By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last week, Black Coffee Northwest, a Black-owned coffee shop in Shoreline, was the victim of two crimes that the owner believes are racially motivated. The first incident took place in the wee hours of Tues., July 27, when the shop was burglarized, and a few days later, on Fri., July 30, the shop was vandalized.
This is not the first time that the business has had to deal with “racial harassment.” In 2020, fire was intentionally set to their building, and, according to owner Darnesha Weary, several other incidents have occurred, including: swastikas being painted on the building, racial slurs being shouted at employees in the drive through window, and she alleges that White Supremacy groups have congregated in the parking lot as a method of passive intimidation.
Because of the harassment business has slowed down some over the concerns of safety for some patrons. But this adversity has not diminished the Weary family’s purpose and being a successful business.
“Because of the racism it has hindered business,” says Weary. “Our customer base has dwindled a little bit.”
Weary, who grew up in the area, says one of the reasons she established the business was to have a place for the community to meet, gather, collaborate and embrace one another. But the racism that she has endured has hampered those dreams.
“Black Coffee Northwest is intentional,” says Weary. “I was raised out here (Shoreline) but the racism out here is very bad. We opened Black Coffee [as a place] where Black people can come and just be and to build a business.”
According to Weary, the response from local law enforcement, at times, has not been great. She alleges that after calling the police after one of the incidents the police showed up and took an aggressive posture towards her husband, who was at the shop when they arrived. The alleged incident has made Weary, who has a Black husband and son, skeptical about calling the police.
“In these last two particular incidents I did not call the police,” says Weary. “I had an episode in January where I did call the police and they showed up [and were] so aggressive against my husband [that I feel like] I cannot call them again because it is dangerous.”
With the lack of trust in the police, Weary has turned to the community and elected officials in the area to help resolve the racial animosity that appears to be spilling onto efforts of the small, Black business that, as Weary puts it, just wants to survive, serve and thrive.
“We have gotten heavily involved with our city council and our senators, we are very in tune with them,” said Weary. “They have been helpful by helping us navigate the bureaucracy, they help us navigate the system, figure out how we make reports and making sure it gets followed up.”
Beyond the negative experiences, including COVID, Black Coffee Northwest remains vibrant and optimistic. Business was doing well, they are in the midst of opening two new locations and they make a conscious effort to employ people of color but the harassment is not making it easy.
However, Weary says that she will not be deterred from living her dream and providing an opportunity for others to make a living.
“We are going to continue taking up space, and we are going to continue building our business,” says Weary. “We employ Black and Brown people intentionally. We are bringing diversity into the coffee industry and providing opportunity for Black people in this community to come and be a part of something.”
According to Tim Meyer, the Media Relations Officer for the King County Sheriff’s Department, they are investigating the incidents and the results of the investigations have been encouraging. However, because it is an active case they are not a liberty to provide many details.
“The incidents were handed over to two detectives in the criminal investigation division and what I can say is from what I have learned the results are encouraging,” said Meyers.
Despite the challenges that they are facing, Weary says that the incidents show that there is still more work to be done when it comes to the racial healing that needs to take place in America, and she is hopeful that Black Coffee Northwest will be a significant part of that healing.
“These incidents are bringing light to a negative part of the community that a lot people don’t want to talk about,” says Weary. “Some think we are bringing this on ourselves and if we just shut up and be a nice little coffee shop [things will be ok].”
“What is important for Black people and Black business is to keep taking up space,” added Weary. “To keep showing up and to keep doing, we can do so much if we work together, if we come together and know that there is space for all of us to win.”
