Houston Restaurant Owners Express Solidarity With Protesters, George Floyd’s Family

Protesters in Downtown Houston | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images

The victim of the Minneapolis police killing was a Houston native, and many local restaurant owners spoke out in support of protests

A number of Houston restaurants and food-oriented businesses took to social media over the weekend to post messages of solidarity for the family of George Floyd, people demonstrating against police brutality, and the Black community in general.

Floyd, who was killed a week ago by a Minneapolis police officer, was a native Houstonian. Floyd died after officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the back of his neck for roughly eight minutes.

Demonstrations following Floyd’s death have spread to several cities in the United States and internationally, including Houston, where several people were arrested after blocking traffic on US interstate 59 Friday evening.

Turkey Leg Hut, a popular Black-owned restaurant in the Third Ward, where Floyd grew up, initially planned an in-person vigil for Floyd on Saturday, but decided to take the vigil virtual due to social distancing concerns. Participants were asked to release balloons in Floyd’s memory. Turkey Leg Hut’s instagram account has been posting constantly about Floyd’s death, including an update when Chauvin was arrested. Turkey Leg Hut co-founder Lynn Price says that he grew up down the street from Floyd.

Also on Instagram, the owners of neo-soul food restaurant Indigo posted multiple statements condemning police brutality throughout the weekend, including a call for reparations for Black people. West African restaurant Taste of Nigeria shared a drawing of Floyd’s face, along with the hashtag “#justiceforgeorgefloyd.”

Buchanan’s Native Plants, which sells gardening supplies and edible plants, posted a simple, stark image that read “Black Lives Matter.” Below the image, the business wrote “We take pride in belonging to one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. We are stronger for it. And we stand with and support our black community.”

In his Instagram stories, restaurateur Bobby Heugel called on white chefs and fellow restaurateurs to speak out. Over an image that read “Your Silence is Complicit and Anti-Black,” Heugel wrote that restaurateurs “can’t use ‘diversity’ to fuel your careers and fill your restaurants and not be outspoken on this issue.”

Over on Twitter, Lisa Seger of Blue Heron Farm took Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo to task. Acevedo received accolades this weekend for marching with protestors in Houston even while mounted HPD officers were trampling apparently non-violent protestors with police horses. On Sunday, Acevedo changed his twitter profile pic to an image of George Floyd, writing “If you have hate in your heart for people of color, get over it. This city is a majority-minority city.”

In response, Seger tweeted “I’m sick of the Acevedo humping. Racism is not about hate in the heart. It is systemic oppression, of which he is a willing tool. You do not have to have hate in your heart to endorse — actively or passively — the white supremacist power structure. He does it daily.”