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Posted on 06/03/2010 7:04:35 PM PDT by MovementConservative
In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker went to Southeast Portland on a patrol call. With a few minutes to spare, he decided to get a coffee.
So, he popped into the Red & Black cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out when a customer approached him, saying she appreciates the hard job that police officers do every day in Portland.
One of the co-owners of the cafe, John Langley, has another point of view. While the officer and customer were chatting, he walked up and asked Crooker to leave, saying he felt uncomfortable having a uniformed officer in the vegan cafe.
The incident, which was brief, speaks volumes about the tensions between Portland police and some members of the community who are more worried about police shootings than protection.
Crooker said he was surprised to be shown the door but left immediately. He said this marked a first during his nine-year in law enforcement, two in Portland and seven in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
"The places that I've been kicked out of before have been places like the methadone clinic," he said. "I've never been kicked out of a regular cafe."
But the 36-year-old officer, who was born and raised in Portland, said it's all part of working this city's streets in a uniform.
"We have a unique relationship with the community," he said. "You're there to protect them but on the other hand they don't know what that involves. Being gracious is part of it."
A former Marine who served in Iraq, Crooker didn't take the incident to heart.
"It was not personal," he said. "He was being hostile to my uniform," he said.
Langley, who did not raise his voice during the encounter, agreed.
"It's not about the police," Langley said. "It's about what the police represent to many people who frequent the cafe.
The cafe draws vegans -- of course -- along with homeless people and animal-rights and environmental activists who Langley said have been targets of police abuse and harassment.
But the cafe also draws customers like Cornelia Seigneur, who blogged about the incident on her website.
Seigneur, who is a freelancer for The Oregonian, was enjoying lunch with her daughter on May 18 when Crooker came in, was the one who approached him.
"There have been some unfortunate situations recently," Seigneur said. "But overall the police are out there day in and day out protecting us."
She said she struck up a conversation with Crooker to show her support for police, who she said saved the life of a friend after he was shot by gang members.
When Langley asked Crooker to leave, she was startled.
"It was shocking," Seigneur said. "Everyone deserves to have a coffee, and he was served a coffee. It was humiliating."
She said there were only about three other people in the cafe and that no else seemed to notice the officer.
But the incident has fired a reaction, with dozens of comments pouring into Seigneur's website.
It's been so overwhelming that she took the blog post down but put it back up Thursday afternoon.
The cafe, too, has received a deluge of calls, with about half supporting the cafe and the rest expressing anger.
"We've received threats," Langley said. "People have threatened to attack us and break our windows."
Still, he has no regrets.
"I never expected an police officer to come into the space," he said. "If it happened again, I wouldn't serve him."
-- Lynne Terry
About the Red and Black
The Red and Black is dedicated to providing delicious, wholesome foods at the lowest prices possible. We use organic, local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible.
We strive to provide a community space that is safe and welcoming to all. We hope this space is used for local voices to bring awareness and education on the issues facing us today. We work to be an example of ethical, non-hierarchal business. The cafe is worker-run and worker-owned. Our space and our community are always growing and changing. We evolve based on the energy, enthusiasm and direction of our fellow workers and our neighborhood in accordance with our ideals.
The Red & Black Cafe is located on SE 12th avenue and SE Oak street in wonderful Portland, Oregon. We have been proudly displaying our colors as a community-minded worker’s collective since 2000 and we’re still going strong. We boast a delicious, ENTIRELY VEGAN seasonally-sensitive menu, fair trade organic coffee, and a changing selection of organic red wines and local microbrews. As of recently, we decided to become a closed IWW shop.
But wait, there’s more. We love good music and good films. If you’re a musician, artist, or group looking to do a lecture or film screening at the cafe, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at the e-mail address above and let’s talk about i
More goodies:
Safer Space Policy
We strive to eliminate any oppressive actions, behaviors, and language in this space. These include, but are not limited to, racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, classism, ableism, transphobia and heterosexism. We want this to be a comfortable space for everyone. Please feel free to approach a collective member in confidence should anyone here make you feel unsafe.
The following behaviors must result in 86-ing:
* OLCC violations (suchas bringing outside alcohol onto the premises or giving beer to minors)
* Theft of money or property
* Violating our Safer Space Policy
* Physical, verbal, or mental abuse
* Sexual harassment
The following behaviors may result in 86-ing, at the discretion of the worker(s) present:
* Inappropriate / unwelcome comments and behaviors
* Disruptive or disrespectful behavior
* Causing a worker or patron discomfort or distress for any reason (including violating our Safer Space Policy)
These leftie jackasses are getting shelled on their Yelp page:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/red-and-black-cafe-portland
Serves ‘em right!
I’m a cop in a medium sized city in Nevada. I try to stay away from Starbucks or any other upscale coffee joints. Not because I don’t like their coffee, I just don’t want people thinking I’m in there scoring free coffee. In patrol I stop by various Stop and Robs for my ghetto Starbucks, and I always insist on paying....the convenience store owners and managers are always happy to see a police uniform in their store, especially in some of the (ahem) more at-risk areas...
Well of course...socialism breed vegans...which in turn breeds criminals...of course they hate cops...they are scumbag liberals who don’t deserve to share our free land.
Good for you!
Did you get your screen name from the Don Rickles character in “Kelly’s Heros”? Just curious.
God Bless you, and thank you for what you do!
Be careful out there!
We strive to provide a community space that is safe and welcoming to all.
You lie.
Crooks of Portland, the Red and Black Cafe is a police-free zone. Feel free to visit anytime. Police are not welcome there. Your access will be unencumbered.
They are liberal vegans. They do not have weapons. They are nonviolent tofu eaters. Probably not even enough energy to fight back. If you’re lookign for a new hangout spot that the police will not hassle you at, the Red and Black Cafe is a great choice.
Police to Cafe Owner: If your burglar alarm goes off, we'll still show up whether you deserve it or not.
They have a comments section — this could be fun.
Nothing personal.
The Portland Police should compile a 'Do Not Respond' list and put the Red and Black Cafe at the top of it!
“What would Langley do if a military service member walked in wearing a military uniform?”
I will find out Monday and report back to you.
Ms Seigneur can forget about pursuing a career in journalism in Portland now. Unless The Oregonian keeps her on as a token conservative commentator.
She said she struck up a conversation with Crooker to show her support for police, who she said saved the life of a friend after he was shot by gang members.
When Langley asked Crooker to leave, she was startled.
"It was shocking," Seigneur said. "Everyone deserves to have a coffee, and he was served a coffee. It was humiliating."
She sounds like a liberal who was mugged.
>>drink some gas-station swill<<
Our Speedway gas stations in MI have the BEST coffee.
They change it often and you can get flavors to put in.
I’m with you, I’ll skip the hippy stuff.
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