In April, a vibrant Black and brown-, queer-, women-owned Creole fusion restaurant opened its doors in River North. Artis, owned by Brandi and Brittany Artis, aimed to provide a safe and inviting space for queer women. “Everything is in Andersonville, or it’s south, or it’s nonexistent, or it’s for the boys,” Brandi Artis told Block Club Chicago. “And this is for the girls, by the girls.”
On July 2, just months after opening, tragedy struck when a mass shooting occurred at rapper Mello Buckzz’s private album release party being hosted at the restaurant. As the event ended, a vehicle drove past and its occupants opened fire on attendees while they stood outside preparing to depart. Eighteen people were shot, and four of them lost their lives.
Since the shooting, social media and the news has been flooded with condolences, cries for communal support, prayers, and speculations about motive. Among these is a video of Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) blaming the victims of the tragedy in an interview with NBC5 Chicago.
“Their guests were targeted by a gangland shooting, that’s on them. They knew that they were hosting an album release party for a local rapper on the Southeast Side who had rivals, so shame on them,” Reilly said.
Reilly is pushing for the City to permanently shut down the restaurant, alleging that the owners were dishonest about their intentions with the space.
“About a year ago a new operator shows up, wanting to open this restaurant as a place for inclusion and to promote the arts, no mention of album release parties for rappers,” Reilly told NBC5.
Moving past the fact that music is, in fact, art, it’s arguable that a venue should not be held wholly responsible for a car full of individuals that were not at the event driving past attendees that were no longer inside of said event and shooting them. The owners of the restaurant, just like every other individual who only sought to support a popular, Chicago-born musician on the rise, are victims of a mass shooting.
While he’s decided on who to blame, CPD failed to catch the individuals who are without a doubt to blame—the shooters. Despite the sheer number of police officers that arrived on the scene, the gunmen managed to get away. Maybe if they had an expired plate sticker they would have been caught, since issuing citations seems to be one of the police department’s primary functions.
Ald. Reilly seems to pick and choose which occurrences of violence are a detriment to the neighborhood and the fault of the victims and which are not. In 2021, when he was attacked outside of Boss Bar less than a mile away from Artis, there was no mention of blaming the bar’s owners.
When a fight broke out at the former Hush nightclub in River North and an individual pulled out a gun, the other gun was drawn by the club’s armed security guard. Despite this effort to intervene in an altercation occurring outside of the venue, Reilly made sure the business was permanently shut down. When Reilly was jumped, it was also a bouncer that came to his aid. But there was no blame, and no threat of closure.
We live in a country with a gun problem, yet conversations about gun violence seem to sound like ridicule when the victims are Black. Are victims of mass shootings in open-carry states to blame for living there? Are the establishments who are already burdened with the aftermath to blame as well?
What about the countless fights that break out at sporting events, notoriously caused by excessive consumption of alcohol? Should Wrigley Field have its liquor license revoked?
Reilly expressed concern for residents that live near Artis who were (understandably) frightened by the shooting despite them being safe in their homes. He doesn’t seem to care about the young attendees who have no gang affiliation themselves and who went out to a music event and were robbed of the chance to go home safely that night, if at all. Those individuals don’t seem to be blaming the restaurant owners, of all people.
So why should we?