Memphis protesters pay for window broken at small business during demonstration

Early Monday morning, Keedran Franklin heard a window had been damaged at Winfield's Shoes and Accessories during Sunday night's protest through Downtown Memphis.

He didn't break the window, but when he shared the news on his Facebook page, he said he would step up to cover the repair costs.

"It has come to my attention that a black owned business had their store window smashed last night," he wrote. "Although I can't account for what happened, Mr. And Mrs. Winfield will not have to pay for that window! We will handle that and hope that their impact is limited."

After the post went up, comments started flooding in. Some people commended him on his effort. Some people offered to send donations. Some even offered to cook a few meals for the Winfields to help make up for the loss.

MEMPHIS PROTESTS:Demonstrators confront law enforcement throughout Sunday night

Less than 12 hours later, Franklin went live on Facebook to tell people to stop sending money. With the help of Shahidah Jones, the Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter and countless others who sent money, he had raised $2,071 and gave the money to Winfield's.

The store owner did confirm that the money had been donated but was not available for a full interview Wednesday afternoon.

While Franklin said he was not looking for help to pay for the window, he isn't surprised that so many people wanted to step up.

"There's been times where I've asked for things for the community and the community helps," he said, adding that property damage was not the goal of the protest and that he knows that the store owners know that too.

"Although he knows that, the rest of the world and city might think it was the protesters just coming in and tearing up stuff. For me, this shows what our community looks like... I also didn't want anyone to criminalize or vilify those that were down there."

Winfield's Main Street store has been open for 13 years. The store had already suffered major financial losses when it was forced to close for more than one month after a shelter-in-place order was issued in March in an attempt to quell the spread of the coronavirus.

The Downtown Memphis Commission provided a $5,000 forgivable loan out of an emergency fund to help otherwise healthy businesses that were now threatened with closure because of the pandemic.

The money was used to cover mortgage, utilities, insurance and payroll costs.

According to Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings, 10 business were vandalized in some way. Mayor Jim Strickland implemented a 10 p.m. curfew the next day to prevent further property damage.

Even before the curfew, most of the protests, which have been happening daily since May 27, saw no property damage.

The daily protests are among demonstrations happening nationwide in response to the death of George Floyd, the black man who died after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes. 

Chauvin, who has since been arrested on second-degree murder charges, was captured on video holding his knee to Floyd's neck as three other Minneapolis police officers watched. Those officers, Thomas Lane, J.A. Keung and Tou Thao, were also fired and charged on Wednesday with aiding and abetting. 

Desiree Stennett covers economic development and business at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.