| Red and Black Cafe | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | October, 2000 |
| Food type | Coffee |
| Street address | SE 12th Avenue and SE Oak Street |
| City | Portland |
| State | Oregon |
| Coordinates | |
| Website | redandblackcafe.com |
The Red and Black Cafe is a radical safer space cafe[1] and worker-managed collective located in Portland, Oregon, USA. The cafe offers an all-vegan menu and provides community based events, including local benefits, political teach-ins and anarchist infoshop based education.[2] The cafe also features wireless internet, fair trade organic coffee, and a changing selection of organic red wines and local microbrews.
The Red and Black Cafe is located at SE 12th avenue and SE Oak street in the same block as the vegan mini-mall. The collective first opened at 2138 SE Division Street on October 15, 2000. Originally opened as the Flying Saucer Cafe, which was purchased with loans from members in the community and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
In December 2007, the collective signed a lease at 400 SE 12th Avenue and opened for business on January 11, 2008. The Red and Black Cafe is a founding member of the Portland Alliance of Worker Collectives (PAWC) and a member of the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC). The Red and Black became a closed IWW shop in October 2009. All of the workers at the cafe, current and future, are and would be union members, emulating the IWW mission to strive "to unite labor as a class in one big union the IWW also seeks to build the structure of a new and better social order within the shell of the old system which fails to provide for the needs of all.”[3]
In addition to supporting locally produced organic food, the shop features a gallery space for local artists, free literature and zines, including the Red and Black Cafe Communique, writing workshops, and a monthly film series. Recent authors and speakers with workshops and book-signings include Margaret Killjoy, Judith Arcana, and Eberhardt Press.
On May 19, 2010, Red and Black collective member John Langley asked armed police Officer James Crooker to leave the cafe, telling him that he violated the safer space policies of the collective.[4] Various local and national media sources covered the incident including the Portland Mercury, The Oregonian, and CNN.[5] The situation prompted a boycott of the cafe and the creation of Facebook pages both for the boycott, and in support of the collective with "Boycott the Red and Black Cafe, Portland, OR" and "I'm not Boycotting the Red and Black Cafe, Portland OR". Subsequently, a press conference was held to address concerns over the decision to ask the officer to leave the premises.[6]
As a result of the controversy, the collective received both verbal and written threats of arson and other violence, but also increased business for the cafe.[7]
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