[OMS_MANAGERS] Changing racist behavior from downtown business owners

[Elisa Joy Payne]

I coincidentally had a racist situation happen with one of our businesses
this week. It was one of the business' employees. She was confronting a
contracted sidewalk chalk artist for not including white people in the art
-  in front of a black youth standing nearby (who happened to be my 10 year
old niece who was fortunately focused on her shaved ice and oblivious to
the interaction). The business' employee later told a city employee that
BLM art shouldn't be approved (it was a drawing of four bipoc women playing
instruments - no words). We are going to be reaching out to the business
owner, so I don't know what we'd do if this was the owner like in your
situation, Liz. And we'll see how the owner replies.

Where does your board stand on this? I wonder what would happen if we
stopped including/supporting any businesses that refuse to be willing to
empathize with the harm they are doing to members of our communities
and commit to learning from it? This situation is so complex in our
society.

*Elisa Joy 'EJ' Payne* *| *Executive Director
*| Hillsboro Downtown Partnership *| *Cultivating a vibrant community.*
*|* *o.* 503-640-6145* | **m.* 503-341-8639
*|* *e. *ej at downtownhillsboro.org *|* *w.* downtownhillsboro.org

Follow what's happening Downtown on INSTAGRAM
<https://www.instagram.com/dwtnhillsboro/>.


On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 12:29 PM Liz Hannum <liz at downtownoregoncity.org>
wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I had an email forwarded to me by a City Commissioner from an OC resident
> who felt mistreated at a downtown salon. The email is below but I'd like to
> hear from you, how you've either helped business owners understand that
> what they were saying was unacceptable from a customer service perspective,
> or called them out on behavior that can be easily construed as racist. We
> have All Are Welcome signs in some of our business windows, but this salon
> is definitely not the first complaint we've had about being unwelcoming to
> minority groups who want to spend their money here. Any and all advice
> would be helpful.
>
> Email from OC Resident:
> *"My family moved to Oregon City from downtown Portland 3 years ago and
> have enjoyed living away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. I am
> an elementary teacher who understands the importance of learning and
> teaching about diversity, equity, and inclusivity.  Today my wife, who is
> mexican, went to get her hair cut and colored at XXX Hair salon in downtown
> Oregon City. This is a process that can take many hours. During this time
> the owner of the salon was also getting her hair done. After many hours my
> hispanic wife was the only customer left, with the owner still getting her
> hair done. The owner of the store then made continued disparaging comments
> about mexicans. The owner and her stylist were looking at a picture and
> stated, "this looks like two Mexicans looking for work in a berry field''
> and "that is the only place Mexicans could work anyway." She repeated this
> multiple times loudly for my wife to hear. During this time she also was
> playing songs with the "N" word in it. My wife was very uncomfortable as
> was the stylist working on her hair. She wanted to complete the cut and
> color and the stylist working on her hair was very apologetic and was also
> uncomfortable with what the owner was saying. When my wife got home she was
> in tears. I called the owner right away and I told her how unacceptable
> this was and that if this is the way she talks and acts at her business, I
> am sure it is much worse at home. She told me she was just joking around
> with a friend at the salon and that she has a lot of "Mexican Friends'',
> so it wasn't discriminatory. I don't have any social media accounts, so I
> cannot post this, but I also do not want to stay silent. Minorities in this
> country have too often remained silent; whether black, brown, asian, and
> every other minority. I am not a minority, so I do not know first hand how
> it feels to be discriminated against by the color of your skin, but my wife
> does know how this feels and I know my mixed children will have this occur
> to them. It is a sad reality. I want to educate them about it, but it
> saddens me that it still happens in this day and age.  The behavior at XXX
> Salon was completely unacceptable and I would like the city council and
> Mayor of Oregon City to speak up and not tolerate hateful and
> discriminatory behavior. I want to live in an Oregon City where I know my
> wife and children are able to go into any business without prejudices
> and/or derogatory things being said. Thank you for your time."*
>
> --
> Liz Hannum
> Executive Director
>
> Downtown Oregon City Association
> 814 Main Street
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=814+Main+Street+Oregon+City,+OR+97045&entry=gmail&source=g>
> Oregon City, OR 97045
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=814+Main+Street+Oregon+City,+OR+97045&entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> liz at downtownoregoncity.org <jon at downtownoregoncity.org>
> Office (503) 802-1640
> Direct (503) 802-1638
>
> fb.com/downtownoc <http://www.fb.com/downtownoc>
> downtownoregoncity.org <http://www.downtownoregoncity.org/>
>
> Subscribe to our email list for:
> Property and Business Owners and Volunteers <http://eepurl.com/HBw0D>
> Downtown Events and Promotions <http://eepurl.com/HvgAX>
>
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