In A Riot’s Ashes: Minneapolis Business Owners Support Protesters, But Wish It Would’ve Gone Differently

For the past week, independent business owners across the Twin Cities have watched their stores smashed, looted and scorched as part of the escalating national response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died May 25 after Minneapolis Police Department officers pinned him to the ground and ignored his repeated pleas of “I can’t breathe.”

A few miles from where the incident took place, business owners in Uptown Minneapolis were among the first to feel the heat from the protests, which quickly shifted from peaceful to flammable after 30 buildings were set on fire Wednesday night, followed by the police department’s Third Precinct on Thursday. Though fiery unrest has now spread across the country, at the center of the destruction, local Minneapolis businesses already crippled by Covid-19 fear that the violent offshoots of a movement they otherwise support could deliver a fatal blow to their uniquely diverse community. 

“We want justice for George, obviously, and we were all in support of peaceful protests,” said Faatemah Ampey, the owner of SuiteSpot Salonspa on Minneapolis’ Lake Street.  But her storefront was vandalized and smashed, she said, and others fared worse, explaining three of her neighboring business owners were black and another one Asian. “So just on that block, they destroyed three people of colors’ lives, our dreams.” 

Her neighbor, Dan Fehrenkamp, who runs the Iron Door Pub with his brother and two friends, also watched his dreams go up in flames. “I got to live the surreal experience of watching a livestream of my business burning,” said Fehrenkamp. “My wife and I took out a 401(k) loan to open up this business five years ago and we literally made our last payment on it, we were open for one more day, and then we had to close for St. Patrick's Day because of coronavirus.”

Covid-19 was a kick in the gut for his business, but the burning and looting of the pub this week was truly devastating. Fehrenkamp said they were planning to open Monday, as Minneapolis lifted its coronavirus restrictions. With the majority of the business’ interior destroyed, Fehrenkamp has had to let go of his 30 employees and expects it to be months before he can reopen—if he can reopen. 

“Please don’t burn the small businesses,” he said. “Wells Fargo WFC and Target TGT have money to recover from this. We don’t.” 

At the heart of the demonstrations that have erupted into countless violent encounters between police and civilians over the past few days—so far leaving at least five dead and thousands arrested—is a demand for sweeping change in the treatment of underrepresented communities by American police. Police shootings are a leading cause of death among young black men, with a slew of public cases sparking mass distrust in the judicial system. 

Before Floyd’s death, the Minneapolis Police Department alone faced a long history of accusations of abuse. Despite composing just 20% of the city’s population, data shows that black people account for over 60% of the victims in Minneapolis police shootings between 2009 and 2019. City records show that just 1% of formal complaints against Minneapolis police officers since 2012 resulted in disciplinary action. 

Though the four officers involved in the incident have since been fired, and Derek Chauvin charged with murder and third-degree manslaughter, many are seeking a greater response. For Louis Hunter, the owner of Trio Plant-Based restaurant on Lake Street, the protests hit particularly close to home. His cousin, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer in 2016 as his girlfriend broadcast on Facebook Live, creating a national uproar. Hunter himself faced two felony charges of rioting during a protest over Castile’s death, but the charges were later dismissed.  

“We’ve been oppressed for thousands of years, we’ve been treated like dogs,” said Hunter. “The anger and the rage we’re seeing is just hurt. People have been protesting for so many years and it didn’t get to nowhere, so now this is what it leads to.”

Hunter stood outside his restaurant throughout the night to ward off looters, and his own property was barely damaged. However, he says he is heartbroken for the surrounding small businesses he watched burst into flames.

“I’m so sorry they were in between what’s been going on between the cops and black people,” he said. “But we’ve got to stop this in some way, in some fashion, and I think it’s happening. Something amazing is going to come out of this, I know it.” 

Though in complete agreement with the cause, other business owners wish that small, locally run stores could’ve been left out of the firing line—particularly in an area that offered black business owners opportunities for success. Trevon Ellis’ barber shop, Fade Factory, burned for over 12 hours after rioters finished destroying Lake Street and moved to North Minneapolis. 

“There’s a way to protest positively for George Floyd,” said Ellis. “You’re fighting someone that destroyed and took someone’s life, why would you do the same thing? People’s lives count on their business, like mine.”

In attempts to keep their businesses safe, some minority business owners put “Black-Owned Business” or “Black Lives Matter” signs on their boarded-up storefronts. Shantae Holmes, the owner of All Washed Up Laundromat, said that on the first night of demonstrations she couldn’t fathom black-owned businesses being attacked, but did not find her neighborhood staple spared.

Now looking at a city with gas stations, banks and grocery stores completely emptied of inventory or burned to a crisp, Holmes—like many others in the area now lacking direct access to essentials—insists that the damage could not have been done by locals and believes the looters focus attention away from powerful protests. 

“The maliciousness in them or the disconnection of how much that laundromat meant to everyone and not just me, that’s the part that made me say that may have not been a community member,” said Holmes. 

Also caught in the crossfire were certified Minneapolis institutions like Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s Bookstore, run by local legend Don Blyly. “Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction bookstore is 46 years old and Uncle Ed’s is the oldest surviving science fiction bookstore in the country,” said Blyly in a Sunday interview. “Or surviving until yesterday.”

After toughing it out through months of depleted sales due to Covid, the conjoining bookstores were broken into on the third night of riots, resulting in the destruction of over 100,000 books (worth $400,000 wholesale). Blyly said there is nothing salvageable—both the exterior and interior of the more than 100-year-old building were burned. Unsure about insurance and the well-being of his six employees, Blyly estimates that it will take a year to open shop again. He is concerned because almost all of his assets are tied up in the business.

“We’ve been getting an enormous number of emails from people simply telling me how much the store has meant to them over the decades,” Blyly said. “I think a lot of them are a lot more emotional about the bookstore burning than I’m emotional about the bookstore burning.” 

Though morale is low for entrepreneurs in the area who saw decades of work torn apart in just a few hours, a silver lining has been the swift and energetic response from fellow community members who have rushed to help their injured compatriots. Greg Ketter, the owner of DreamHaven Books, said he put out a call for help and within an hour 50 to 100 people showed up. 

“They were friends, customers and a lot of total strangers,” he said. 

Ampey hopes that in two years she can walk down Lake Street and see the vibrant, diverse community that existed before. After closing up the salon, she counts on her daily visit to the Iron Door Pub to see her friend Dan Fehrenkamp. Community efforts to rebuild have already jolted into action and established a fund to fix the street, raising $2 million. If that isn’t enough, Ampey and others will take matters into their own hands to bring back Lake Street brick by brick. 

“Before any of that happened, Uptown was a very special place where business owners supported each other regardless of race, creed and sexuality,” she said. “It would be devastating to know that if five months from now, when I turn on my lights and look out my window that Dan is not there.”