Frustration
the buildings in the predawn hours.
A Cricket Wireless store at 2131 W. Capitol Drive was broken into twice in 24 hours, once Saturday night and again Sunday morning.
“They smashed the front windows and the side windows to get in, and then they took as much stuff as they could before they ran away,” said store owner Nas Sarsour.
Nearly all the store’s mobile phones and accessories were stolen. The business reopened Monday with boarded windows.
Sarsour has owned the store for three years. He said he supported the protests, but the looting only made things worse.
“People have the right to be angry. They have the right to protest. But they don’t have the right to come and break into local businesses,” he said.
The civil unrest occurred after mostly nonviolent demonstrations by thousands of people throughout Milwaukee. Protesters were voicing their opposition to racism following the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd, an African American, by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Some of the businesses that were damaged or looted are in the Harambee neighborhood, including a Walgreen’s at 2826 N. King Drive.
Also hit were businesses in the Sherman Park neighborhood and other areas on the city’s north side. And a fire was set at Milwaukee Harley-Davidson, on Silver Spring Road, after vandals broke windows and got into the dealership early Monday.
It was a horrific weekend for some shop owners.
“There will be businesses that, ultimately, will be forced to close their doors. We went from the pandemic, that’s lasted more than two months, to this,” said Ossie Kendrix Jr., president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin.
“I can’t disagree with the protesting, but I don’t condone the looting and damage,” Kendrix said. “The last thing we want is to have diverse small businesses close their doors as a result of the impact of these protests.”
Several dozen stores were burglarized. Police have arrested more than 100 people for violating curfew and ordered more than 30 cars towed.
“Milwaukee does not deserve this. The people in our community do not deserve this. And most importantly our local businesses do not deserve this,” said Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales.
Police are concerned about the reckless driving they’ve seen after dark.
“Motorized vehicles are 4,000pound bullets that are operating on our city streets in a reckless manner,” Morales said.
Farmer, with the Black Panthers, said he wasn’t surprised at the damage.
“As we know, when there’s insurrection and riots, there are no rules to that. People act out differently in different circumstances and situations,” he said.
“We need to place the blame on not only the people in our community who are doing the rioting and looting, we also have to place the blame on why it’s happening in the first place,” Farmer said. “Now that we have Milwaukee’s attention, it’s time for the chaos to stop. Let’s rebuild our community and get some economic development in the impoverished black and brown communities.”
In Madison, more than 75 businesses were damaged or burglarized. State Street was filled with debris. Broken glass from window panes and bus shelters lay shattered on sidewalks. Graffiti covered many buildings.
“When people are angry, they lash out. I’m not saying that’s the right thing. I’m just saying it’s a fact,” Farmer said.
Looting is a criminal side effect of protests organized by outsiders, said Tory Lowe, a Milwaukee community activist.
“These small businesses became victims of an organized riot,” Lowe said. “There are people who want change, and there are people who want to criminalize the idea ... and that’s why the latter happens late at night.”
He blamed the looting on people from outside Milwaukee.
“That’s what happened in the last couple of protests. They weren’t organized by anybody that was from here,” Lowe said. “They take people who are upset, and then come in and shape their anger into a weapon of mass destruction.”
Lowe said he’d like to see small businesses work more closely with people in their neighborhoods, so they aren’t as vulnerable to looting and burglary when protests turn ugly.
“We as a community have to rally around these businesses, and they have to make stronger connections with their neighborhoods,” he said.
If some businesses don’t recover, it could be devastating to neighborhoods already struggling, according to Lowe.
“Once you lose a business, a store in a neighborhood, it takes away resources people need to survive. It hurts the whole community,” he said.