Bed-Stuy Café Refused To Give Candy To Black Trick-Or-Treaters, Community Leader Says
Café owner says it all was a "big misunderstanding."
Café owner says it all was a "big misunderstanding."
The Strand Café at 492 Nostrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant is being accused of refusing to give Black trick-or-treaters candy on Halloween, but dishing it out to white children, by Community Board 3 (CB3) co-chair Oma Holloway.
Holloway said she had been waiting for her order at the eatery with fellow CB3 member Michael Catlyn, when she witnessed the barista working on Tuesday afternoon turn away three groups of Black children looking for Halloween candy, but stated they had none. But when a woman walked in with her two white children the employee picked a jar from behind the counter and dropped candy in their bags.
Outraged, Holloway approached the barista to address what she saw. “You got to be kidding me,” Holloway said she told the barista. “Little Black kids walk in and you don’t have candy for them, but you have candy for the white kids. This is unacceptable, here or anywhere.”
The employee remained silent and she and her friend ended up walking out without their order.
The owner of the café took to Facebook to address what he calls a “big misunderstanding.”
“We didn’t give out no candies yesterday to anyone,” Poran Chowdhury wrote in his response. Chowdhury also said the barista could not explain what happened as his english is limited.
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Chowdhury also said that the only candy they had was for sale.
Holloway dismissed the owner’s claim as she said she didn’t see any exchange of money for the candy.
“I had a pretty clear vantage point,” Holloway told Patch. “That’s not what was going on.”
Holloway returned to the café with her daughter and a group of volunteers from MY BASE — a youth civic engagement group she runs through the Bridge Street Development Corporation — to stand outside and hand out candy.
Holloway has since reached out to the city’s Commission of Human Rights and fellow board members at CB3 to discuss next steps.
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