Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly sunny, with a high near 81 degrees. Tonight, the low will drop to 65 degrees. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, and pretty hot: the high will be near 86 degrees.
Top story
Here’s how you can help looted Chicago businesses rebuild
By the time Kareem Matariyeh arrived Sunday night at his family’s liquor store in Marquette Park, flames had already engulfed the business.
Like countless other storefronts in the city, the Quick Stop at 2424 W. 71st St. was targeted by vandals and looters amid the unrest that’s gripped the city and much of the country in the wake of protests over the officer-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Now, as protesters continue to fight against police brutality and broader systemic racism in Chicago and beyond, Matariyeh and others are launching crowdfunding campaigns to repair minority-owned businesses that have been ransacked and destroyed in the fallout.
Matariyeh said his father and uncle “built the store from nothing” after emigrating from Belize at a young age. Over three decades after opening, all that’s left now is “ashes and garbage and wood thrown everywhere,” he said. “It’s really sad to see.”
As Matariyeh’s father and uncle sift through the rubble, they’re faced with the somber reality that they may have to demolish the building and start anew. Meanwhile, they’ve both lost their jobs for the foreseeable future.
To help cover some of the costs of rebuilding and make up for the lost income, Matariyeh launched a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise $100,000.
Other fundraising efforts aim to benefit multiple businesses that have been affected by looting. My Block My Hood My City, a Chicago nonprofit, has set up a small business relief fund, and individuals from affected communities are also stepping up.
Charles Pickett, of Humboldt Park, is raising $20,000 for minority business owners in Austin, Humboldt Park and Douglas Park through his community group, Earth’s Remedies. Aaliyah Lara set up another GoFundMe campaign called the “Black and brown business relief fund,” to benefit the Flamingo Bar & Grill in the Gold Coast, Express Food Market in Stony Island Park and Quesadilla Monarca in Ashburn.
“These black and brown folk put their blood, sweat and tears into maintaining these businesses and showing up for their community,” Lara said. “It’s only right that I do the same.”
Read the full story from Tom Schuba.
More news you need
- Conrad Worrill, one of Chicago’s best-known political activists and a champion of the black struggle, has died at 78. Worrill backed economic empowerment, the dismantling of educational inequities and reparations for slavery.
- Federal prosecutors say a man with a toddler by his side pointed a gun in the face of an ATF agent in Englewood just after midnight, told the agent to “keep moving,” and then picked up the child and ran. A photo in the criminal complaint shows a gun in a bag with diapers and a sippy cup.
- Days after racial tension mounted between Little Village residents and African Americans protesting the death of George Floyd, protesters marched down 26th Street to call for unity. “Our lives as brown people is connected to the lives of black people,” one organizer said.
- Downtown was a “s–tshow” Saturday night because police were undermanned and ill-equipped and City Hall was too timid to take the steps necessary to prevent mayhem, the police union president said today. Here’s what he would have done differently.
- In what’s believed to be a first for the 73-year-old family-owned business, Mars Cheese Castle used its towering outdoor sign just off of I-94 to display strong and public stand following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police: The sign said “I CAN’T BREATHE.”
A bright one
First diners return to Edgewater restaurant as city enters Phase 3 of reopening
Caryn Garaygay alternated sips from her latte and her mimosa at Kanela Breakfast Club in Edgewater this morning.
“I’m going all out today, liquor and caffeine,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time.” A goat cheese omelet with spinach sat on her plate.
Pacita Castillo-Reiter sat across from Garaygay nibbling pancakes. The two are walking partners, but their morning strolls, for the foreseeable future, at least, will focus on acquiring calories rather then burning them.
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“We are the brave ones,” Castillo-Reiter said of being the first — and only — customers at the restaurant this morning. The pair sat inside the restaurant’s open front window.
Trevor DeChant, Kanela’s manager, was overjoyed to have them. Filling orders for carry out and delivery is just not the same: “You can’t see people enjoying food,” he said. “I know our food is good and it’s comforting to see people share that sentiment.”
Read more updates from today’s partial reopening in Chicago.
From the press box
The NBA looks set to approve a 22-team “bubble” scenario tomorrow that will conclude the regular season and playoffs in Orlando. One team that won’t be there is the Bulls, who instead will be spending the next couple months figuring out their coaching staff.
Your daily question ☕
With Chicago starting to reopen today, did you venture out anywhere for the first time since March?
Email us (please include your name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you how you plan on celebrating Pride Month this year. Here’s what one reader said…
By supporting black queer, trans and gender non-conforming folks with my time and money.
— None (@jbirchlove) June 2, 2020
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