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In The Bronx, Small Business Owners Reel From Night Of Looting And Vandalism
By
David Cruz
and
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 2, 2020
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David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist
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By
David Cruz
and
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 2, 2020
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Sam Ahmad, the owner of a jewelry store in the Fordham section of the Bronx that was looted during last night’s widespread protests against police violence and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, doesn’t think he’ll reopen after 20 years in business. He opened the store when he was 37 years old.
“I’m not getting young,” said Ahmad, standing outside his business, George Jewelry Store on Fordham Road and Elm Place.
Video posted on Twitter Monday showed a group of young people rushing toward his store, grabbing any items they could get before fleeing.
Ahmad, who said he's never seen such vandalism at his business, has since taken all the merchandise out of his store, closing his gates indefinitely.
Mamoun Nofal, the owner of a furniture store in Fordham, also witnessed the vandalism and soon closed his store early.
"I support the protesters, but I don't support the people who break glass," said Nofal. "That makes the good look bad."
As wooden boards went up to cover shattered glass at stores on Tuesday afternoon, what struck many along the Fordham business district—the borough’s largest commercial corridor with more than 200 stores, some still closed because of the pandemic—is the fact that many of the establishments are owned by women and men of color.
At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, elected officials from across the Bronx were quick to condemn the violence. Some who lived through the 1977 blackout that led to widespread looting and vandalism were incensed something similar would reoccur in the largely minority neighborhood.
“It took decades for the Bronx to come back,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, flanked by lawmakers. "Why would you want to set us back again? There’s a way to do this. Let’s do this peacefully. We are better than this.”
Store owner Sing, standing by a wall inside his store that was looted last night, witnessed his store being looted on Instagram live.
David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist
Criminal charges are now pending against some suspects arrested for vandalism and looting, Clark said.
Until Monday, the Bronx was relatively unscathed by the unrest that has gripped other parts of NYC. Last night saw some of the more pronounced devastation not just in Fordham but its surrounding neighborhoods. The timing couldn’t be worse for some business owners, who looked forward to the start of the Phase 1 reopening that's still slated for June 8th.
Among those forced to close because of the looting was Jessica Betancourt, the owner of an eyewear store on West Burnside Avenue near Jerome Avenue, two miles south of Fordham.
“We are devastated that our neighborhood is turning to violence. Our hard work, I guess, is not paying off,” said Betancourt. “George Floyd died, yes he did. We’re not respecting his memory by committing so much violence. We need to stop this right now. Our small businesses are hurting.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. behind a podium, stands with elected officials condemning looting and vandalism during last night's protests.
David Cruz
Ken Johnson, a middle school teacher who lives near 182nd Street and Grand Concourse in Burnside, spent the night guarding the businesses on his block with store owners.
The people who approached his neighbor’s bodega respected their requests to leave the store alone, Johnson said.
“One of the guys got a lot of street cred -- he knows a lot of people on the block so they were able to direct traffic a little bit and not let his doors be touched,” Johnson said. “We tried to speak up for some of the other stores, but what can you really do?”
“It was like a feeding frenzy, everybody coming out everywhere, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing,” Johnson added. “So, we just kept our distance and just our main concern was there were a few fires that had been started a little bit further down, and we have buildings here right next to a gas station.”
Still, Johnson said the overall mood on his block was not aggressive or violent. “It was actually almost like a party atmosphere,” Johnson said, with people sharing tips on which stores to avoid and where to go next.
“They targeted certain stores -- there was specifically beauty supplies, liquor stores, cell phone stores were the primary ones,” Johnson said, as well as pawn shops and pharmacies. “So, people were clearly looking for items that they use for their own enjoyment or...to sell.”
Johnson said he saw police sweeping through the area a couple of times over night.
“The police came through and everybody scattered. Then it seemed like the police pretty much cleared out the blocks and then they jumped into their vehicles to go to the next location,” Johnson said. “But it wasn’t even two minutes from the time that they left to the time that the block filled back up again.”
As a teacher in a nearby middle school and longtime resident of the community, Johnson said what he witnessed was complicated. “You know, these people who own those businesses, they getting caught in the crossfire,” he said. At the same time, “We have been cooped up for three months dealing with a crisis situation with COVID. So everybody is on edge from that. In addition to just the overall climate in the country, having a leader that riles people with this type of aggression and vitriol and then to have these continued incidences of three back-to-back (murders): Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, then George Floyd -- to have these situations come back to back, people are just kind of like, 'it ain't gonna change, it ain’t gonna get better. So I’m going to get mine.'”
Councilmember Fernando Cabrera, who represents the Burnside area and parts of Fordham, has called for the National Guard to come to the Bronx, despite the NYPD doubling the number of officers out at night.
“Police officers are telling me privately they need the help. They’re stretched too thin,” said Cabrera. “How long can the Police Department sustain this level working 12-16 hours a day? It’s just not going to happen.”
Asked whether the NYPD was ill-prepared in the Bronx last night, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said "no one saw this coming."
"Remember that this wasn't an organized protest. This is not a rally gone bad" said Diaz. "No one had a heads up. In fact, we were looking at Bay Plaza [Mall]; we were looking at other areas ... and this happened all of a sudden."
At the news conference, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who represents portions of the north Bronx, said the State Legislature is drafting a package of bills aimed at police reform, but would not commit to legislation repealing the state's 50-a statute, which keeps the disciplinary records of police officers private.
"We'll see a package that we'll announce next week," Heastie told Gothamist. "I don't want to get ahead of where we are, but I'd say 50-a is on the list of considerations."
Heastie called the vandalism unacceptable. "It is heartbreaking to see the faces of these black and Latino business owners who have seen these businesses destroyed."
As the news conference was happening, young people fanned out with brooms to clean up debris from the night before. Among them was Erika Marte, whose father's store on Burnside had its safe stolen. Even so, Marte said she could empathize with the looters.
"This is a system that just needs to be taken down," said Marte. "There's nothing good that's going to come out if they don't acknowledge what's happening. This is more than looting. It's coming from something."
Tagged
bronx
2020 protests
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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