Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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Marion Barry widely rebuked
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One prominent Korean entrepreneur criticized Barry for lumping all Asian business owners together, but he said he understood the root of his concerns with �dirty shops.�
�He shouldn�t have said Asians,� said Gary Cha, who owns the Yes! Organic grocery chain. But he added that �any of those people running a dirty store that have an adverse impact on the community should go. And sometimes I am ashamed some of the Asian business owners don�t spend the time to keep the stores in a respectful manner.�
He added, �I do go around and say, �Look, if you clean your store, your business will probably go up by 65 percent � no-brainer.� I�ve probably said that a thousand times to people, but it doesn�t work. . . . In that sense I am with [Barry], but just like saying things about African Americans � not all African Americans do certain things.�
Cha � who said relations between Asian businesses and the black residents they serve are �a sensitive issue� � has opened an east-of-the-Anacostia River store on Pennsylvania Avenue SE, in Ward 7, but he has no locations in Ward 8. He is a past president of the Korean-American Grocers Association, which lobbies on behalf of Asian small-business owners.
Like many of the city�s Asian leaders, Cha fondly recalls steps that Barry took as mayor to involve them in the city government. He also noted Barry�s advancing age � he�s 76 � in saying, �I think we should just let it go. |
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