The Family Red Apple boycott, also known as the "Red Apple boycott", "Church Avenue boycott" or "Flatbush boycott", was the starting point of an eighteen-month situation which The New York Times described as "Racist, and Wrong." It began January 1990 with one store, a Korean-American-owned shop, Family Red Apple, at 1823 Church Avenue in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and extended to other stores, both within and beyond the original neighborhood.
Events
The boycott was sparked by an alleged assault of a Haitian American woman by a Korean-American shopkeeper. The woman alleged that she had been struck by three of the shop's employees. The shopkeeper said that the woman had refused to pay for store items and that she had not been attacked. The boycott was led by Robert Carson, a local activist and black nationalist, and George Edward Tait, a community activist and educator. The incident led to public criticism of New York City'sMayorDavid Dinkins for failing to end the protest. Carson threatened the storeowners that the boycott would escalate, stating "in the future, there will be funerals not boycotts". Police discovered 18 Molotov cocktails on nearby rooftops. In one instance the boycott turned violent, when a black protester attacked a Vietnamese man with a claw hammer while other black protesters shouted "Koreans go home". Race relations were less dire than people feared, but at the time the prospect of racial unraveling seemed real. A New York City judge, Gerald S. Held, issued an order barring the demonstrators from picketing within 50 feet of the Korean stores. However, the NYPD refrained from enforcing the order, saying it involved a civil dispute. The mayor's office attempted to mediate between the two sides. Eight months into the boycott, with the picketers continuing to refuse to cooperate, Dinkins made a personal effort at reconciliation by shopping at the grocery shop. Dinkins's effort was received well by the Korean storeowner but was met with curses from the black picketers. Dinkins's symbolic gesture did not end the boycott.
Related events
Family Red Apple was not the only store affected. Seven months after the first boycott, another one began in Brownsville, another Brooklyn neighborhood. This boycott elicited a stronger response by the Dinkins administration.
Resolution
The boycott ended after the owner of Family Red Apple sold out his lease to another Korean-American. The store reopened three days later and had a steady stream of customers.
Mayor Dinkins was criticized in the press for his administration's handling of the affair. The situation was described as It was also noted that Finger-pointing was also reported:
In his memoir Mayor Dinkins writes, "I was criticized for not crossing the picket line and ending the boycott by example. I was prepared to mediate the dispute, but I suspected my presence would not have helped at that juncture....In this instance I believed that my participation would do more harm than good." In his memoir Dinkins writes, “It may well be that I waited an overly long time to take this step, but I had faith in the court system and in the rational ability of people to come to satisfactory conclusions among themselves. I may have been wrong on both counts.”
New York looks back
This type of "antagonism... led to boycotts of a half-dozen Korean stores... since 1984." Seven months after the January 1990 start of the Family Red Apple matter in Flatbush, the New York Times wrote regarding August's Brownsville case, "At least the Mayor acted quickly this time, and acknowledges the likelihood of a racial motive.
