Protests Helped Save Black-Owned Business That Coronavirus Nearly Killed

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Tommy Rhine has owned a shoe repair shop for decades. But it was hit hard by the pandemic, and he fell behind in rent. Then his son put up a 'Black owned business' sign. Now, he's taking orders from states away—and has raised tens of thousands of dollars.

Tommy Rhine, 70, has been repairing shoes in Denver for more than 40 years. He's repaired shoes for everyone from Broncos and Nuggets players to doctors and lawyers at Rhine's Shoe & Boot Repair."I mostly deal with downtown businesspeople," Rhine said."Half of them are not working or if they are working, they are working at home. They don't need to dress up or have the shoes right now so that kind of killed everything.

Rhine Sr. has not been a part of the Black Lives Matter protests downtown, but he said he was more active in the 1960s as a young man when he was living in Fort Worth, Texas. He remembers having to ride in the back of the bus and using segregated water fountains. When he moved to Denver in 1970, he said he was often stopped by police.

Since the media coverage began, he's been constantly working. He's been taking orders while repairing shoes.

 

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Glad he's making it.

That place has a lot of soul (sole)

Race card helped this owner, this is fine. But NPR is using race as one of step to rise money and I definitely hate this. Bye bye NPR

I am glad some business were helped. But what about the business that were destroyed by the protesters

SO PATHETIC.

And don’t forget- none of his windows will be bashed in! Another benefit of the protests!!!

BLACKS ARE IMPETUOUS BY NATURE. IT'S OK. IT'S THEIR CULTURE. BUT INTEGRATION MEANS BLACKS INTEGRATE WITH WHITES. NOT WHITES INTEGRATE WITH BLACKS. THOMAS JEFFERSON PREDICTED THAT BLACKS SHOULD BE FREE IN AN AREA OF THEIR OWN.

Does that make up for the hundreds that were destroyed?

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Is that all it takes? Add a pride flag and he’ll be a millionaire 🌈

Awesome story. Glad to see the nation help a struggling business. Glad to see a non partisan story from NPR! You can do it NPR!

Shoe repair? Sure, Coronavirus was killing it, not the business's growing obsolescence. 🙄

But, but ... What about the systemic racism u keep lecturing us about?

Cool!

You're celebrating race-based business advertising? Jeez.

puzzled by comments here.. this is a great story about a small business owner adapting to lockdown, even doing online shoe repairs now, with smart marketing tactic.. it's not about BLM.. as the article says he was not even involved in the protests

Help black businesses!

Put up a sign white owned business and see the racist response.

yeah this is the left trying to make it seem like BLM is a force of good. they are not. this is a stunt and BLM is a terrorist organization

All owners matter. By the way.

Doesn't sound like a racist response. Great!

Protests destroyed black own businesses and communities. The AntifaDomesticTerrorists made their racism for African Americans very clear when they burned our businesses and Churches. We must vote to ensure this doesn't continue. YouAintBlack

💗

He should take some of that money he raised and hire some help so he doesn't have to work so hard.

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