King Drive black-owned businesses post signs supporting Floyd protests
Businesses along Milwaukee’s King Drive have always sported signage as unique and diverse as the businesses themselves: a clothing store, barbershop, interior design firm, tattoo parlor and restaurants to name a few.
But new yellow signs with black borders tie nearly a dozen of them together with these words:
Local Black Owned Business. We Are in this Together
#JUSTICEFORGEORGE
The signs, according to Skybox Sports bar owner Royce Lockett, came from Deshae Agee, the executive director of the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District.
As for the demonstrations that have been going on non-stop for the last week, he’s not overly concerned.
“Protesters come out here every day,” he said, “and they’ve been very welcoming.” He’s not worried about the risk of damage. They use the restroom, buy water or just come in for a break from the
elements — all things Lockett says he’s happy to provide.
Business has been a challenge since the pandemic disrupted life in March. “We’ve been doing decent,” he said. “Not as good as we normally would be doing, but decent.”
Despite the pandemic, Skybox receives “a lot of support from people in the community,” he said The 6,000-squarefoot, two-level space will celebrate its sixth year in November.
Lockett set out to create an atmosphere he’d want to patronize himself: games downstairs, a sizeable bar, TVs galore and full-size posters of Serena Williams, Aaron Rodgers, and Tiger Woods.
Much like those images, Lockett said the sign supporting Floyd in his window represents a show of solidarity.
Paul Whigham, the owner and head chef of Mi Casa Su Cafe, said the restaurant has struggled since the pandemic hit. He closed Mi Casa for a week but because he lives in a loft above the restaurant, he could hear that the phone was still ringing — and ringing.
Gradually, Whigham worked his way back up to 30-40 orders per day, spending some days in the kitchen alone before he could bring his staff back. Contracts with Evolve Church and Safe and Sound — for a combined 600-plus meals — helped him survive.
“Those contracts saved my business,” he said.
Agee handed him two of the #JUSTICEFORGEORGE signs; Whigham put one in his window and gave the other to Williams CPA, a business up the street.
Whigham put off watching the video that shows George Floyd become unresponsive with a Minneapolis police officer’s knee on his neck until a couple of days ago. When he did watch, he was saddened by the brutality of it.
But he said the diverse patrons at his restaurant gave him a nuanced appreciation for the tensions between police and black community.
“I’ve got several officers who eat down here,” he said. “A lot of them don’t have anything bad to say about the protesters, and they’re totally in agreement with the protesters.”
“Every black person isn’t a thug or a criminal, just like every cop isn’t corrupt,” he said.
He has heard things that gave him pause when the protests began — the whir of helicopters and the rush of speeding cars — but he’s not as worried now.
“I believe nothing will happen because the majority of businesses along here,” he said gesturing up and down King Drive, “are black-owned businesses. Everybody that comes through here knows someone.”
That hasn’t always protected black businesses in the past, he acknowledges, but he said predicting how protests will turn out isn’t much different from trying to predict when the city will increase restaurant capacities.
“I’m just going to play it by ear,” he said.
Whigham has big plans for the business: He bought the space next door and is in the middle of rebuilding it with artwork, more dining space and a stage for spoken word presentations.
Why did he put the sign in the window?
“You should always support black businesses,” he said. “Always.”