Black Coffee NW Perseveres Despite Challenges
Article and Video By Cesar Canizales
Black Coffee NW on Aurora Avenue in Shoreline is more than a place to get an espresso or a latte for a commute to work.
Owners Erwin and Darnesha Weary say it is a place for people to come together, in spite of the many acts of racism and vandalism the shop has endured since it opened two years ago.
Their coffee shop was attacked, again, at the end of September.
“Black Coffee NW is really about community,” said Erwin, the company’s CEO. “It's about togetherness. it's about creativity. It's about inspiring us and other people to do better.”
Weary said the attacks started even before opening day, when it was firebombed, delaying the opening by 17 days. He said that incident was meant for someone else, but it sparked racist acts by people who thought the bombing was about a Black business opening in the neighborhood.
But the result was a wave of support.
“The first day we opened, we did a voter registration drive with the NAACP, and we had a lot of community support,” Erwin said. “The line was wrapped around the whole block, and it was a great event, and we just didn't stop. We just kept showing that we matter. Black lives do matter.”
Co-owner Darnesha said the attacks make her angry but have not deterred her from the work, which is more than just serving coffee.
“My goal is to make sure that the small things, this small of act of vandalism, don't overshadow the great things that happen in here every day,” Darnesha said. “It makes me really angry. It also gives me, you know, a push to keep going forward. It makes me angry because my parents had these experiences, my grandparents had these experience. It goes back and back, and it's the same thing over and over and over. And so, it's always just a constant reminder that we have so much more work to do.”
Erwin said the shop serves as a gathering place for talks and other community-centered events.
“When you walk into Black Coffee NW, you walk in, and you can feel that something is different here. And that's what we love,” Erwin said. “That's what we're about. Black Coffee NW is a great place to come, have real conversations because we're just very honest here. And the people that come through these doors, they think the same way. And so, we're able to really talk about real life things.”
Black Coffee NW opened at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the Black Lives Matter protests after the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. That fact is not lost on the owners.
“It was tough, you know,” Erwin said. “There was protests, you know. There was a lot of things going on that made it really wild. But we persevered through that.”
The staff have also been on the receiving end of racist attacks, getting derogatory emails and voicemails, but Darnesha said they know how important the work is.
“Our staff are all activists. They work in their schools; they work in their communities there,” she said. “They're out there in different areas and places.”
Erwin said the staff is focused on the work.
“It's hard. I mean, like anything in life that, when people do bad things to you,” Erwin said. “But it's nice to see them realize the goals…It's really good to see them focused and continue to try hard, continue to give great customer service, continue to be innovative because they're the ones that have a lot of the ideas that we implement.”
Erwin said there is crime and vandalism at other businesses in the area, and he’s aware of it.
“But I don’t see other places get Swastikas put on their buildings,” Erwin said. “I don’t know of any places that get voicemails all day and calling all day saying some of the most derogatory, horrible things.”
Erwin said he has talked to the police and is developing a relationship with the department.
“There's some pretty good folks on the police squad, which I'm really happy to say. And there's people that I absolutely trust,” Erwin said, adding that not everyone fits that description, yet. “But the good thing is that change is happening. It's not going to happen real quick, but it's happening.”
Darnesha said she’d like people to support Black businesses, but not just when something “bad or tragic happens.”
“Support all the time. Keep coming,” Darnesha said. “We have multiple businesses that we work with that are also Black businesses. And so, when you support us, you support them. It really does go down the line if we're all supporting each other. We need that. So, continue to show up and continue to support, and never let the negative things overshadow the great work that's happening.”
As for the future, Darnesha’s and Erwin’s vision is clear.
“My goal is that we open up new locations in neighborhoods that we can be, again, that community hub for everyone to walk in these stores and feel the community that's here, all walks of life walking here,” Darnesha said. “All types of people come through this space every day. And we want them to feel connected in that way.”
“We need to have more Black businesses. That's one of the things about Black Coffee. We really love to connect with other Black businesses and other businesses in general,” Erwin said. “And so, my goal is to really expand, really become more embedded in the community.”
