John Langley, an owner of the Red & Black Cafe in Portland, OR, knows how to treat his clientele. When he discovered a gentleman “curled up in the bathroom and barely breathing,” he “‘…was scared that they were dying or dead maybe,’ Langley said.” So he called 911 — but specified that while he wanted help for his guest (whom he suspected of overdosing on heroin), he would permit no cops on his premises.
“‘Definitely the EMTs and the ambulance driver could’ve handled it,’ Langley said. ‘I kind of feel like I don’t know what [police] were doing there except maybe waiting to see if they could bust the person on something, and I’m not down with that.'”
Yeehaw!!!! Meanwhile, our hero also “describes himself as … [an] anarchist. He has a history of not allowing police into the restaurant. He made headlines back in 2010 for asking an officer to leave after he bought a cup of coffee.” Yes!!!!! Would that more entrepreneurs follow his lead! On the other hand … I gauge a restaurant’s quality in part by whether any pigs are swilling its slops; if so, I eat elsewhere. Hate to lose my fool-proof guide to fine dining…
While the article on Mr. Langley’s disdain for cops is heartening enough, don’t stop there: read the comments, too. Swine-loving slime predictably hurls its mud — but a large number of folks share Mr. Langley’s view.
You’ll want to skip the Red & Black Cafe’s website, however, unless you don’t mind watching Mr. Langley’s lovely anarchism evaporate. He’s really a communist, boasting that the cafe “is a worker-owned cooperative restaurant and community space… . As a non-hierarchical and democratic workplace … We are proudly unionized … and are a closed shop, meaning all of our workers are union members.” The cafe advocates a number of other dubious — OK, entirely whacked-out — causes as well. Why is it that men intelligent enough to distrust cops can’t discern Marxism’s murderous policies and fallacious economics?
Still, kudos to Mr. Langley for protecting a disabled serf from the predators in uniforms! And thanks to Charles Everett for alerting me to this story.
11:37 am on May 20, 2014
