-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
One of business owner Rashad Bailey’s chief complaints is that Black-owned businesses are treated differently in Chicago. And in all the wrong ways. Referring to the daylight murder of rapper FGB Duck as he walked out of a posh Gold Coast boutique two years ago, Bailey said, “He was in a f*cking store on Oak Street and they shot his *ss up! Is that the store’s problem? No!”
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Summary and audio linked here.
Audio and summary
What’s so fascinating in this is that there is plenty that all sides will both love and to hate in what he says.
He can appeal to more of the populace with his logic than any current politician. He will be successful in another city, just not this one.
If I’m in this guy’s shoes, I can understand why he is asking about the Oak St. clothing store not being closed down like his place was.
The obvious answer is that his illegal nightclub (with a restaurant liquor license) very quickly attracted a bad crowd. There’s a strong nexus between his nightclub and the violence his patrons caused. The Oak St. clothing store doesn’t have a liquor license, isn’t open late, and doesn’t normally attract violent patrons. In fact, FGB Duck who was killed on Oak St. wasn’t even the cause of the violence – it was non-patrons that drove to Oak St. to cause problems. By all accounts, FGB Duck was minding his own business streaming on Facebook Live when he was murdered. It’s a… Read more »
Oh you’re correct, this is how logical people view the situation. But using superficial “street logic” on his less than fully formed rant, much of the populace would agree with the business owner.
The proprietor seemed close to an epiphany but then disappointingly veered off into comforting, but conspiratorial, claims of systemic racism by the City and beat cops. For real, this guy seemed to be operating an illegal nightclub in the middle of Lincoln Park. He might have gotten away with it if his patrons weren’t violent criminals. There are plenty of college bars liquor stores that serve underage patrons with a wink and a nod, but these joints give the local beat cops relatively little problems, so the illegal activity is overlooked. Unfortunately for this guy, his establishment attracted/catered to some… Read more »
Spot on. I assume he thought that by opening in Lincoln Park and charging a $10 cover it would keep the bad element away. Charging a cover keeps away the people that hang out and don’t spend money but it doesn’t keep away the bad element that has money. Being more of a nightclub than a restaurant appeals to the bad element, that was his big mistake.
Lightfoot is making this guy the scapegoat for her crime failure
Am I missing something here? This guy is a victim of white racism in a city with a black mayor, a black police superintendent and 32 members of the city council are black or latino.
Don’t forget a black states attorney, and a black county board president. The City and county are basically run by blacks.
Yet, they claim systemic racism is rampant. WTH? Who are the racists?
According to this guy, the racism starts with the white people in Lincoln Park complaining about crime; and is systemic in our mostly black government on behalf of white people. This guy’s rant makes some valid points about a small number of crazy black people who cause a lot of the trouble, and the lack of prosecution, but he’s mostly off the mark. The reality is that his restaurant operated an awful lot like a late night private club, with low quality food and a lot of alcohol sales. However, he’s way off the mark when he says that he… Read more »
What I find interesting is that this story provides some hope for Chicago. Our State’s Attorney’s office had collapsed so the administrative state is filling the void with its own tools. The city of chicago ‘deep state’ of bureaucrats seem to have came down hard on this guy, sending him to multiple hearings, gave him multiple tickets, and ultimately forced him to shut down. They collectively worked together, outside of the state’s attorney, to shut down a venue that attracted a lot of crime. Communists usually don’t do this, they only shut down political opponents. This guy wrongly calls this… Read more »