The Minnesota Coalition to Rebuild and Heal Immigrant Businesses in the Twin Cities is asking for help. Several executives from different organizations, alongside immigrant business owners, have formed the coalition to help pick up the pieces of businesses that were affected by the events that took place in response to the death of George Floyd.
A press conference was held on Friday that included several voices from prominent immigrant owned businesses on Lake St. and organizations that support them.
Jaylani Hussein, the Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, spoke to reporters and the community about what the coalition is about.
“We are welcoming and challenging Minnesotans and Americans to support these minority owned businesses,” Hussein said, “particularly because these businesses have always been neglected from the state level [and] from the federal level.”
Hussein is a Minnesota native who grew up in the Lake St. area and has witnessed its revitalization over the past three decades due to immigrant owned businesses.
“As someone who grew up here on Lake St. in the 1993 era, I believe it was a depressed, a very economically depressed area,” Hussein said, “since then, now South Minneapolis and many of the corridors that we have been impacted, have completely been revived by immigrant and black-owned businesses.“
The coalition is asking for donations from the community. They can be made on the Coalitions website.
The owner of Los Ocampo, Armando Ocampo spoke about his efforts to rebuild his business that has been on Lake St. for 17 years.
“We have to work together to rebuild Lake St. and heal because we've been making the change. Lake St. is built by all the immigrants,” Ocampo said. “I'm going to keep going, I'm not gonna give up.”
Patricia Torres Ray, state senator of district 63, was also present and talked about working to secure funding on the local and national level to help rebuild her community that was affected by fires. She also mentioned her continued support for the fight against injustices that people of color and minorities face.
“We are united as communities of color and immigrant communities and indigienous communities in our effort to do significant reform of our criminal justice system,” Torres Ray said.
Hussein also mentioned the continued support that the coalition has for protests calling for justice
These businesses recognize and are firm in their stance to support justice for George Floyd and all victims of police brutality,” Hussein said. “Buildings can be replaced and human life can not be replaced.”
