This Black-Owned Boutique In Philadelphia Didn’t Let BLM Rioters Spell Its Doom

The Purge

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PHILADELPHIA, P.A. — A men’s shoes and accessories store in Center City, Philadelphia was looted last summer during the Black Lives Matter riots. Owner Steve Jamison, a black man who started Blue Sole Shoes in 2007, did not see it coming.

“I just thought that Philly was different,” he told me. “I thought we would respond in a different way.”

Jamison was at home when people first broke into his store on May 31. His alarm company called him to inform him of a breach. He watched on his surveillance cameras as the front door was broken down.

“It’s just a shock. It’s anger. Fear. You know, worried, concerned,” he said. “All those things came into my mind. It’s my store. It’s my business — my livelihood. And all that came into play. Those are the things I thought about.”

Unlike some other businesses that were cleaned out of all inventory — or even burned down — everything in Blue Sole Shoes was not robbed. The business was targeted early in the evening before the city got completely out of control. Yet products were stolen, and vandalism and damage incurred.

There was not one coordinated group but a random collection of individuals weaving in and out of his store as they looted, Jamison says. Jamison does not remember how many pairs of shoes were grabbed because he says he has moved on “mentally” and “emotionally.”

One would imagine that a business owner would have been terrified to step foot in his store the same day it was getting terrorized. Indeed, other owners who spoke to The Federalist waited days before returning.

But Jamison went back the night of. He got to the store and watched the activity on the street. Looters were trying to come into Blue Sole Shoes and he kept telling them it is a black-owned business.

Throughout the country, this became a trend. Black and Latino business owners taped signs to their store’s windows. “African owned business,” read signs written in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “We support our small diverse and minority businesses.”

Saving his store was vital to his livelihood. Jamison opened Blue Sole Shoes in February 2007 after saving up. His venture was financed with a $120,000 home equity loan and with credit. He knew he would lose his house if the business failed.

After the looting, it was a mess in the store. In the days that followed the break-in, the cleaning began. “Merchandise was just kind of thrown around,” Jamison tells me. “It was just a lot of disarray. It was messiness.”

The door and windows had been boarded up. For days, the violence in Philadelphia continued. Trash heaps were everywhere, graffiti scrawled on buildings and stores, glass shattered in the streets. Some individuals let off fireworks over burning police cars in front of City Hall. The curfew went unobserved.

I asked Jamison what sort of financial strain the looting of his store put him under. He was not sure about the numbers and mentioned that coronavirus lockdowns made matters worse. The store was closed for three months and then some due to the violence — just after Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf announced reopening guidelines.

“I mean, I don’t remember,” he said about damages. “The looting was just in addition to the shutdowns. I really look at it as a whole package kind of thing. Because literally, it came at the end of what were supposed to be the shutdowns — the city had announced we will be allowed to reopen. And then it happened. You know, you couldn’t open because of the looting and the riots.”

The shop owner was more guarded on condemning the movement last summer. He says he has “experienced injustice” and “sometimes hopelessness comes about.” Jamison noted that opportunists participated in the looting.

Kathy Barnette, who is running in Pennsylvania to become the first black Republican female elected to the U.S. Senate, is far more critical of the BLM movement. She told me the BLM movement is “Marxist” and that it is trying to “overthrow the country.”

“The goal of Marxism is to create agitation and divide you and then control you,” Barnette said in an interview. “It overturns the country. What we saw on the streets was very destructive and destroyed lives and murdered lives. There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.”

Blue Sole Shoes opened its doors back up in September. Along with two other nearby stores, there was a triple ribbon-cutting ceremony. There are no more wooden boards, there is new glass, and the shelves were restocked.

Asked about how business has been a year after the summer of rage, Jamison said it is going well.

“It’s been busy lately. So, you know, we’re grateful for that,” he said. “It’s kind of where I’ve placed myself in the hope that I can grow from the point of reopening. It wasn’t like a faucet that turned on — like you open the doors and had a flood of people coming in to buy merchandise. That wasn’t the case. But there was a slow, gradual but steady, consistent increase as restrictions loosened.”

“It’s been good to just be at a good place,” he added, “a good space. Not as scary, not as unnerving.”

The Federalist ^ | May 27, 2021 | Gabe Kaminsky

This is what happens when you have draconian gun control laws. It should have been:

Looters were trying to come into Blue Sole Shoes and he shot the next few looters, leaving the bodies where they lay. Other would be looters saw the bodies and stayed away, apparently their lives were more valuable than that pair of Nike sneakers!
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.

:abgg2q.jpg:
Thats what police reports I have read are saying. Maybe you should try reading them.

In City After City, Police Mishandled Black Lives Matter Protests​



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The protests and violence that coursed across the country since the police-related death of a black man in Minneapolis erupted Saturday in Philadelphia, as a peaceful demonstration by thousands gave way over hours to anger and vandalism, with multiple stores looted, buildings defaced, and police vehicles set aflame.

By nightfall, 13 police officers had been injured and at least 35 people were reported arrested. Four police vehicles were also destroyed, and at times plumes of smoke rose above the skyline.

City officials and clergy pleaded for calm, attributing most of the violence to “outside agitators” and not the nonviolent demonstrators.

The protests and violence that coursed across the country since the police-related death of a black man in Minneapolis erupted Saturday in Philadelphia, as a peaceful demonstration by thousands gave way over hours to anger and vandalism, with multiple stores looted, buildings defaced, and police vehicles set aflame.

By nightfall, 13 police officers had been injured and at least 35 people were reported arrested. Four police vehicles were also destroyed, and at times plumes of smoke rose above the skyline.

City officials and clergy pleaded for calm, attributing most of the violence to “outside agitators” and not the nonviolent demonstrators.


 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.





Trumped only by your ignorant Jack assness.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.





Trumped only by your ignorant Jack assness.
You can't handle the truth.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.





Trumped only by your ignorant Jack assness.
You can't handle the truth.





You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you on the ass.

You are a racist clown. Some day you might grow up, but I doubt it.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.





Trumped only by your ignorant Jack assness.
You can't handle the truth.
You can't handle taking responsibility for your own actions and constantly seek to blame others who have nothing to do with your stupid ass life decisions. Its not whitey's fault that you are an idiot, whinner, and loser....you are.
 
Too bad the majority of rioters weren't BLM.
the videos of the looters prove otherwise babycakes.

BTW, store owner isn't that upset or doesnt' remember exactly as he certainly got more cash from the government and insurance than he actually lost.

Need to shoot looters...........to stop the riots
Need welfare reform to stop problem rioters and other criminals from being born.
Another example of ignorant whiteness.





Trumped only by your ignorant Jack assness.
You can't handle the truth.
You can't handle taking responsibility for your own actions and constantly seek to blame others who have nothing to do with your stupid ass life decisions. Its not whitey's fault that you are an idiot, whinner, and loser....you are.

No, all that would be you. This is why you choose to ignore 245 years of American law and policy start in 1776 to this very second.
 
PHILADELPHIA, P.A. — A men’s shoes and accessories store in Center City, Philadelphia was looted last summer during the Black Lives Matter riots. Owner Steve Jamison, a black man who started Blue Sole Shoes in 2007, did not see it coming.

“I just thought that Philly was different,” he told me. “I thought we would respond in a different way.”

Jamison was at home when people first broke into his store on May 31. His alarm company called him to inform him of a breach. He watched on his surveillance cameras as the front door was broken down.

“It’s just a shock. It’s anger. Fear. You know, worried, concerned,” he said. “All those things came into my mind. It’s my store. It’s my business — my livelihood. And all that came into play. Those are the things I thought about.”

Unlike some other businesses that were cleaned out of all inventory — or even burned down — everything in Blue Sole Shoes was not robbed. The business was targeted early in the evening before the city got completely out of control. Yet products were stolen, and vandalism and damage incurred.

There was not one coordinated group but a random collection of individuals weaving in and out of his store as they looted, Jamison says. Jamison does not remember how many pairs of shoes were grabbed because he says he has moved on “mentally” and “emotionally.”

One would imagine that a business owner would have been terrified to step foot in his store the same day it was getting terrorized. Indeed, other owners who spoke to The Federalist waited days before returning.

But Jamison went back the night of. He got to the store and watched the activity on the street. Looters were trying to come into Blue Sole Shoes and he kept telling them it is a black-owned business.

Throughout the country, this became a trend. Black and Latino business owners taped signs to their store’s windows. “African owned business,” read signs written in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “We support our small diverse and minority businesses.”

Saving his store was vital to his livelihood. Jamison opened Blue Sole Shoes in February 2007 after saving up. His venture was financed with a $120,000 home equity loan and with credit. He knew he would lose his house if the business failed.

After the looting, it was a mess in the store. In the days that followed the break-in, the cleaning began. “Merchandise was just kind of thrown around,” Jamison tells me. “It was just a lot of disarray. It was messiness.”

The door and windows had been boarded up. For days, the violence in Philadelphia continued. Trash heaps were everywhere, graffiti scrawled on buildings and stores, glass shattered in the streets. Some individuals let off fireworks over burning police cars in front of City Hall. The curfew went unobserved.

I asked Jamison what sort of financial strain the looting of his store put him under. He was not sure about the numbers and mentioned that coronavirus lockdowns made matters worse. The store was closed for three months and then some due to the violence — just after Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf announced reopening guidelines.

“I mean, I don’t remember,” he said about damages. “The looting was just in addition to the shutdowns. I really look at it as a whole package kind of thing. Because literally, it came at the end of what were supposed to be the shutdowns — the city had announced we will be allowed to reopen. And then it happened. You know, you couldn’t open because of the looting and the riots.”

The shop owner was more guarded on condemning the movement last summer. He says he has “experienced injustice” and “sometimes hopelessness comes about.” Jamison noted that opportunists participated in the looting.

Kathy Barnette, who is running in Pennsylvania to become the first black Republican female elected to the U.S. Senate, is far more critical of the BLM movement. She told me the BLM movement is “Marxist” and that it is trying to “overthrow the country.”

“The goal of Marxism is to create agitation and divide you and then control you,” Barnette said in an interview. “It overturns the country. What we saw on the streets was very destructive and destroyed lives and murdered lives. There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.”

Blue Sole Shoes opened its doors back up in September. Along with two other nearby stores, there was a triple ribbon-cutting ceremony. There are no more wooden boards, there is new glass, and the shelves were restocked.

Asked about how business has been a year after the summer of rage, Jamison said it is going well.

“It’s been busy lately. So, you know, we’re grateful for that,” he said. “It’s kind of where I’ve placed myself in the hope that I can grow from the point of reopening. It wasn’t like a faucet that turned on — like you open the doors and had a flood of people coming in to buy merchandise. That wasn’t the case. But there was a slow, gradual but steady, consistent increase as restrictions loosened.”

“It’s been good to just be at a good place,” he added, “a good space. Not as scary, not as unnerving.”

The Federalist ^ | May 27, 2021 | Gabe Kaminsky

This is what happens when you have draconian gun control laws. It should have been:

Looters were trying to come into Blue Sole Shoes and he shot the next few looters, leaving the bodies where they lay. Other would be looters saw the bodies and stayed away, apparently their lives were more valuable than that pair of Nike sneakers!


Cool
 

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