Thomas Breen photos
Roughly 50 racial justice protesters rallied peacefully outside Good Nature Market on Broadway — two days after a now-fired employee turned away a group of black customers, and one day after someone allegedly threw a brick through the store’s front window.
That protest took place Saturday morning and early afternoon near the corner of Broadway and York Street.
Wearing face masks and holding signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Police Brutality,” dozens of protesters rallied outside the shuttered and boarded up 24-hour market located at the center of the primarily Shops at Yale-owned commercial district.
Nearly every car that drove by honked in support, to which the diverse group of protesters responded with cheers.
The midday action took place two days after a now-former Good Nature Market employee turned away a group of black customers at 1 a.m. on Thursday. The group posted on Instagram about how they had been denied service but a white customer who arrived after them was able to go inside and shop.
The market’s owner subsequently fired the employee and issued an apology.
Later that same day, the city Health Department and Building Department, conducting a previously scheduled round of Covid-19-sparked inspections in the area, ordered the market closed because of a variety of health code, plumbing, and electrical violations.
On Friday evening at around 6:45, as thousands of anti-police brutality protesters marched peacefully from the Green to police headquarters at 1 Union Ave., someone allegedly threw a brick through the Broadway market’s front window, according to a Yale police officer at the scene.
The roughly 50 protesters who showed up outside the plywood-boarded market Saturday appeared to focus as much on rallying against police brutality and the murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer as they were rallying against Good Nature Market’s recent racist incident in particular.
“This is a very monumental moment in history,” said New Haven native Tanya Foreman (pictured). “I feel like we all need to stand up and defend what’s right.”
When asked how she felt when she learned that Good Nature Market had denied serving a group of black customers on Thursday, she replied. “I was hurt. That was wrong.”
“That was really not a cool thing,” she continued. “But that’s part of the society that we live in. That’s what happens to black people, you understand?
“We’ve been going through this for over 400 years, and we want peace. We want to be able to live in society like everybody else. That’s why we’re out here.”
Patricia Williamson (pictured) said she works in downtown New Haven, and heard about Saturday’s protest when a friend texted her that morning.
She said she was heartbroken by watching the viral video of now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes as he pleaded for his life, and for his mom.
“That got to me,” she said as tears began to roll behind her sunglasses. “That got to me.”
She said she hadn’t heard that Good Nature Market had turned away black customers.
“Now I will be telling all my friends to put it on Facebook,” she said.
Togi Davaa (pictured), an employee at Good Nature Market, joined the protesters outside of her now-boarded up store. She held an “All Lives Matter” sign and cheered and waved along with the rest of the group.
“Our one worker made a mistake, a very bad mistake,” she said about Thursday’s incident. “Our store is not like him.”
She said the store quickly fired the employee who denied service to the African American customers.
Just after noon, the group decided to march towards the Green, chanting, “Black Lives Matter!” while walking along the northern sidewalk of Elm Street. A police cruiser blocked off one lane of traffic to give the marchers room to move safely.
They stopped on the front steps of the state courthouse at 121 Elm St., and collectively took a knee.
Just as when they rallied on Broadway, nearly every car that drove by honked and honked in support as the protesters cheered while looking out on the Green.
someone allegedly threw a brick through the Broadway market's front window
Is there doubt that a brick was thrown through the window? Please, Mr. Breen, what other possibilities do you surmise caused the damage?