So there is a controversy raging in good old Berkeley.
A beloved coffee shop called Elmwood Cafe closed it’s door’s at 2 am suddenly with the below message.
What the hell does this have to do with Starbucks...Well follow me down the rabbit hole…
The current theory (and theory because the owner has refuse to speak to the press) is:
(This is my understanding of the story, this happened before I was member of the community. I live in the immediate neighborhood currently)
In 2015, the host of United Shade of America, W. Kamau Bell was having brunch with his family and friends at Elmwood Cafe in Berkeley. He left to do some work and later returned. Bell is black, his wife is not black, their child is mixed. His wife and friend had a table near a window and when he returned, he tapped on the window to say hello to wife and baby, show her book and had a laptop in hand. A customer saw him and informed a waitress (who was new) that he was either “selling”/harassing” his wife and baby. The waitress tapped on the window and told him to stop doing “whatever”. The customer/waitress mistook Bell for a local homeless/panhandler’s that frequent the neighborhood.
Obviously Bell, his wife and were outraged. The waitress was fired and there was weeks of community reckoning about what to do.
Elmwood Cafe weathered the controversy and was as popular as ever with long lines out the door on weekends.
This week, the Starbucks incident happened. Kamau Bell appeared on CNN and recounted his own experiences…
www.cnn.com/…
This kicked off a firestorm on Yelp. Yes, I repeat...Yelp.
Yelp closed the comment section for the Elmwood Cafe and then at 2 am Elmwood closed and Berkeleyside (the local newspaper) reported on it.
www.berkeleyside.com/…
Berkeleyside basically reported the story as Bell complained, people responded and allegedly harassed owner, owner shut down cafe in response...
At some point during the day Bell responded… see www.berkeleyside.com/…
Elmwood Cafe is in walk distance to my house. I have been to Elmwood Cafe. I like Elmwood Cafe.
I have some problems with this story.
Let’s get this out of the way...
1). I think the waitress made an honest mistake that had racial undertones. She took a racist customer complaint and on the surface level validated it. And ultimately paid the price for it.
Living in Berkeley means you are confronted with panhandlers, homeless and college students who need a bath.
I have also learned living in Elmwood that there is a subset of “liberals” who want liberal values except if they happen to impose on their property values. And then off with their heads…
2) Bell is allowed to share his story. There is no expire date on racism. He gets to share at his discretion what happen to him. Listening and reading to the comments online, there seems to be some magical eraser that if you do x,y,z or if x amount of time has past...you don’t get to complain anymore. He has a valid case and he has platform whether you like it or not.
3) People need to calm down with Yelp reviews. Seriously get a life.
4) White people hate it when you take away stuff they mildly like.
I will use my husband as an example. He is all up and arms about Elmwood closing. We literally have been to Elmwood Cafe maybe a hand full of time despite living around the corner. It’s always crowded on the weekend (not a bad thing) and we have kids (which it doesn’t have the best space for).
5) The owner has not said why they closed.
This is the piece that piss me off the most. Just use your words. Why did you close? I would like to know.
The current theory by “liberal” Berkeley is that Bell’s piece caused them to be harassed.
Because if you got blow back thanks to Bell...I call BS!!! Top Dog is still around and they got exposed during Charlottesville for hiring a Nazi and being kind of fascist… Pretty sure they are doing well. In fact I know they are doing well.
Elmwood Cafe could have ignored the new report, Yelp had already closed down their comment section and the neighborhood would have continued eating and drinking coffee there.
I’m disappointed in my neighborhood.
As of this evening:
www.berkeleyside.com/...