city governments when these types of controversial decisions are made, and it was instructive research to say the least.
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