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As protesters took to the streets across Dallas over the weekend, many of the city’s best restaurants expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Friday kicked off three days of protesting in Downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum, and the surrounding neighborhoods on Friday following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. Even though many of the city’s restaurants were either forced to close because of damage to their buildings or chose to in support of the protests, their owners took to Instagram and Facebook with messages of solidarity.
Sandwich Hag owner Reyna Duong shared her perspective as a non-Black person of color, noting that her experience has been different from Black Americans. “I’m Vietnamese American woman, a person of color. Yes, I have my struggles, yet nothing compared to the hardship of being a black person in our country,” Duong wrote on Facebook. “I recognize that I don’t have the fear of losing my job, fear of not getting a job interview, fear of being pulled over because of the color of my skin. I can comfortably play videos games inside my home, don’t have the fear of getting the police called on me because I’m grilling in the park or just bird watching.”
Braindead Brewing’s owners chose to keep the bar closed in support of the protests. “We hope everyone stays safe today,” reads a post to the brewery’s Instagram account. “We will not be operating today in an effort to draw awareness to the protests and their message.”
Thank you for all of you that have reached out with concern for my businesses. We are ok. All 3 establishments made it through last night. But now is not about us. There is a bigger issue at hand here that we ALL need to pay attention to and LISTEN. “A riot is a language of the unheard” I just want to say- We see you, we hear you, we stand with you. We all have a lot of work to do to get thru this storm. But please know that we want to be a part to help bring this so badly needed change. Love y’all. Love eachother! xo Kim *we will not be opening the Git’N’Go today.
Posted by Double Wide on Sunday, May 31, 2020
Other local business owners spoke more broadly about the impact of racism instead of focusing on the protesters. “We’ve grown up facing racism. When COVID started there was discrimination against Asian businesses and to be honest, we were nervous,” the owners of boba tea shop Fat Straws posted to Instagram. “Knowing that our children are witnessing and will still face discrimination hurts our hearts.”
Richardson seafood spot Tasty Tails kept the message simple, posting the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, while East Dallas sno-ball stand Ruby’s took a similar tack.
