#boycottfandf

[defendourhoodz]

Three Years Since Jumpolin’s Demolition - Keep the Fires of Resistance Burning

Defend Our Hoodz delivered this speech at an action at Blue Cat Cafe on Saturday, February 10, 2018, to mark three years since the Demolition of Jumpolin.

Que viva Jumpolin! Que viva East Austin! Que viva the working class! 

We have kept the fire of resistance burning for three years against gentrification, displacement, and white supremacy. And we will never let it go out!

It’s been three years since the Lejarazu family arrived to their place of business to see that, they no longer had a place of business. It was being torn up by a bulldozer before the store’s opening hours, their merchandise still inside, and the indifferent demolition crew handing out their colorful piñatas to passersby. The iconic bright orange building, with bubble lettering and hand drawn cartoon characters, had been wiped away from East Cesar Chavez in an instant.

And then we learned the details. Two wealthy, white, techie brat landlords, making their moves in Austin, tore it down to meet parking requirements for a SXSW party. While many Austinites, especially Chicanos, Mexican immigrants, and other oppressed groups were up in arms seeing such an icon of our culture violently destroyed, others in Austin once again showed their racist liberal hypocrisy and claimed they deserved it because they were drug-dealers or bike thieves, one of the oldest tricks in the white supremacy handbook. Ivy league tool Jordan French echoed this response, saying that tearing it down was like ‘clearing out a house infested with roaches.’

The demolition of Jumpolin is Austin in a nutshell - mostly white, wealthy privileged landlords, developers, the tech industry, politicos vendidos, and all others who profit from exploitation are doing everything they can to turn the city into their luxury wasteland and bury the working class under the rubble. And then paint those who oppose it or are destroyed by it as the roaches that have to be cleared out.

And it’s also the typical Austin response to say, well that’s how it is and we can’t change it. And while we can’t claim that simply remembering what happened here is an act of revolution, we can say that by refusing to forget the crime of F&F and Blue Cat’s complicity, we are showing defiance. In our defiance and call to hurt the profits of landlords and gentrifiers, we forced our enemies to come out from behind the curtain they can normally hide behind undisturbed.

While capitalism and private property are the foundation of gentrification, in the settler-colonial United States, it is also directly tied to white supremacy. Blue Cat Cafe has made that undeniably clear after relying on the support of Infowars, Trump supporters, confederates, and of course, literal neo-nazis, including Rebecca Gray’s brother, Paul Gray to keep her business afloat. But Despite their violent racist threats, we have bravely returned today because we can not live in fear.

The forces of white supremacy and capitalism will continue to try to silence us and shut us down, with violence if necessary. They will produce fake news about us, paint us as animal haters. But the truth is: we love cats! We just really hate gentrification and nazis! Especially the nazi brother of Blue Cat Cafe owner Rebecca Gray, who she invited to come to this very spot where he and his nazi friends attacked our picket in June of last year. 

But we will fight back and challenge their genocidal politics in every arena, whether online, or in the streets. We uphold the defense of our ideas and our people by any means necessary!

We have power because we do not back down. We will continue to organize and build power across the city. We will go out into the hoods and barrios and talk to the masses who are tired of being afraid and inspire them to fight, and show them that we can do this together. 

We have no more time to waste on the failed politics of compromise, respectability and fake ideas of representation for oppressed peoples within the capitalist-imperialist system.

They demolish - we build. They destroy - we create.They practice self-interest - we practice solidarity and come together, unified with the force to take away their power..

We will never again be discouraged or silenced by those who tell us to ‘let it go’ and accept things the way they are. Their time is growing short. Their loyalty is to a dying system, built on profit and individualism. Our growing collective power will bury them in the discarded rubble of history.

Our demand has not changed since 3 years ago. Jordan French and Darius Fisher, you are not welcome in Austin. Blue Cat Cafe, your complicity in gentrification and your white supremacist backing are no less welcome. We demand you pack it up, and don’t come back! And for every gentrifying force wondering when we’ll focus on them with the same determination, don’t worry, the people’s fire will come for you soon!

#gentrification #eastaustin #austin #boycottbluecat #boycottfandf #lovecats #hatenazis #notrumpnokkknofascistusa

[defendourhoodz]

A Warning from a Former Blue Cat Cafe Employee

Note: This is the 6th testimony from a former employee that has been sent to us. After we published an initial account about 3 weeks ago, more and more employees have come forward to verify other employee claims as well as share their own experience at Blue Cat Cafe. The consistent themes are employee abuse, animal neglect, and wage theft. We stand with these employees and against their abuse and exploitation by Blue Cat Cafe and owner Rebecca Gray. We welcome more to come forward and respect all requests for anonymity.

Employee Account: I worked for the Blue Cat Café for six months. I was in love at first. It was my first job and everything seemed to fall right into place. Behind the cute cats, crazy artwork, and “family fun” atmosphere I got yelled at, cheated, and duped along with many other great employees who I hope have found better work.

 The first incident involving Rebecca’s attitude and behavior was about four weeks after I had first started. Everything seemed fine but Rebecca became angry when ONE drink order was not coming fast enough. She then closed the café an hour before closing and tossed drinks to the ground outside like a big drama queen. I had to turn away a woman who I later found out ran a popular mommy blog. She then wrote a one star review on the Facebook page and Rebecca responded with a BS answer that power went out in the food truck. This was also around the same time that the reviews on Facebook were turned off. 

In the time I was there eleven employees quit or were fired. Quite an abysmal turnover rate if you ask me. Especially for a small business only one year into its life. 

In my mind I would have said these were “isolated incidences” and things would get better. They did not. The gluing of the doors is what should have told me to get out while I still could.  

The final event that made me quit happened on a particularly bad day. Going into work that day I knew I wasn’t going to be around for much longer. I was the only one in the café for the morning while we had two people in the kitchen. This worked only for some time as with all Saturdays things got busy. One employee left early leaving me and another server to be the only help inside the building. The restaurant was packed beyond what I had ever seen even in my first few months. A cook came in saying Rebecca was yelling and throwing things around and saying that “we are done”. 

Rebecca came in and told us that we were closed. We were backed into a corner of the café when she began taking her anger out on the server who wasn’t scheduled to come in until 4 but came at around 1:30 to fill in for the employee who left early. 

She said “Because you came in early were fucked!” One cook suggested we moved to the back to talk this out. That is when Rebecca really let us have it. It was the most I had seen her yell up until then surprisingly. The server quit right there and we all walked out as she told the café that they were closing. There are yelp reviews and google reviews that recount that day from a costumer perspective. Memory serves me that one deleted review said they visited hours later and went in to find a hostel and on edge Rebecca. When they offered their help and asked if there was anything they could do Rebecca responded “Yeah come in the morning and clean up cat poop” (one of my many duties) 

I did not return for my shift the next day. I had made up my mind and even told family and friends that I was quitting from the Blue Cat Café. She tried several times to get me back but I stood my ground. I was finished. 

This was a small overview of my experience working there. Here are some more details highlighting her ineffectiveness in customer service and business.

A guy and his friends came in one early morning to find his phone that might have been left behind at the café. It seemed she was buddying up to them until she yelled “I don’t have time to look for your fucking phone! I am real busy.” There was also a yelp review in which she went ballistic over a mother innocently walking into the café without signing the waiver. She even mocked the woman who was calling her out on her bullshit. This was the same woman who wrote the review.

Paychecks where always up in the air. Sometimes I got them as late as a week. I didn’t even get my paycheck for the weekend before I quit. In the end I was payed over $30 for my last day. Other employees had problems with paychecks. I should have been more demanding but I didn’t want to lose my job and I had no idea how the legal process would work if it came to that. 

There was lots of micromanagement and things having to be so particular that if one thing was out of place you would be humiliated in front of employees or customers. This happened to me quite a few times over washing the mats, IPAD chargers, how I handled my duties, and the cleaning of the restaurant.

Her doing the InfoWars interview should have sent me packing. I read the donation comments on the GoFund me which included racist people donating. I even sat down a few of these men for a Facebook event they created if I remember correctly being called “Fuck Defend our Hoodz” at the café. 

From what I read about health code violations I confirm that yes, the kitchen wasn’t always in a clean state. I now realize that so many rules were broken and so many violations were going on behind the scenes. I can also confirm the storage of the food under big benches. 

She said she was stepping down as owner but I know that is a lie. Just like with employees she went thought several managers who were good people. I can even confirm the treatment she showed towards her own mother. 

If there are indeed cats that get sick and don’t get treatment, then that might explain two cases of people receiving cats that had fleas, were underweight, or had worms.

I want this to be a warning to anyone who is thinking about working for or associating with Blue Cat Cafe. I should have wised up at several points during my time there. It wasn’t until things got really bad that I finally left. Always do your research on a job if you can, and see where they stand with their community. It is a community that can make and break a business.

#gentrification #wagetheft #eastaustin #boycottbluecat #boycottfandf

[defendourhoodz]

No More Cats at Blue Cat Cafe...Except in the Freezer!?

We are excited to announce that Blue Cat Cafe has lost its primary supplier of cats, Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue. Fuzzy Texan were secretly supplying animals up until they abruptly announced on July 2 on facebook they were breaking ties with the cafe and that they would be removing all 18 of the cats at the cafe on July 3. But, while there are apparently no more adoptable cats at Blue Cat, a former employee claims, no joke, that Rebecca Gray has a dead cat in the freezer!

Fuzzy Texan was one of the groups that had supplied to cats to Blue Cat Cafe ever since we successfully pressured the Austin Humane society to cut ties in October 2017. After this, Blue Cat continued to find a cat supply, but there were agreements between suppliers and Blue Cat to keep the relationship hidden to avoid bad publicity. Fuzzy Texans breaking on their own is a sign of deep crisis at Blue Cat. When we found out that they would be removing the cats between 7 and 8PM on July 3, some of our group and supporters went down there to document the removal.

A statement on their facebook page shares some vague reasons that they didn’t feel the cats were being cared for properly, and they throw in the bogeyman of vandalism, yet again. We know though that the operator of Fuzzy Texan stated that she didn’t believe the claims that Rebecca is a racist. Ok, then what do you call someone who asks her Nazi brother to protect her cafe or stands by as Nazis attack people? A nazi!

When we arrived to Blue Cat, we watched as volunteers went in with empty pet carriers and came out with crying cats. It was a little sad at times. Contrary to wild rumors, many of us are animal lovers, and the kitties crying was a sad sight, but we were glad they were finally getting out of there.

We asked one volunteer what it was like inside. They said that there was a strong smell of ammonia, i.e. cat pee, and it was not a place you would want to linger and have a cup of coffee. One of the volunteers noticed a pregnant cat, and asked Becky when she started taking pregnant cats (watch video here). Becky said she was a stray she had trapped.

The cops did show up, but for once, they weren’t called on us. Apparently, Fuzzy Texan called them out of fear that Rebecca would not be cooperative with their extraction operation. The cops came and spoke to Fuzzy Texan volunteers for about a minute, and left without incident.We’ve been hard at work on the campaign to #defendRiverside, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about the nazi-aligned Blue Cat Cafe, which has been our longest campaign. We’ve known they were in dire straits, and heard rumors that Rebecca lived out of the cafe, a clear violation of local zoning and restaurant code.

Speaking of code, a former employee claims that when Marla, one of Rebecca’s cats, died six months ago, instead of finding an appropriate way to bury or cremate it, she put the cat in the freezer. This employee has called for ‘Justice for Marla’. This macabre situation should give pause to anyone still thinking that Blue Cat Cafe should remain open.

We have no sympathy for Rebecca Gray, who has only stayed afloat this long thanks to her alliance with people who think gentrification is a good thing and with white supremacists and the alt-right, including her own brother. They have injected money and support into the business simply to send a message to our community that they will uphold gentrification and racism to spite us.

Rebecca made her bed that she now lies in when she crossed the community boycott against her landlords, Jordan French and Darius Fisher, the men who tore down the Jumpolin piñata store. She dug herself in further when she welcomed the support of Alex Jones, Infowars, and her nazi brother, Paul Gray.

And even though people will wildly claim this was all our fault - the fact is no one but Rebecca and her supporters allowed the cafe to reach this condition. We didn’t allow cat pee to permeate the air in the cafe. We didn’t cram 18 cats into a small room. We didn’t force Rebecca to go on Infowars and begin her alliance with the alt-right, or call on her nazi brother and friends to ‘protect’ her cafe. And we definitely didn’t put a dead cat in the freezer.

We have not picketed Blue Cat Cafe since February of this year. We have been busy building power against gentrification in the Riverside Area, and this surprise announcement took us so off guard that we had to reschedule some planned canvassing.

We knew we had to be there to document and watch this happen, but we also won’t declare total victory yet. As we have said, Blue Cat Cafe has lost their cat supply in the past and kept on going. They resorted to secret partnerships, and clearly taking it upon themselves to trap stray cats. Fuzzy Texan was one of these secret partnerships. It’s a shame because Blue Cat Cafe’s record of gentrification and white supremacy is clear. For many of these ‘animal lovers’ though, human issues are less important than animal ones, especially when they affect working-class brown and black communities.

But even if they take the typical white liberal position, customers and employees have shared numerous testimonies of animal neglect and employee mistreatment that many of Austin’s animal lovers have ignored. Fuzzy Texan, like many others, think they know better than the employees and community on the front lines. As we said, Fuzzy Texan operator, Rachel Nicole, on facebook, even as she was breaking ties, claimed that Rebecca isn’t a racist, or think it’s racist to ask nazis to protect your cafe.

So we still won’t put it past another racist, oblivious animal rescue operation to flout the boycott and partner with Blue Cat. Or we won’t put it past Rebecca and her dwindling supporters to start trapping more stray cats or cruising Craig’s List ads for animals. Blue Cat Cafe is a capitalist operation, not only as a small business, but as pusher of gentrification in the historic barrio. Maintaining it is a goal of Rebecca, the landlords Jordan French and Darius Fisher, other gentrifiers, and the reactionary liberals, Trump supporters, and white supremacists who see Blue Cat Cafe as their pet cause. Capitalists will go to extreme lengths to maintain their charades in the name of profit, and especially to send a message to show how little they care about what the community wants.

Capitalism has to keep its crimes hidden away, just like Marla the cat is hidden in the freezer. But we will continue to apply heat and confront the shady dealings of exploiters in our community.

Our fight isn’t over until the cat lady sings! The boycott of Blue Cat Cafe will continue, and even if they shut down, the boycott of the landlords Jordan French and Darius Fisher (F&F) will go on. Any business or operation that tries to cross the picket line will face the same resistance, but with even greater fire!

#boycottbluecat #boycottfandf #lovecatshatenazis

[defendourhoodz]

Jumpolin Returns to East Austin - Que Viva Jumpolin! Que Viva the Boycott of F&F, Blue Cat Cafe!

In a surprise and welcome announcement, Jumpolin Piñatas has shared that they are returning to East Cesar Chavez after nearly two-and-a-half years without a storefront. Defend Our Hoodz continues to stand with them and welcome them return to East Austin.

We highly encourage Austinites to support Jumpolin and purchase their piñatas, party supplies, party rentals, and custom piñatas at their new location, which formerly housed Julia’s Crafts, at 6205 E Cesar Chavez St.

This is all exciting news and we are extremely happy for the Lejarazu family. They held out hope that they could someday bring Jumpolin back to the street where they had operated for 8 years until the forces of gentrification, in the form of landlords Jordan French and Darius Fisher, tore their livelihood down to the ground.

Of course, the first question to Defend Our Hoodz will be: Does this mean the boycott of F&F and Blue Cat Cafe is over?

Nope.

Just like we never demanded for Rebecca Gray to step down, we have never demanded that Jumpolin must return to the space they were evicted from, or even that they have to return to the barrio.

Our boycott has been enforced to deny profit to Jordan French and Darius Fisher at the site of demolition, to hold them accountable for their act of systemic, white supremacist violence. We have demanded that Jordan French and Darius Fisher leave East Austin (and Austin for that matter). They are parasites on the community. Like other incoming gentrifier landlords, they only see East Austin for the money they can make off of it at the expense of the longtime residents. 

We assert that F&F, Blue Cat Cafe, and all the businesses that profit from gentrification are part of the wave of making longtime residents feel like strangers in their own community. Their presence directly leads to the higher property taxes, higher rents, and landlord exploitation that pushes out the working-class of East Austin.

As encouraging as it may seem, the return of Jumpolin can not be seen as a reversal of gentrification in the East Austin Barrio. A reversal of gentrification would mean seeing the community serve the working-class, and not the incoming wealthier, mostly white residents. 

It would mean that community members would not be evicted, their rents hiked, and their homes foreclosed on. 

It would mean that the elderly would not have to fear that they will push the limits of their fixed incomes, raising their stress and worsening their health issues. 

It would mean that schools and public facilities that were neglected for decades, when most white Austinites wouldn’t cross East of 35, would not be facing closures now that the wealthier, whiter newcomers don’t have a need for them, or because they won’t send their kids to school with poor black and brown kids.

It would mean that the police wouldn’t harass black and brown residents to serve and protect scared white people. 

While the landlord who brought Jumpolin back deserves credit for trying to maintain a Mexican-American cultural presence in the barrio and support displaced Austinites, we also know that their action is an exception to the rule. 99% of the landlords in East Austin, or in any part of the city, only operate based on one motive - profit.

This is why we seek to build the power of the community to hold exploitative landlords accountable. As a single organization, we have the capacity to maintain the fight against F&F and Blue Cat, but we believe that a boycott of all the gentrifier businesses would create power towards actually slowing and someday stopping gentrification.

If the thousands of working-class residents of East Austin decided to show their force through collective action - through pickets and calling out those who profit from gentrification - the hipsters, the house flippers, and the slumlords would think twice about seeing East Austin as their ‘up-and-coming’ trendy neighborhood. Instead, the working-class would be ‘up-and-coming’ and moving towards preserving the community that has always been theirs.

The bars, restaurants, high-end convenience stores, cat cafes, etc. are the amenities that developers and landlords seek out in order to cater to the wealthier newcomers. They directly increase the property values and ability of the landlords to profit and transform the community. To cut off their profits would begin to reshape the terrain of gentrification and return power to the community.

We look to Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles for inspiration, where community members have upheld a boycott of all the incoming art galleries, because they know they are used by developers to raise the profile, and property values, of working-class neighborhoods. They have successfully shut down one gentrifier gallery and more are sure to follow, challenging the ability of developers to use the galleries as part of their speculation, a process now known as artwashing.

Developers are clear about how they use art and hip businesses to push gentrification but still many average people are in denial. The average person still wants to believe this system is meant for everyone, that if you just work hard, you can make it. But it’s politicians, sell-outs, and the wealthy who put out this lie when they want to justify why individuals in our communities are poor or as a whole we continue to see disproportionate poverty, crime, and low education in working-class oppressed communities. 

Did East Austinites not work hard for generations, only to be thrown out once the conditions had been created for maximum profit? Did Jumpolin not work hard but still came to work one morning to see their business and merchandise in ruins? We can not individualize our experiences, they must be placed in the context of the system we live under.

We live under a system of white supremacist capitalism and it’s a lie to claim otherwise. In order to truly create a society of equality, we must first tear down the one that keeps its boot on the neck of the poor, of the oppressed, of the historically exploited, especially the descendants of enslaved Africans and the indigenous of this continent who saw their land overrun by invaders. Through the course of this country’s history, the descendants of these racist white invaders ended up segregating Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous people in our urban cores (or on reservations) in order to create ‘safe spaces’ for themselves. This government and economic system reinforced that process, illustrating how it was never meant for anybody except wealthy, property-owning white people.

So while Jumpolin has happily returned to East Austin, we remain on guard. We will continue to enforce the boycott of Blue Cat Cafe and F&F and work towards expanding our power to hold the profiteers from gentrification accountable. We know that we can not stop our fight until we fundamentally transform the conditions that allow for gentrification and must achieve real progress for the working-class and poor. Unlike the wealthy ruling-class, we do not measure progress by the trendy businesses they build or the profits they reap, but by the ability of our oppressed communities to thrive without the fear of seeing their community torn down for the supposed crime of not having as much money as the next person that comes in.

We will continue to organize for revolutionary power to build a world that puts people before profit, where gentrification and the story of Jumpolin are talked about in history classes as examples of a savage past.

Que Viva Jumpolin!

Que Viva the Boycott of F&F and Blue Cat Cafe!

Que Viva East Austin!

Que Viva El Pueblo!

Fight Gentrification with Revolution!

#chicana #chicano #austin #eastaustin #gentrification #fuckgentrification #displacement #defend boyle heights #boycottbluecat #boycottfandf #boycott #socialjustice #social justice #fuck hipsters

[defendourhoodz]

The fight against gentrification is also the fight against racism, fascism, and capitalism. The last 2 years we've been boycotting F&F and Blue Cat Cafe and organizing in the community have made clear to us that to effectively combat gentrification we need to organize for revolution. While taking down one business owner, or even a whole business that threatens our community is a victory, the threat doesn't disappear when that business is gone. Nothing short of the overthrow of the rich, and the system that enables them, will be able keep developers and their capital from destroying our hoods and pushing out our people. Join us - we can't do this without you!

Defend Each Other Fight Racism Fight Fascism Build Power Together Fight Gentrification with Revolution!

#gentrification #fuckgentrification #east austin #eastaustin #politics #displacement #Austin #boycottbluecat #boycottfandf #hipstersfuera

[defendourhoodz]

Blue Cat Cafe made some big announcements yesterday. One, they don't deny that Nazis were part of their protection that attacked our picketers 2 weeks ago.

Second, they're saying Rebecca Gray has stepped down as the main director of the business.

We just want confirm that the new investors are not only inheriting a cat cafe, they're inheriting a community boycott and our opposition.

The Blue Cat Cafe is still under boycott. It still sits on the ruins of Jumpolin, on land that is still owned by the men who called Mexican immigrants 'cockroaches' and squashed their business under their feet.

The land value continues to rise thanks to gentrification and their act of white supremacist violence. It is part of the same pattern that causes the astronomic increases in rents and taxes for longtime, working-class residents.

We called on the community to boycott this business and its example of gentrification, not on Rebecca Gray. But it was Gray who responded to our boycott with escalation that illustrated how profit protects itself.

Gray called the cops on us every time we picketed, meaning she thinks we deserve state violence for expressing our opposition to profit from gentrification.

She falsely accused us of vandalism and went on Infowars to call us 'terrorists' and a 'hate group', embracing the Trump-supporting trolls who sent us death threats and donated to her gofundme.

Then, this month, she welcomed her nazi brother and his nazi friends to attack a lawful picket. She was just fine with their white supremacist ideology that celebrates racist, classist displacement embodied in gentrification, as long as they're 'protecting' her business.

But, enough about the past. We're interested to find out who the new investors are. Are they going to still welcome the Nazi and alt-right support that has flocked to Blue Cat Cafe? Are they still going to call the cops on protesters?

The new owners are still profiting from the demolition. Their business is still profiting landowners Jordan French and Darius Fisher and contributes to the erasure and displacement of the East Austin Barrio. The boycott on Blue Cat Cafe stands.

#gentrification #fuckgentrification #bye becky #boycottbluecat #bluefashcafe #austin #eastaustin #boycottfandf #socialjustice #politics #veganism #vegan #displacement #cat #catlover

[defendourhoodz]

In light of recent revelations that Paul Gray, brother of owner of Blue Cat Cafe, Rebecca Gray, is a prominent neo-nazi organizer in Texas, we ask the community and our allies to sign onto the boycott of Blue Cat Cafe. Paul has provided security multiple times and has attacked community members and their supporters at the cafe. Rebecca still has not apologized or recognized that she has done anything wrong, yet she has raised $15,000 thanks to the support of Alex Jones, white supremacists and trump supporters.

Stand against white supremacy and join the boycott against Blue Cat Cafe!

https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSeNsjBdTSkUCPwdQ…/viewform…

#boycottbluecat #boycottfandf #gentrification #fuckgentrification #eastaustin #austin #displacement #boycott #socialjustice #politics