[Yema Khalif]
CBS: “Khalif’s shop has been at the Main Street location since February. He said he was insulted by the demands to prove he owned the store. Yema is the only Black-owned clothing store in town.”
Photo: Twitter
California business owner Yema Khalia and his wife Hawi Awash, shown here with guitar great Carlos Santana inside their store, were recently asked by police to prove they owned the store–because they were seen working late one night.
The Marin County town of Tiburon is buzzing about a video that shows police in an early morning confrontation over the weekend with an African-American business owner moving merchandise into his own store.
At 1 a.m. Saturday morning, Tiburon police officers saw three people inside the clothing store Yema on Main Street and decided to check it out.
Store proprietor Yema Khalif, his wife and business partner Hawi Awash and a friend were unloading new inventory when officers arrived and began questioning them. Video taken by Khalif’s wife captured the encounter.
“I want to know what you’re doing in this store at one o’clock in the morning?” one of the officers is heard asking in the clip.
“If I tell you it’s my store, then what?” Khalif responded.
“Then show me that it’s your store,” said the officer.
“I do not have to show you nothing!” replied Khalif.
Khalif’s shop has been at the Main Street location since February. He said he was insulted by the demands to prove he owned the store. Yema is the only Black-owned clothing store in town.
“I wasn’t angry,” Khalif explained. “I was just putting my foot down that, hey, if this was some other person of a different color, you would not be acting this way and you would not be here at this particular hour.”
As Khalif argued with the officers, his wife Hawi became increasingly frightened.
“Absolutely. One of the police officers had his hand on his gun, which was the most terrifying part for me,” she said.
Read the rest of this CBS story here: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/08/25/video-tiburon-police-officers-confront-question-black-business-owner-in-his-own-store/
