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BLM: The new US mafia? Cuban community rallies restaurants facing ‘mafia tactics’ from activists

August 3, 2020 | | Print Article

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With pop culture, the media and corporate America behind the Black Lives Matter political movement, not to mention the sports world, the left-wing elements behind the endeavor are understandably bold.

But Black Lives Matter activists in Louisville, Ky., are taking it to a whole other level, according to local business owners. One of the owners, Fernando Martinez, a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, denounced their demands on social media, calling them “mafia tactics” used to intimidate people, The Courier Journal reported.

Included in the list of demand is “1.5% of net sales.”

Martinez was not only confronted by BLM activists, but his business was reportedly vandalized, according to a press release from members of the Cuban community in the city, who held a rally outside the NuLu restaurant Sunday to support Martinez — the release said that the immigrant-owned business “has been subject to vandalism and extortion in recent days.”

Dozens of downtown business owners recently received a letter from protesters that detailed demands aimed at improving diversity and support in the black community.

More from the paper on the demands, which include a contract to be signed:

  • Adequately represent the Black population of Louisville by having a minimum of 23% Black staff;
  • Purchase a minimum of 23% inventory from Black retailers or make a recurring monthly donation of 1.5% of net sales to a local Black nonprofit or organization;
  • Require diversity and inclusion training for all staff members on a bi-annual basis;
  • And display a visible sign that increases awareness and shows support for the reparations movement.

 

Shop owners were essentially warned about not being on the “right side of justice all the time.”

More than 100 members of local Cuban community gathered Sunday at La Bodeguita de Mima in support of the restaurant, according to the Courier Journal, with Martinez declaring, “We’re not an enemy of the black community.”

“La Bodeguita is open to everybody,” he insisted. “If you’re gay, this is your home. If you’re black, this is your home. If you’re white, this is your home. If you’re human, this is your home.”

“How can I be called a bigot and a racist when my family is Black? When my son is gay?” Martinez asked. “I’m the proud father of a gay son, and I’m gonna fight for him against anybody.”

Martinez believes that as a Cuban immigrant with black relatives, there is no need to undergo diversity training.

“There comes a time in life that you have to make a stand and you have to really prove your convictions and what you believe in,” Martinez wrote on Facebook last week. “… All good people need to denounce this. How can you justified (sic) injustice with more injustice?”

Here’s a more thorough list of the demands:

Martinez was confronted by BLM activists outside his establishment on Thursday.

“If you and I can sit down as human beings without screaming at each other, without calling each other names, without offending each other, we can come to an understanding,” he told one protester. “…How is destroying our business going to bring any justice?”

Activist Phelix Crittenden told the Courier Journal the demands and a related social justice rating system for businesses was not intended as a threat but as a conversation starter with owners about how businesses can better reflect support for black people.

“How you respond to this is how people will remember you in this moment,” the trans activist said. “You want to be on the right side of justice at all times.”

It was not lost on social media users than Cuban-Americans know full well the real-life consequences of Marxism.

Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ToddMcMurtry/status/1290063937044484096?s=20

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Tom Tillison
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