Over the past week, demonstrators across the city of Boston, the Commonwealth and the country have continued to peacefully protest racial injustice and instances of police brutality against Black Americans in the U.S. But early Monday morning, in the aftermath of one of those demonstrations, some protesters vandalized property and looted businesses in Boston. The state’s first and only Black-owned recreational marijuana shop, Pure Oasis, was hit at this time, although the identity of the culprits is not yet known.
Kobie Evans, the shop’s co-owner, maintains the Dorchester business was targeted, despite being located miles away from the protest.
“We’re probably on a lot of people’s radars, just because we’re new and we have something that people want. And there are some people that either don’t want to pay for it or can’t afford it,” he told Jim Braude on WGBH News' Greater Boston Wednesday.
Additionally, Evans mentioned the circumstances behind the looting are still unclear. In total, the thieves stole more than $100,000 worth of marijuana products.
“It’s not like these individuals were coming from a club. It sounds like they were very deliberate in their intent,” he explained. “[The community was] very resound in the fact that it wasn’t people from the community….I doubt the neighborhood of Grove Hall was that short-sighted. I believe it was people from outside.”
The theft is one of two hurdles Pure Oasis has faced in recent weeks. The shop, the first and only to receive approval through the state’s empowerment program — a process intended to give priority application to communities of color and those hit by the war on drugs — opened its doors just two weeks before coronavirus restrictions would then close them.
Days after re-opening following the mandated statewide shutdown, it was robbed. But Evans remains hopeful his business will endure, regardless of the setbacks.
"Listen, we made it through corona — we even got a t-shirt to prove it. So, you know I think we can survive this,” he joked. “We still have product and we still a customer base and we’ll recover from this. In fact, we opened the same morning that it all happened, and we just want to keep it in perspective.”
When asked about the state’s disheartening licensing process for communities of color, Evans said it’s even more important now, that the shop persevere.
“It means that we have to re-open, that we have to be a beacon…. We hope that we can be a sea change and offer opportunities to other people. And be a guiding light for other entrepreneurs who want to follow in our footsteps,” he said.
