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Black-owned cafe opening West Side locations: ‘An investment in peace’ {Chicago}
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | Apr 25, 2023 | Michael Loria

Posted on 04/27/2023 6:04:39 AM PDT by Salman

Decorated with a large mural featuring titans of Black cinema, Momentum Coffee in North Lawndale doesn’t look like most cafes.

The beans from a local Black roaster and actress Pam Grier looking down from a mural on the wall are a MacGuffin for what the Black-owned coffee shop is really about.

“Our mission has always been to create spaces in underutilized communities,” said Tracy Powell, who owns the cafe with his spouse Nikki Bravo.

The North Lawndale cafe, on Ogden Avenue across from the Sinai Medical Center, is their fourth and the first on the West Side. The others are in the South Loop, Englewood and downtown.

It’s a needed oasis in the West Side neighborhood, an area with few bars, restaurants or other cafes.

...

(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: chicago; race

1 posted on 04/27/2023 6:04:39 AM PDT by Salman
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To: Salman

Are we starting a betting pool on the closing date or the first robbery, or something?


2 posted on 04/27/2023 6:09:00 AM PDT by ALPAPilot
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To: Salman
As soon as something is advertised as "black owned" or "female owned," I refuse to buy it.

In 2020 I saw signs for "blacked owned" in the supermarket over certain products. After about 2 months, the signs weren't there anymore.

3 posted on 04/27/2023 6:10:44 AM PDT by HandBasketHell
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To: Salman

If the food is good, it’ll do OK (unless criminal animals decide to trash the place for no good reason).


4 posted on 04/27/2023 6:25:31 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: HandBasketHell
As soon as something is advertised as "black owned" or "female owned," I refuse to buy it.

I'd say you will not be going for coffee in that neighborhood anyway. /snicker

5 posted on 04/27/2023 6:26:40 AM PDT by Salman (It's not a slippery slope if it was part of the program all along.)
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To: Salman

NOT going anywhere near Chicago anytime.


6 posted on 04/27/2023 6:32:12 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: Salman

Kudos to them. Brave entrepreneurs.

But there’s a reason why places like Lawndale, Englewood and Auburn Gresham have no shops - and are also ground zero for murder in Chicago. I hope they can avoid it.

The South Loop location should do OK.


7 posted on 04/27/2023 6:36:52 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Salman

These people are so racist there’s no hope for them.


8 posted on 04/27/2023 6:40:24 AM PDT by Vision (Woke is communism and it has no place in America. Election Reform Now! Obama is an evildoer.)
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To: PGR88

open 6am to 12 noon


9 posted on 04/27/2023 6:41:31 AM PDT by nikos1121
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To: Salman

Baltimore tried the same thing in the early 2000s and there was a chain of 5 Black Owned Soul Food Eateries on the West Side. Didn’t last 3 years, robberies and bullying from the addicts and youth ran off customers and the food was pretty good too.


10 posted on 04/27/2023 6:43:01 AM PDT by Trueblackman (I would rather stick my head up my a** & walk down an Interstate off ramp than believe Biden.)
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To: Salman

Minority-owned businesses get special privileges from the state. This is illegal and unconstitutional, and so I will not support any minority-owned business.


11 posted on 04/27/2023 7:02:54 AM PDT by I want the USA back (No one is assigned sex at birth. One's sex is noted and recorded. My pronouns Haha, hehe, hoho, hoo )
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To: Salman

Next stop for the local ‘homeless’ and gang bangers.


12 posted on 04/27/2023 7:04:35 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: libertylover

Will the gangs and other assorted criminal elements let them operate? We’ll see. Will they be victims of the crime of the neighborhood? Time will tell.


13 posted on 04/27/2023 7:15:48 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: HandBasketHell

If they don’t cater to the goljs with money enough to buy coffee, they will close. I don’t have that kind of money, regardless my skin color or gender or proximity.

Hope the did their homework or they deserve to lose everything. Always fo your homework!


14 posted on 04/27/2023 7:31:25 AM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It ( )
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To: ALPAPilot

My first thought. They really think just because you’re black, you won’t continue to kill one another? That’s rich!


15 posted on 04/27/2023 7:37:10 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (D.I.S.T.R.A.C.T.I.O.N.S.)
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To: Salman

They think black folks won’t rob and shoot black folks?


16 posted on 04/27/2023 7:51:52 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: ALPAPilot

$2 on the first Saturday night there open.


17 posted on 04/27/2023 8:03:35 AM PDT by Vaduz (....)
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