44 F
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

Immigrant Cafe Owner in LA Boycotted For Trump Support

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Asher Shalom, the immigrant owner of a business who employs immigrants, is at a loss for why his recently opened café was protested at large because of the business owner’s support of President Donald Trump and White House immigration policies, he told Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.

Asher Shalom(left) and his son went on Fox News to discuss the boycott of their business over Trump support (Photo: Screen Grab Fox News)

“My life is all with immigrants,” Shalom said, who was shocked by the rhetoric he says came from protesters outside his café. He added that he heard people call him racist and a Nazi. “I don’t know what the connection to my coffee shop is.”

Last week, protesters shouted at patrons and tried making it impossible to reach Asher Cafe & Lounge during its grand opening in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Shalom, together with the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, a bipartisan group that works to empower U.S. businesses, will attempt another grand opening on Aug. 8 and has the backing of several other supporters.

Duvi Honig, founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, told Breitbart News: “We are proud to step in and help arrange the ribbon cutting for Asher Cafe and help bring unity and love to this county in a bipartisan manner while helping the cafe voice its message of peace to the community loud and clear.”

The second attempt of the grand opening is being organized by Asher Shalom’s son, David, in response to the increasingly anti-Semitic protests. At the initial events, activists physically tried shutting down the grand opening event and yelled slurs such as “you’re racists!” and “Go home Jews”.

They intensely protested and “accosted all the visitors that came to our grand opening event,” said son David.

An Angry meme on Social Media made by the protest group Defend Boyle Heights

“It was very scary,” said Shalom’s daughter Yael. “There was a lot of people protesting outside wearing masks…. and they threw a significant amount of feces at our windows.”

The local chamber of commerce actually revoked The Asher Café from membership, simply for supporting the president. The Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, which had once invited Shalom to join and was slated to attend the grand opening, terminated his membership days before the confrontation, CBS- Los Angeles reported.

In a letter from chamber president Jennifer Lahoda, she mentions a photo shared by Shalom on his Facebook page reading, “I wish Democrats would fight as hard for Americans, as they do for illegal’s.”

In a letter from Lahoda, reported by CBS-Los Angeles, the chamber explained why they revoked Shalom’s membership.

Lahoda Wrote” “Boyle Heights thrives because of our diverse immigrant population — The Chamber will always celebrate and support this fact. We will not support anyone who chooses to conduct themselves in a hateful manner, especially toward members of our community.”

A Facebook post by a group calling itself Defend Boyle Heights called for anyone and everyone to show up to the grand opening to protest, claiming Shalom was an “anti-immigrant Trump loving gentryfier! If he hates immigrants so much, he can stay the f*ck out of our hood!” Defend Boyle Heights brands itself as “an anti-gentrification coalition.”

The inside of the Asher Café (Photo: Shalom Asher)

Shalom’s alleged offense was to retweet four tweets by President Trump, including one saying the legal system in place for refugee resettlement is “broken.” America has one of the toughest refugee vetting processes in the world, one which normally takes at least two years.

Appearing on Aaron Klein’s “Investigative Radio radio show”, David Shalom said “It was very concerning to me as a millennial, as well. Because most of these protesters were millennials. And I am witnessing this growing movement in America of intolerance from the radical left. And it just begs the question of what kind of society am I going to live in. Are my children going to live in, even. And I think civil discourse on the left is slowly eroding.” The Shalom’s also appeared on Fox News to discuss the protests.

Besides the café, Shalom owns Asher Fabric Concepts, a successful business that employs over 70 people, including immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala.

Shalom may take particular offense to his critics’ anti-immigrant charges because he himself came from Israel. He talked about how on the day he became a U.S. citizen 15 years ago, he “cried like a baby. It was so emotional.”

“The contrast is just so clear in the bigger picture,” Shalom said. “While these people were berating police officers to their faces for hours and cursing at them we were welcoming everyone. The whole community with warm arms.”

By: Bruno Mooney and Jared Evan

balance of natureDonate

1 COMMENT

Latest article

- Advertisement -