Isn’t that a friendly, young, diverse group? It’s the staff of Paradis Books and Bread in North Miami. Aww! Too bad. The place is closing, the cafe and wine bar announced. And that fate is entirely, completely, because those nice welcoming people are intolerant bigots, and proud of it. Their fate couldn’t happen to more deserving people.
I don’t know how I missed this story, and I apologize for that. The “nationally acclaimed” North Miami establishment (according to Axios…Seriously?) opened in 2021. Last year, it told Fox News commentator Gianno Caldwell, who had been meeting with friends at a table, that he was not welcome in the establishment because their “views did not align” with his. Caldwell was stunned (he’s a black conservative, as if that matters) and tweeted,
“I can’t believe what just happened. I met up with friends for breakfast at Paradis Books and Bread in North Miami & while we were having discussions about politics we were told by the owner that we were not welcomed there because we aren’t politically aligned. Outrageous.”
The owners gave their own spin to the episode, writing,
…”a group of people came in, ordered food, sat in the inside corner, and talked quite loudly for over an hour. A lot of what they were discussing was very troubling, specifically when talking about women in degrading ways as well as using eugenic arguments around their thoughts on Roe v. Wade… Once it was clear that they were finished with their meal, we told them that our views don’t align, and that the language they were using was unwelcome in our space.”
Caldwell disputed their characterization of his discussion with his friends to Sean Hannity on the air, saying,
“I met up with some folks that live in my building here in Miami, my first time ever hanging out with them, first time hanging out at this particular establishment. What we talked about was Fox. How do you like working at Fox was their question to me. ‘Are you a conservative?’ In fact, I am. I have a book out called Take It for Granted How Conservatism Can Win Back the American’s Liberalism Fail. Get a copy. I talked about my brother. I talked about the work that I’m doing with Congress on Capitol Hill for victims of violent crime…Then the owner comes over to the table and she says, I’ve been listening to your conversation and you are not welcome here. And I said, Did I say anything to you that triggered you? She said, ‘No, we’re just not politically aligned.'”
That last bit, on which the two adversaries agree, is all I need to conclude that Paradis Books and Bread is operated by the exact kind of “progressives” who threaten freedom of speech, thought and association in the United States. Apparently offended conservatives and Fox News fans launched a furious attack on the place, and down it went, like Joe Frazier. In one respect, that’s a harsh result: the political views of any establishment’s staff and ownership shouldn’t cause them to face boycotts and harassment. However, neither should any establishment patrons feel unwelcome because they won’t bend a knee to the God of Woke Caldwell argued the restaurant’s treatment was “modern-day Jim Crow,” except that it targeted him for his beliefs rather than his race. It sounds like an apt analogy.
I hope this serves as an abject lesson for the many fascists of the left that they need to bone up on what the United States of America stands for, even as they are trying to change the culture into a lock-step, homogeneous socialist paradise. When they and their fellow travelers succeed, then they can line up the WrongThinks and mow them down or ship them off to re-education camps, but until that glorious day, fair and ethical Americans still believe that citizens should be welcome in any establishment regardless of their color, creed, religion, sexual proclivities or employment at Fox News.
Unfortunately, the type of people who kicked Caldwell out are not exactly open to news ideas or old ones if they clash with Leftist cant, as shown by their farewell note. “To our haters, we suppose congratulations are in order, so you can go ahead and stop reading now!” Paradis said in its announcement. “But, to those who have loved us, supported our many changes, laughed with us, danced with us, and maybe even cried with us, we wanted to give you this parting explanation, as well as a wholehearted thank you.”
Typical. They reaped the appropriate penalties for being assholes and mistreating a customer while taking the position that he deserved to be mistreated, and now they blame it all on “hate.” They are the ones warped by hate.
Seldom has the reaction of Nelson Muntz been more appropriate.
___________________
Pointer: Steve-O-in NJ
Ethics Alarms 
(sound of basketball being slamdunked)
Exactly.
How do people get like that?
Part of it is due to reinforcement from media, entertainment, and academic elites.
they deserve to close down just for that straight-out-of-1993 website
“But, to those who have loved us, supported our many changes, laughed with us, danced with us, and maybe even cried with us, we wanted to give you this parting explanation, as well as a wholehearted thank you.”
Where were all those people when the business was going under then? Isn’t it interesting that establishments that want to take political or social issue stances don’t seem to have the customers to replace the ones they antagonize?
If I thought my conversations would be monitored and vetted per the mores of the staff, I don’t think I would patronize the place either.
AM Golden,
I wager it wouldn’t take “monitored conversation” for you to be asked to leave. If you walked in with a magazine (from back in the day) like “The American Spectator” or “The Weekly Standard”, you could potentially make that owner feel unsafe. If you carried a Bible in there…or wore a shirt with a US flag on it and a patriotic statement about America…or (God forbid!!) a MAGA hat…maybe said a prayer before you started eating…any of those might trigger a confrontation.
PS – I would love a transcript of Caldwell’s conversation with his friends to see how he was “talking about women in degrading ways.”
I was just thinking of how many people at an average restaurant would be asked to leave this place. I was at a restaurant not too long ago and my wife pointed out a man open-carrying a handgun. She asked “Do you see the guy with the gun?” and I answered “Which one?”. I pointed out at least 5 additional people that I was sure/pretty sure were carrying a firearm. The reasons included a Smith and Wesson hat, the muzzle of a 1911 poking out from under a jacket, a Ruger T-shirt worn not tucked in, a photography jacket when it was quite cold, and a suspicious bulge in the 4 o’clock position. I know Paradis Books was in Florida, where open carry is banned, and I’m sure this business had a sign, but I wonder how many of those people from my local Mexican place would have been asked to leave Paradis Books and Bread even if they left their sidearms in the car. I didn’t even mention the people wearing church t-shirts, Trump shirts, pearl snap shirts, etc. I would have to think that half of the clientele would have been immediately asked to leave Paradis. You would think, however, that all the serious progressives would rally around this place and frequent it to make sure it survived this horrible, extreme, MAGA right-wing racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic attack.
I guess it is good to know that despite the media narrative, there are few people willing to patronize the woke when they have a choice.
I guess my Pinochet T-shirt would be right out then, although they probably wouldn’t recognize him or what he stood for. I have to explain who he is to my shooty friends when I wear it to a match.
Unfortunately for them, it’s seems that being customer-oriented was never meant to be a top priority, it was all about them, as evidenced throughout their closing screed, including this:
“One of the opening visions of paradis was an attempt to open a food establishment of sorts that shifted the usual rules of service, in which the customer is certainly not always right, and food service workers are treated with their due respect.”
All by itself, I agree with that statement. Customers are NOT always right, and service workers SHOULD be treated with respect. But that doesn’t mean kicking out people because you don’t like what they are saying to each other.
I agree with this statement. Customers who lie, steal, defraud or attempt to defraud the business, sexually harass employees or other customers, vandalize or otherwise behave in an uncivil manner are not right and should not be treated as if they are just because they are in front of the cash register and not behind it.
A well-behaved customer who doesn’t agree with you is a completely different thing.
Of course all that is true. But the main focus of a business needs to be creating and maintaining a viable customer base. Otherwise, they’re just running a hobby (or maybe a government agency). It sounds like that’s what these guys were trying to do. There were other clues, such as them bemoaning that their customers refused to gravitate to the foods they wanted to serve. Kicking out customers who didn’t sufficiently share their dreams was probably just the last straw in a venture that was already doomed to fail because it was all about them, and not enough about their customers.
One thing I have learned about regressive progressive wokesters is that they are lying liars. The only remaining question is whether or not they purposefully knowingly lie or are they so indoctrinated that they exist in a constricted delusional bubble untethered from everyday reality.
Think of it as a cult, that should clear it up for you.
They were publicly canceled due to their own outright bigotry leading to direct persecution of select customers. I have absolutely no sympathy for pompous asses like them.
I wonder if a “normal” establishment would go under as quickly (or at all) if certain customers of the left-wing lunatic variety were ejected for their politics/conversation/looks. I’m betting not.
Interesting thought, but I’m guessing most “normal” establishments don’t care about their patrons’ looks (unless they’re “no shoes” or “no shirt”) or their conversations (unless it’s profane or obscene such that others hear and complain).
This is not the first time Jack has highlighted businesses that act this way, and so far, they have been run by far-left-leaning individuals. Having written that, I would hope that a “normal” business that acted like this to left-wing lunatic varieties would be called on it, shunned if necessary, and shuttered by a lack of business if it refuses to change.
People have more than one eating/meeting/gathering option. If businesses act this way, the best thing to do tell the business in a non-confrontational way that you don’t appreciate them trying to stifle your speech and until they change that policy, you’ll just take your business elsewhere.
That may be what happened to Paradis Bread and Books…though did you look at their menu? I don’t think there was a thing I would have eaten.
thelshapedtetrisblock wrote, “I wonder if a “normal” establishment would go under as quickly (or at all) if certain customers of the left-wing lunatic variety were ejected for their politics/conversation/looks. I’m betting not.”
1. I don’t know what you mean when you write “normal”?
2. I’m not sure if conservative leaning business owners have thrown out customers like you described causing public boycott retribution but I think what has happened many times across the USA is that “left-wing lunatic variety” people publicly attacked business for not conforming to their leftist ideology or physically attacked customers of the business or the business is severely vandalized or the business ended up having to simply close or in some cases the business get burnt to the ground for not conforming to leftist ideology, this is not a new concept in leftist tactical patterns. It seems like leftists have made it their mission in life to destroy anyone and anything that they perceive as publicly disagreeing with them.
Now I can’t cite specific examples off-hand but seriously thelshapedtetrisblock where the heck have you been, remember what’s happened across the USA over the last eight years; honestly, where the heck do you think they got the idea from to cause enough public reaction that the business had to close?
Seriously, do you reside in a country that’s not the United States of America?
This sounds a lot like the way Bud Light decided their existing customers were the wrong sort of people, and resolved to drive them away, presumably enabling the “right sort” of customer to replace them. But the “right sort”never showed up.
There needs to be a word for this tendency of radicals to throw away the imperfect things they have before their “perfect” replacement is ready.