“Black Business Owner Outraged About Racist Graffiti on Her Building”
In Boston, a black-owned business in Roxbury called “Black Market” was the target of racially motivated vandalism. The slogan “White Lives Matter” was spray-painted on the side of the building.
The owner of “Black Market” Kai Grant, said she and her husband noticed a growing issue of vandalism in their community and as they looked at pictures taking this weekend they spotted racially charged graffiti on their own building.
As the only black person to graduate from Reading Memorial High School in 1989, Grant said she is used to microaggressions and macroaggressions. As a Roxbury native, she said racial hostility is inevitable.
However, Grant said she was still upset over the message painted on the building, “I was flabbergasted, I was angry.”
“Black Market” is a place for local Black business owners to come and sell their products to the community. Whether it was artwork, clothing, jewelry, and soaps.
Grant isn’t going to let this incident stop her she said, “for us to have this happen at this particular juncture it’s concerning. We’re not going to live in fear. We are members of this community. We’re here. We’re not going anywhere. This is my neighborhood. How dare you come and deface property in my neighborhood.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh spoke out against the crime and said, “Any defacement of other people’s property is a crime, and will not be tolerated. I know we have it in us to do better, as I saw this weekend during One Boston Day — and as Bostonians we need to continue striving towards acting with kindness and goodwill every day of the year.”
