The Roundup: When Standing Up Means Closing Up Shop
From the Editor
What's up, South End?
Last week, there was an anti-ICE economic blackout in Minnesota sparked by the ongoing deployment of thousands of federal agents into the state, which led to Renee Good and Alex Pretti being killed by ICE.
As a follow-up to last week's blackout, a national walkout took place yesterday, when people across the country stopped working, attending school, and spending money in solidarity with protests against ICE.
Here in Seattle, many people and businesses participated.
Hood Famous Bakeshop, in the Chinatown-International District, closed for the walkout. And the co-owner, Chera Amlag, posted an article on her Substack explaining why the business would participate.
Chera is not alone in joining the walkout. But it's easy to group people and businesses together and let narratives blend into an amalgamation of rationale that gets lost in the sauce. I wanted to speak with a real person who felt moved to join the action and learn what compelled them and how they balanced the risk that comes with taking a political stance.
I spoke with Chera in the days before the walkout. She explained how she, along with her husband and fellow co-owner, made the decision and how they parsed through the ramifications. They would still pay staff who missed the day of work. But the margins running a small business are thin, and paying staff for a day with no income from sales is not easy.
Here's my interview with Chera on why she wanted to participate, what it means financially for a small business, and what she thinks this moment means for her community and the country.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: There is a lot going right now. I read your Substack post, but what I'm still curious about is whether a specific moment compelled you to take a stand?
CA: I think there is always a spark, like something that pushes you over, but sometimes it's just the urgency of the times. We didn't post anything last week, and I think that was probably brewing up in me and wanting to understand what it is that we can really do. As a small-business owner, you are stewarding the fiscal health of your business for the sake of the people that you employ. So, a lot of that was on my mind as I was scrolling through my social media feed.
There were a lot of business owners saying a lot of different things. It was mixed. Then, I ran across a post from chef Eddie Huang over in New York, and he just was pretty clear about what this looks like in the "both/and." Like, what does it mean to fundraise? Is there a way to look at this other than through the lens of the amount of money you will lose? And at the same time, what is the value of saying yes [to joining the walkout]?
I don't know what it was, but running across his post just was that spark for me.
MD: You've now made the choice to join the walkout, but what was it like in the process of balancing the financial ramifications and even the potential threat to future business? Some customers may not agree with the public stance your business is taking by participating.
CA: I feel we wouldn't be human if we didn't consider the way it could affect us. We wanted to be intentional in the way we posted [the decision] because we understood it would land on everybody differently. And obviously we're in this moment because there's so much range in opinions about the world right now. So we knew that being a public-facing business making a decision like this, that whoever follows us, or whoever is a patron, may or may not change their mind about coming to our space.
But I think that if there is a question about why we're doing it, it's because we're here to support our neighbors. We're here to ensure that we're voicing our anger and our resistance against what the State is doing, and the killings, the way that ICE is working with impunity. And being in a neighborhood like the Chinatown-International District, where it was built on the backs of immigrants and has such a concentration of immigrants, it's what our business stands for, and it's what we stand for.
I learned a long time ago that we can't be everything for everybody. We also chose a long time ago that the way that we run our business is going to focus more on the people, the communities, and the guests that are aligned with humanitarian values. Period. And anybody that doesn't agree that what is happening is inhumane, I guess I'm totally okay if they pass on our business. I think that's okay. We're not going to be for everybody, and that's okay.
The Roundup Rundown
Bush Garden is back! This is big news to the South End and obviously the Chinatown-International District (in my mind, our neighborhoods are connected).
Emerald contributor Jas Keimig has all the info you need, but the beloved neighborhood hub and one of the best karaoke spots in the city (IYKYK) is back in business.
The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network has spent the past decade running the deportation defense hotline, which reports immigration enforcement activity and connects immigrants with resources.
Now, the group is requesting $5 million from the Washington State Legislature to meet the rising demand of people using its hotline.
Emerald contributor Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero reports that calls have surged and there is a desperate need for more funding to continue serving the community.
Over 150 people gathered on Jan. 27 at the Seattle VA Medical Center in Beacon Hill for a candlelight vigil honoring Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center who was recently killed by ICE.
Emerald contributing photojournalist Alex Garland was on the scene.
Attendees called for accountability for federal immigration enforcement operations and sought constitutional protections against immigration actions.
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Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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