Mayors to Business: Please Stay

George Floyd was eulogized yesterday by one Rev. Al Sharpton, a notable anti-Semite who has agitated against Jewish business in New York City. Remember when his rants about Jewish-owned Freddie’s Fashion Mart, a Jewish-owned business in Harlem led one of his followers to firebomb the store, causing a half-dozen deaths?

You don’t? Why do you think that no one reminds us of it?

Apparently, being an anti-Semite has its rewards. For the record, because no one seems to care, security at the service was provided by a notably anti-Semitic hate group called the Nation of Islam.

Anyway, while the nation is being consumed by a paroxysm of virtue signalling, inner city businesses are re-evaluating their commitments. They are trying to decide whether they will go back into cities whose police failed to protect them against mobs. 

When you burn down your city, some business may choose not to come back. Of course, Walmart can take the hit of a burnt out Chicago store. Smaller, minority-owned businesses cannot. Doubtless, Walmart was insured. How many small businesses were?

The Gateway Pundit reports from Chicago where Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been trying to persuade Walmart to return to Chicago:

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been talking to these retailers and asking them not to leave the city.

Not only do these companies make it possible for residents to get the things they need, they pay tons of taxes which the city relies on.

As reported on WBBM news:

Mayor Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest.

Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, 7-Sigma Corporation has had it. It is leaving the city that has been its home for decade. 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

“They don’t care about my business,” said Kris Wyrobek, president and owner of 7-Sigma Inc., which has operated since 1987 at 2843 26th Av. in south Minneapolis. “They didn’t protect our people. We were all on our own.”

Wyrobek said the plant, which usually operates until 11 p.m., shut down about four hours early on the first night of the riots because he wanted to keep his workers out of harm’s way. He said a production supervisor and a maintenance worker who live in the neighborhood became alarmed when fire broke out at the $30 million Midtown Corner affordable housing apartment complex that was under construction next door.

“The fire engine was just sitting there,” Wyrobek said, “but they wouldn’t do anything.”

Two days after the riots began, Gov. Tim Walz described the city’s response as an “abject failure.” Walz ordered the National Guard into Minneapolis to restore order at the request of Mayor Jacob Frey. The violence sometimes overshadowed peaceful protests over the death last month of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

Frey said Monday that he was unaware of 7-Sigma’s decision to move, and he declined to say whether the company’s decision reflects the challenges facing city leaders as they try to convince business owners to rebuild in Minneapolis. Many business owners have criticized the city, saying their pleas for help went unanswered.

It has always been the problem with protest via arson and looting. Businesses tend not to return to places where they are unwelcome. Those who suffer the most are those who live in these neighborhoods.