{"id":22117,"date":"2022-04-21T11:57:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T18:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22117"},"modified":"2022-04-21T11:58:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T18:58:00","slug":"police-asked-a-black-couple-to-prove-they-owned-their-store-the-fallout-sparked-a-racial-reckoning-in-this-quiet-bay-area-enclave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/04\/21\/police-asked-a-black-couple-to-prove-they-owned-their-store-the-fallout-sparked-a-racial-reckoning-in-this-quiet-bay-area-enclave\/","title":{"rendered":"Police asked a Black couple to prove they owned their store. The fallout sparked a racial reckoning in this quiet Bay Area enclave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joshua Sharpe April 19, 2022 Updated: April 20, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Yema
1of6Yema Khalif (l to r) and Hawi Awash, Yema co-founders, stand for a portrait for a promotional video for A&C Ventures and Tiburon Chamber of Commerce at Yema on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 in Tiburon, Calif.Lea Suzuki \/ The Chronicle 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Yema<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Hawi<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a late summer night two years ago, Tiburon police asked Yema Khalif to prove he owned YEMA<\/a>, the local clothing store that bears his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Khalif and his wife, Hawi Awash, were the town\u2019s only Black business owners<\/a>. The fallout from that August 2020 encounter shoved the quiet coastal enclave to the center of a racial justice moment<\/a> that began just months earlier with George Floyd\u2019s murder<\/a>. But after initially threatening a $2 million lawsuit in federal court, the couple says they were able to achieve meaningful reforms by staying out of the courtroom and directly engaging with town officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the couple stood in front of their store in Tiburon\u2019s casual but tony downtown to announce those reforms. Changes include police policy and training updates as well as the formation of a Citizen\u2019s Advisory Panel to provide a forum between residents and police; one of the store owners is expected to serve as a member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple also received a $150,000 payment, a portion of which they say will go to a scholarship fund they run through the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khalif and Awash haven\u2019t reached a settlement with the neighboring city of Belvedere, which also had an officer at the store that night. David Anderson, one of their attorneys, said Belvedere\u2019s leaders weren\u2019t up for the conversation that those in Tiburon were. A message left with the city manager wasn\u2019t immediately returned Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khalif said he and his wife never wanted to involve the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor this to happen was very unfortunate and still is unfortunate,\u201d Khalif said during a news conference in front of his store. \u201cWe hope (the Tiburon agreement) is going to be something that other cities, other counties can actually copy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all stemmed from an Aug. 21, 2020, incident that was recorded by an officer\u2019s bodyworn camera. Around 1 a.m., Officer Isaac Madfes approached the couple as they were restocking after closing. Asked what they were doing, Khalif said that he and Awash were \u201cdoing our thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your thing?\u201d asked the officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs there a problem?\u201d Khalif said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madfes continued questioning Khalif, who asked to speak to a supervising officer. Madfes kept pointing out how late it was, that it stood out to him to see people there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat stands out to you \u2014 three Black people in the store?\u201d Khalif asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to argue,\u201d the officer said. \u201cI just want you to tell me why you\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. Michael Blasi arrived and suggested Khalif put his key in the door lock to prove he and Awash belonged there. As Khalif began to comply, a neighbor interjected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s his store!\u201d the white man shouted from his balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officers thanked the man and left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police Chief Michael Cronin retired<\/a> in September 2020 amid backlash over the incident. Blasi also resigned. Madfes remains an officer in Tiburon, said Town Manager Greg Chanis. Chanis said the chief\u2019s retirement was planned before the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the reforms announced Tuesday, officers are expected to begin carrying business cards with information about how to raise concerns over interactions. The Police Department has started a pilot program where community liaisons help residents with any police concerns or needs. The agency also increased the frequency of bias training from every five years to every two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAug. 21, 2020, was extremely traumatic,\u201d Awash said Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m happy that Tiburon has taken accountability and has made real, substantial policy changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiburon Mayor Jon Welner said he was pleased to avoid litigation in resolving the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe changes proposed by Yema and Hawi are very positive, and will help make the Town of Tiburon a leader in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and transparency,\u201d Welner said in joint news release with Khalif and Awash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Bonner, another of the couple\u2019s attorneys, said the agreement shows that such cases \u201ccan be resolved at the peace table without going to war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTiburon has shown us a template, a blueprint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Sharpe is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: joshua.sharpe@sfchronicle.com<\/a> Twitter: @joshuawsharpe<\/a>Fifth & Mission<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"newspaper's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"HEARST<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a92022 Hearst<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Contributed by Brett Wilkins)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joshua Sharpe April 19, 2022 Updated: April 20, 2022 (SFChronicle.com) On a late summer night two years ago, Tiburon police asked Yema Khalif to prove he owned YEMA, the local clothing store that bears his name. At the time, Khalif and his wife, Hawi Awash, were the town\u2019s only Black business owners…. Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22118,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22117\/revisions\/22118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}