A Denver coffee shop has been subject to several weeks of protests, vandalized and branded as “racist” over a small sign outside the store that had joked about gentrification.
According to the Wikipedia: Gentrification is the process of renovation of deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of the influx of more affluent residents.
Aside from being spray painted and having rocks thrown through their window, the small business, Ink! Coffee, has even been subjected to calls for it to be shut down by the local NAACP chapter.
The wave of abuse targeting the coffee shop came after the owner authorized advertising signs which read “Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado,” and, “Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014.”
Keith Herbert, the owner of the shop, told the Denver Post that he simply did not understand the outrage the word would cause and that the signs were just meant to be playful and funny.
“As a result of this ignorance, his store quickly became the target of public vitriol, protest and vandalism, not to mention demands for ritual apologies and re-education,” the Post reported.
On November 27, the NAACP organized a rather large protest outside the establishment. During the protest, a sign was taped by a protester to the door of the building that said, “GENTRIFICATION IS COLONIZATION.”
Longtime residents of the first neighborhood in #Denver, Five Points, are boycotting ink! Coffee shop, which declares to be "happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014." https://t.co/XizY66bekC pic.twitter.com/8LKj73krJp
— UNICORN RIOT – Frontline Independent Media (@UR_Ninja) December 9, 2017
Realizing the outrage that he had sparked, Herbert took to Facebook to apologize to the upset liberal activists.
“I am embarrassed to say that I did not fully appreciate the very real and troubling issue of gentrification, and I want to sincerely apologize to those who understand firsthand the hardship and cultural consequences that gentrification has caused,” Herbert wrote.
Of course, in the current outrage culture where no apology is ever good enough, you can apologize until you are blue in the face and wild mobs online and in the streets will still seek to end your livelihood all together.
On November 22, Ink! was targeted by vandals who tagged the storefront and spray painted the words “White coffee.” The vandals also broke one of the shop’s windows with rocks.
#Denver's ink! Coffee Shop brags about gentrifying the Five Points (newly named RiNo) neighborhood & immediately draws criticism from neighborhood residents.
Watch the We Don't Drink ink! rally & learn more information on #gentrification in #Denver: https://t.co/XizY66sPJc pic.twitter.com/LWoWrsXd9M
— UNICORN RIOT – Frontline Independent Media (@UR_Ninja) December 8, 2017
Instead of standing up for the local business, even politicians have turned on them. In a Facebook post about the abuse the shop was receiving, Councilman Albus Brooks wrote that he thinks employees should all be required to go through re-education and that the small business should have to donate and hire ex-convicts.
“To reconcile, I am asking for INK to have each staff member go through cultural competency training by a member of our community, I am asking them invest in our community through local organizations and low performing elementary schools, and lastly to consider hiring our local ex-offenders in 80205,” Brooks absurdly and inappropriately suggested.
Heavens forbid the coffee shop be proud of helping to raise property values and clean up a bad neighborhood by making it more appealing.
Earlier this week we reported on an Ohio bakery called Gibsons that is also being targeted as “racist.” The attacks on their integrity came after the shopkeeper was assaulted by three black men who had been attempting to shoplift wine. After the shop held their ground and refused to drop the charges against the trio, they were subjected to protests and slander by members of the Oberlin College administration.
First the left went after bakeries and other small businesses for being “homophobic,” now there appears to be a trend of going after them for “racism.” If we follow the path they took with political leaders, next year we can be sure that they will be protesting pizza parlors and arcades for perceived sexual harassment.
