Members of Louisville’s Cuban community gathered on August 2 at a rally in support of Fernando Martinez and other business owners who received a threatening letter from Black Lives Matter “activists.”
Martinez, a native of Cuba and a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, was one of dozens of business owners in the East Market District (known as “NuLu” — short for “New Louisville) who recently received a letter from the BLM mob making outrageous demands on business owners. The mob threatened to post slanderous online reviews trashing those businesses that did not capitulate to their demands.
An article in The New American on August 2 reported that during what the BLM activists called a “block party” on July 31 (in reality, an illegal blockage of traffic that resulted the Louisville police department arresting dozens of people) the protesters delivered lists of nine demands to each business in the area.
The list of demands included, in part:
• Businesses will adequately represent the black population of Louisville by having a minimum of 23 percent black staff.
• Retail locations will include a minimum of 23 percent inventory of black retailers OR make a recurring monthly donation of 1.5 percent of net sales to black local organizations. (This sounds a lot like the old “protection” racket used by Al Capone in Chicago. The Louisville Courier-Journal cited a press release that a list of demands was delivered by protesters who told Martinez to put it on his front door so “your business is not f***ed with.”)
• Business owners will require diversity, equity, and “inclusion” training for their staffs, to be conducted by any one of the black women leaders on an attached list. Businesses must either Customize their own or display one of several attached written statements in a “viable location” within the business to increase awareness and show support for the reparations movement.
• Even non-profits are not exempt and must “submit to a voluntary, external audit of their board of trustees and take necessary steps towards 23 percent representation on those boards.”
• The BLM extortionists also demanded 23 percent black representation on the board of the NuLu Business Association.
Martinez compared the heavy handed way that the BLM people presented their demands to “mafia tactics.”
The Courier-Journal reported on August 1 that Martinez wrote that as a Cuban immigrant with Black relatives, he does not need to undergo “diversity training.”
On July 30, Martinez briefly spoke with BLM members outside his new restaurant, La Bodeguita de Mima, telling one protestor: “If you and I can sit down as human beings that we are without screaming at each other, without calling each other names, without offending each other, we can come to an understanding.” Martinez explained why he felt threatened by the way the demands were delivered to his business, continuing: “How is destroying our business going to bring any justice?”
Image: Screenshot from Facebook.com
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BLM “Activists” Threaten Louisville Businesses: Offer Race Reparations or We’ll Trash You Online
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
