Time to stick together.
Looting our store doesn’t change where we stand
I think the last thing many of you want to read or hear is another platitude regarding social justice and facing ingrained prejudice and racism in our country. In some weird way, the outpouring of support and words can seem placating and insincere when all coupled together in your inbox and FB page. However, it is my hope that you recognize that an important step towards adjudication and remediation is to hear from both citizens and businesses of all sizes, backgrounds, and experiences–and in particular–the experience of a business that took a shot to the chin during the protests. As some of you may know, our Downtown store was broken into, looted, and damaged on three straight nights. Our experience is by no means isolated, but it has at times become a contentious subject on where concern and focus should be. It is my aim here to make it very clear where Foot Traffic stands: BLACK LIVES MATTER!
No matter what happened to our downtown store and no matter how personal and damaging the looting and destruction is to our store and our community, NOTHING should distract us from what our focus should be on. We need reform. We need change. And we need it now. We can’t wait. Vote. Donate. Get involved. Speak out.
Our store downtown was walloped by some gratuitous opportunist adrenaline junkies that, in my opinion, were NOT representative of what these protests are all about. In fact, they are distracting and antithetical to what 99% of people protesting are looking to do. Nobody should be OK with looting for that reason alone–not just because it sucks that our store was bashed in, but because it may be further entrenching a schism that exists in our country regarding the urgency of this matter.
I personally spent three straight nights cleaning up and guarding our store and watching and learning about how things were transpiring. I was exhausted, scared and frustrated. But I know that those feelings of fear and anger don’t even hold a torch to what POC experience daily. Having something to lose and a platform for outreach makes me absurdly fortunate. I know that. And with that privilege, I want to leave you with this: We can be saddened by our own deeply personal obstacles facing our store, staff, and family…but we are OUTRAGED at what we have witnessed time and time again against people of color day after day. No more.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
RUN ON surely means so much more than it did to start.
Peace, love, and perseverance,
Sincerely,
Sean