“Are you A Member of Antifa?” This was the question Kimi Uno found posted to the window of her Salida storefront Tuesday morning. Kimi, an Asian American, owns the Howl Mercantile at 130 West First Street in downtown Salida.
“I thought it was going to be worse,” said Uno, whose Japanese-American family has experienced this kind of racism before. She thinks the note resulted from her placing a Black Lives Matter (BLM) poster in her storefront window last week.
Yet, the note did not just reference the now universally misidentified Antifa, its author further personally attacked Uno.
“Maybe you’d be happier in Seattle or Chicago.” the next sentence read.
This was even more alarming to Uno, given she is from Seattle and that is where many of her family members still live.
“This is personal and I think it is a local who knows me and my employee,” she said. Her manager is from Chicago.
In fact, Uno mentioned her aunt and uncle who still reside in Seattle. She said they recently had to postpone a much-anticipated RV trip around Washington State due to racism. This was because of at least one report of a local militia group surrounding and harassing a mixed-race family looking for a RV camping spot thinking they were Antifa. This is a conglomeration of the hyphenated word anti-fascist and has recently been used to mislabel far right extremist groups. “Doesn’t anti-fascist kind of mean pro-democracy, anyways.” Uno said as an aside.
The specific incident Uno referred to occurred in Forks, Washington. Forks is a rural town on the Olympic Peninsula with a population of little more than 3,800 about a three and a half-hour drive from Seattle. Uno couldn’t help but make the comparison to Salida especially given the presence of militia groups identified by Ark Valley Voice. Unfortunately, this personal attack was not the end of the note, either.
The note ends with a stark correlation, “: All Lives Matter is a TRUTH[.] Your Poster is Racist.” Uno, who has an education in multiculturalism and is an experienced anti-racism educator, says this shows a lack of understanding in BLM and the overall systemic problems facing American institutions. She says without acknowledging the problem, well-intentioned white Americans only promulgate its systemic nature. Also, because of her background, Uno, a five year Salida resident has spoken out before on social media about racism in Salida. She believes the note was a culmination of her outspokenness and mixed-race heritage.
While Uno says she has experienced this before, her ten-year-old son has not. He had joined her at work, as he usually does on Tuesdays. She has addressed racism with him before in an academic setting but she says this time was different. Given the personal nature of this note, she initially wanted to hide its painful ugliness. However, she realized this would be hard to avoid.
Courtesy Voyager Magazine
So in a sober and pragmatic tone, she read him the entire note and then showed it to him. Uno said, like most of us he was a little confused, angry, and asked if the store was going to get damaged. Uno reassured him that further damage was unlikely but in any event, it could all be replaced.
At this point, she contacted a friend who recommended she file a police report. She contacted the Salida Police Department and an officer arrived within minutes. She said she was extremely impressed with the officer’s professionalism and empathy toward what had happened to her. The officer collected the poster as evidence but since nothing was broken he said he could only make an incident report. However, he was proactive and encouraged her to see if any similar incidents had occurred with business owners she knows.
Once the police report was filed, Uno took to social media to report the racist note. She said the outpouring of support was almost immediate. People flooded into her store asking questions and offering support. While the support was welcome, she believes apathy toward racism and the BLM cause is still very strong in the community.
According to Uno, this note and its suggested personal attack plainly show Salida is not immune to the systemic racism being protested throughout the nation. Uno says she hopes it becomes a rallying cry for locals to start having difficult discussions about race. Furthermore, she has been surprised by the lack of attention or even acknowledgment concerning the BLM and systemic racism by local leaders.
Uno is currently working with the Ark Valley Equality Network (AVEN) to encourage anti-racism discussions. She also recommends reading some of Colorado Senate Candidate Stephanie Rose Spaulding’s writings about inequality. Ultimately, she hopes to make this painful event a turning point in our community’s understanding of BLM and systemic racism. Ironically, her many visits to Chaffee County and the interaction that helped her and her husband decide to move to Salida may lie at the heart of the problem, as well as the choice now faced by the country.
“We were walking along Riverside Park and one of the middle schoolers looked my husband in the eyes and said, ‘Hi there.’” That sincerity coming from young people Kimi concluded, “The children that grow up here must be different. Like, in a good way.”
The only thing racist was calling this racist. Shame on you for adding to racism.
What exactly do you think racism is Mary? Normally AVV would not allow your comment to be posted, since you offer no substantiation for your claim that “the only thing racist was calling this racist.”
The only way that could be true is if you had proof, and you don’t. But we have allowed this comment to be viewed so that our readers can see how insidious, how hidden, racist attitudes can be.
The person to whom this was directed took it as racists. Racism is in the experience of the person to which the slight is directed. You don’t get to decide what others think or feel about whether what has happened to them should be taken as racist or not.
According to you the business owner is racist because of how they perceived the message to them and AVV is because we have reported what happened? Really? To have that message land on the doors of one of the only minority business owners in downtown Salida is an accident you think?
The note was cowardly but not racist. Just because the person it was addressed to was of Japanese decent doesn’t automatically turn it into racism. It is a matter of disagreeing with their stand. You ask if I know what racism is? Why didn’t you require this of Stephen Hall? Nothing he presented in his article justified it being called racist.
Their was nothing presented in the note that a particular race is superior to others. There is nothing in the note that is based on race. Instead he bases the charge of racism that the person receiving the note was Japanese decent that is racism.
Thank you for the thoughtful analysis, Mary. I must admit that I believed as you do at one point also. Then I began reading more about the BLM movement and speaking to people of color, like Kimi. It took a thorough review of the systemic racial injustices within our social systems, along with difficult personal self refection to begin to understand why this particular note IS racism. Ironically, it is not really because of Kimi’s race but because the writer claimed the BLM is a racist movement. It is the simple and understood adverb “too” that so many people subconsciously and sometimes conveniently miss. Again, through an understanding of racial injustices in our country we unequivocally know that people of color (primarily black people) are disproportionally affected. These injustices are not necessarily done by racists in white hoods, yet it is STILL racism. And right now, with the deck stacked against this particular group, we all need to recognize and support it as Americans.
Thanks again for engaging.
S.H.
Only the person who posted this note on the window knows who he or she is. Anyone else’s accusations are purely speculation. The note writer could have been a true racist, and if so, is a pos. BUT, the note writer could have been someone who is pro-antifa and trying to cause members of the public to be quick to judge and make the assumption that the note was truly and intentionally racists, and, if so, he or she is an even bigger pos. Either way, it is sad that the business owner had to experience this.
Cathy,
Well, the handwriting is on the wall, so to speak, isn’t it?
No matter what you speculate the reason for this action to be, it’s end result was to terrorize a Salida business owner. I very much doubt that anyone who thinks of themself as anti-fascist (that is what the real term is, not the made-up term to which you and the note-writer refer) would take such an action since it runs against the definition of being anti-fascist and pro-democracy. Our parents and grandparents who fought the fascist Hitler — would never have considered terrorizing their neighbors in such a way.
Hi Cathy,
Actually, Antifa is the actual term, borrowed from Germanys’ antifaschistisch’, of course meaning anti Fascist They shortened it to Antifa. The Germans actually borrowed it from the Italians word anti- Fascisti. The Oxford dictionary added it into English circulation either in 2017, or 2018, I can’t remember which. Just an FYI, when Antifa confronts a Person of Color, that isn’t on the Left, they don’t hesitate to call that person the n word, or any slur that any racist would use in conversation with (hopefully) another racist, not a normal human being.
This is my opinion, and I could, and may well be wrong, but…to me, the note didn’t sound threatening, which if it was meant to instill fear, it would have. It sounded frustrated. I get upset, as well, at constantly being told White people are Racist to the bone. That’s a ridiculous statement. I have never thought about anyone of Color as less than. I’ve never used the n word, my best friend through Jr and high school was Black, we’re still friends today, even though she still lives in Texas. My roommates over the years, before marriage, have been Black, Hispanic, and Mixed Race. I live next door to a Black Muslim family, whom I have the highest regard for, and love to visit with. To be frank, I really just never think about race, as it just doesn’t matter. Who cares what color your skin is, unless you’re a co-founder of BLM. Towards White people. I was prepared to support them, emotionally, as well as financially, until…I researched their ideology. It honestly scared me. It pretty much runs along the same lines as Louis Farakkahns (sorry, I think I spelled that incorrectly) racist views.
The last thing I’d sincerely like to share with you, is this:
With the non stop accusations, of everyday, ordinary White folks of having these awful, nefarious, racist inclinations, is so insulting, and so unfair, it is sure to raise resentment. I feel it, so do some of my friends, and family members. It hurts to be accused of something false, by people we don’t even know, and that don’t know us. I truly believe most Americans feel terrible about the Slavery period, Jim Crow, and that Black Americans have been caused such deep pain, and are still suffering from the horrors of the past. It is truly soul crushing, to know our fellow citizens seem to think White folks don’t care about them, or wish them harm. No one I know does. I don’t even know a racist, I don’t think. The only person in at least the last 15 years, was someone who I thought was a good friend, until we had a BBQ, and after several beers, used a derogatory word for Black Americans, of which about half of my guests were. We had been friends for over 25 years. After asking him to leave, I haven’t spoken to him since. I don’t accept insults towards anyone, in my home, especially.
I hope I didn’t bore you, I just didn’t see the note in the same light. I hope Kimi doesn’t dwell on it, too long. If it was racist, and not just knowing the hatred BLM feels for White folks, that the writer is objecting to, then the writer is not worth wasting her valuable time on. She sounds like a sweet person, and I hate to think she has been hurt by a moronic, and cowardly person. Those that don’t sign what they’ve written aren’t usually trustworthy, fear of being canceled or not.
Best wishes,
Sandi S.
Thanks for engaging and expanding on Antifa, Sandi.
I am curious, however, why you think the note was not threatening. If not a threat then why no signature? Why a note at all if the writer was just frustrated? We all get frustrated with other people in our daily lives. My children frustrate me a lot but I just try to engage with them.
Also, I am not sure where you are finding all the accusations of white people being racist. I recall the majority of the mass protests since George Floyd’s death being extremely diverse. In an earlier reply I explained how people often subconsciously and/or conveniently miss the understood “too” as in black lives matter ‘too’. There is unequivocal evidence showing that the criminal justice system is biased toward people of color. That is racism by definition. I was a part of the criminal justice system but do not believe I was a racist. Yet my being a part of it did in many ways continue to support a racist system. I along with many others who were part of the criminal justice system have acknowledged the existence of systemic racism in that system. There are numerous other systemically racist governmental systems. The most basic request of the BLM movement is for all Americans to recognize there is systemic racism. It is really that simple and straight forward. Fixing it is the complicated part.
Maybe the fascist that wrote the note would be happier in Hungary or Ukraine. I’d be happy to pay his way.
Stephen, Thanks for shedding light on a problem that many in Chaffee County may not know or, may not care, or may deny exists, even here. There is no excuse for this and I ask Chaffee County Residents to stand up to racism in any form and to show their support of the Howl Mercantile.
Stephen — I always appreciate your articles, this one in particular. Thank you for the precise details and human touch. Chaffee residents will not stand for this. The bullies are in the minority; we just need to be strong, not waiver, and make sure they get the message. The huge majority of residents of Chaffee chose this place for a reason, and it “ain’t this stuff.” Really want to commend you and AVV on a great column.
Thank you for reporting on this Stephen. It is so important for our community to see this, and face the racism that still exists here.
I hope the coward that wrote this letter will also see this article.
As fellow locals and business owners, we stand with Howl Mercantile and the Uno-Secor Family in their continued fight for racial equality and justice.