Struggling, local business owner takes out his frustrations on Black people, misrepresenting the term "privilege."
By ONME Newswire
FRESNO, CA --Fresno, CA Waffle Shop owner, Ammar Ibrahim, is once again facing harsh backlash, this time from a Monday, June, 15 Facebook post he left up for three days, an explicit, targeted rant directed toward African Americans.
After 113 likes and 23 comments, he finally took it down, denying he personally made the post after an avalanche of comments firing back at him about his racists tone and misinformation in so-called facts he presented.
The owner of the Waffle Shop posted the following statement to Facebook:
In May, Ibrahim was also the same restaurant owner who was first warned before being fined $1,000.00 and $5,000.00 (supporting customers helped pay the fines) citations for keeping his dine-in open during the shelter-in-place order mandated by city officials, according to Fresno Bee article May 7. All restaurants were still allowed curbside pickup during the city order.
In a News One article it was noted that the police-released cam footage showing the mini confrontation with the angry neighborhood crowd giving pushback to an officer who arrived to the scene to help code enforcement officials attempting to enforce the shelter-in-place order without incident; one person was gingerly put into handcuffs, and taken away from the premises after obstructing the officer’s path.
Owner Ibrahim also had the support of his councilman, Gary Bredefeld who was not in agreement with Mayor Lee Brand and the rest of the city council members who voted to continue the shelter-in place order through almost the end of May, in accordance with the Fresno County and California guidelines at the time.
The incident hit national and international news; a GoFundMe account was created for Ibrahim to help pay for any current upcoming fines.
According to some former patrons of color ONME News spoke with directly, Ibrahim's restaurant has discriminated against ethnic customers; however, ONME News was only able to find direct customer comments through restaurant app, Yelp about the food being pricey, served cold, dine-in orders messed up, poor customer service and customers finding dead mice under their tables. The Fresno County Health Dept. cited such concerns in 2018 (see notice below) through an Official Inspection Report from January 3, 2018. The employees noted that they caught one mouse and another one was found in a deep fryer.
The Fresno NAACP is issuing an advisory to the community and its membership regarding Waffle Shop Country Cooking located at 4025 W. Figarden Drive #101 in Fresno, Ca.
“Due to troubling racist beliefs and statements and disturbing practices of the restaurant ownership, we are urging all residents especially those of color to rethink whether they should patronize this restaurant,“ said Fresno NAACP electronic statement posted to NAACP members and local media.
“We can make an impact on racism by taking a stand against those who discriminate against people of color. We must choose where we spend our money and exercise the power of our dollars.”
ONME News will be following up with comments from the owner regarding this matter, to find out more.
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