Just a quick update, policy on commentators on our page:
If you say cops or I.C.E. should be called on protesters or that protestors should take off their masks (many folks can’t show their identities due to state repression), congratulations, your comment will be deleted and you are a coconut.
If you come at us without principles, calling folks names, being sexist/misogynist, ableist and/or trolling, you will be shamed and your comments will be deleted and you will be banned.
Our public page is not a liberal democratic platform for “diverse opinions.” It is our page. Don’t like it? Please start your own.
About the Weird Wave Coffee Shop:
Weird Wave Coffee Shop is owned and run by Jackson Defa and John Schwarz under the LLC name “Governor Coffee.” Mario F Chavarria is an investor, too, probably a silent partner. There may be more, doesn’t matter. They are not from the Boyle Heights community. Some are from out of state, one being from Washington state originally, and we hear they came from Huntington Beach but now own a home in the gentrified USC area.
Even if they were all people of color, Latinx or whatever, why would that change their obvious purpose of opening up a hip new coffee shop on Cesar Chavez? They are gentrifiers, plain and simple, regardless of their color, white, brown, black, etc. They’re not just there to make a living, but to make a living at the expense of the working class renters and others who have called Boyle Heights their home for generations.
Look What Happened
Don’t see the big deal with this coffee shop? Did you know Cafe de Leche in Highland Park was one of the first shops to open the floodgates to gentrification?
Landlords raise rents in the hopes or expectations of more affluent tenants. More affluent tenants come in, displace original renters. And of course new folks come in to buy houses that are already inflated due to real estate speculation. This is happening. Developers, the city, nonprofits and, yes, even hipster shops all work together to gentrify. Don’t believe us? Ask yourselves, why does rent go up? Who starts it? Who benefits?
To all these folks saying, “It’s just coffee!”:
Gentrification is not just one or two developers. It is a web, a process, with many actors. But the simple end-goal is the redevelopment of an area with the purpose of mass displacement. They want hipper, more affluent people. Time and time again, we see that this appears to mean more affluent white yuppies moving in.
Are we against white people? No. But we are against white supremacy, white ignorance, white privilege, and the basic concept of whiteness.
Capitalism is rooted in white supremacy. Whiteness is not only about race (at one point in U.S. history, Mexicans were considered white — and Irish folks and Jewish people weren’t — in other words, it changes according to who’s in power); it is about who’s on top, in charge, dominating society.
The U.S. was built on the idea of whiteness, of white needing to be different from the non-white original people (the indigenous to the continent and this specific lands, the Tongva).
Identity politics is the quickest, probably the most self-gratifying, way to escape a serious dilemma.
For example, if someone is brown or black, they can’t do any harm. Or a brown person is also oppressed so therefore let’s not criticize them. (Re: Obama, Condoleeza Rice, L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar who has taken developers’ money from the Sea Breeze development project).
Capitalists vs. Us
Your brownness means nothing if it ain’t serving the people and defending the community.
But we live under capitalism.
Unfortunately many people who look like you and me are capitalists or are on their way of becoming capitalists.
We can’t let Boyle Heights become the new Highland Park, Echo Park or Silverlake! The vast majority — approximately 80 percent renters — can’t afford for that to happen.
Things will only escalate. Not because we want them to, but because this is literally a life or death, home or homeless, battle.
Since the 1990s, Boyle Heights has struggled to get and keep authentically affordable housing. It’s not just about what a dozen activists want. It is about what all these residents who organize with all the groups that make up our coalition want.
Say no to Weird Wave Coffee.
Stand with the low-income working class majority of Boyle Heights. This isn’t just about coffee.
It is about keeping Boyle Heights affordable.
Dile no a los cocos.
Gentrifiers are not welcomed in Boyle Heights.
Fuera!
Mr. Goodmon, Executive Director, Crenshaw Subway Coalition, may be contacted at
dg@crenshawsubway.org