20/06/06 18:47:46.27 p7/0rPyv9.net
URLﾘﾝｸ(media.npr.org)
URLﾘﾝｸ(media.npr.org)
Trevon Ellis spent years building up his north Minneapolis barbershop, the Fade Factory, attracting customers with smart haircuts, snacks and friendly conversation.
It took just one terrible night to destroy it all.
"Inside is totally burned down," Ellis says. "Everything was burned to a crisp."
The recent wave of protests against police brutality has left a trail of chaos and destruction in many city neighborhoods, with countless businesses looted and damaged.
Among them are some African American businesses, which were already hard hit by the coronavirus lockdowns and are decidedly more vulnerable to the economic downturn.
The number of black-owned businesses has grown sharply over the years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but most are tiny operations financed not through bank credit but personal funds and loans from friends and family.
They "are not mom and pops. They're mom or pops," says Ron Busby, president and CEO of U.S. Black Cha