As we all know by now, many small businesses were attacked on Wednesday night in the midst of the protest that turned violent on the streets of downtown Oakland. Walking through downtown yesterday morning made be both sad and angry. There was glass everywhere, burnt debris in the street, garbage cans still tipped over, and store owners surveying the damage.
But now it’s time to come together as a community to try to make things right again. We need to support these locally owned businesses that have already been struggling through this difficult economy and now have to deal with this additional economic and emotional hurdle.
via dakotapie, Becks at Help me support Oakland business that were vandalized « Living in the O.
You may or may not know all that’s been going on with the shooting death of Oscar Grant in Oakland and the subsequent protests that turned into vandalism (see some info here: Perspective from a Protester). Becks of the blog Living in the OÂ decided not just to talk about how awful that is, but to do something about it. She (I think? I am so sorry if this is wrong!) is getting the community together to get locals to increase patronage to the vandalized stores.
Turning tragic events into a way to proactively organize a community and do good is so amazingly made of happy. Thank you, Becks, for doing this for our community. I am an Oakland local so this means a lot to me.