Black-owned Clovis shop was targeted in a racist hate crime. How the community is helping
The Clovis City Council plans to condemn racism and bias during its Monday night meeting, just over a week after a shop owned by a Black woman was vandalized.
The incident at the downtown bath and body care shop owned by Chanel Wapner was deemed by police as a burglary and hate crime incident. Racist graffiti was spray-painted, and several items inside were destroyed.
The letters “BLM” that stand for “Black Lives Matter,” were written and then crossed out with an X inside the shop.
That crime on Sept. 26 came after another incident in which a woman told Wapner that “Black lives don’t matter in Clovis,” Wapner told reporters after discovering the damage to her shop.
Case update
A Clovis police spokesman said, as of Monday morning, investigators had not identified a suspect, but detectives continued to review “hours upon hours” of video surveillance from the area.
The crime drew elected city officials and police to the store. Wapner’s is the only Black-owned business in the city’s downtown area. City officials condemned the incident and said it had no place in the city.
Residents online and in-person showed support for the business owner. Along with pledges to support the business financially, residents also drew supportive messages on the sidewalk. Flowers, cards, texts and phone calls have also poured in, said Wapner, the store owner.
Wapner said Monday that she had just spoken to police but was told there are no leads in the case. She has been busy cleaning up in the past week, she said. A tile company and a paint company have donated resources to help restore the shop. Wapner said she’s also had an electrician fix damaged wires.
The business was insured, and Wapner said she still has not finished taking inventory of what was lost and needed to be replaced.
“It’s a little shop, but it has a lot of stuff,” she said Monday morning.
Wapner said once her store is fully reopened, she plans to have a party in Old Town to thank those who have helped her.
The proclamation
In the meantime, The council plans to publicly formalize their condemnation of the incident during their 6 p.m. Monday meeting. Wapner will be there.
The proclamation, signed by the mayor, states, “The City Government of Clovis, along with the citizens of our community, have a shared value that all men and women are created equal, and we will defend anyone who is mistreated because of their race, ethnicity, sexual preference, religion, or any other reason.”
The proclamation also states the city has a diverse origin and that its “quality way of life” applies to everyone who lives and works in the city.
The city has faced several instances in recent years where residents have behaved in discriminatory and racist ways, but officials have maintained that such behavior isn’t acceptable.
The proclamation also states, “We recognize that a resolution or a single action, in and of itself, will not change a community but rather that we are all responsible, both individually and collectively, for creating and fostering an anti-racist and unbiased community in our words and actions.”
