2:45 p.m. update: Austin Mayor Steve Adler has condemned racially charged stickers placed on several East Austin businesses Wednesday.
“This is an appalling and offensive display of ignorance in our city,” he said in a statement.
The statement, sent by the city around 2:30 p.m., said the party responsible for making the stickers was not authorized to use the city’s logo or claim the city’s sponsorship.
The city has also concluded that the businesses that were defaced with the stickers neither made nor knowingly displayed them, according to the statement.
1:30 p.m. update: Stickers that have appeared on at least six East Austin businesses declaring that they are "exclusively for white people" have now drawn the attention of the NAACP and a state lawmaker.
Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, took to Facebook to post a photograph of one of the stickers affixed to a window at Rare Trends, a clothing store on East 12th Street.
“Some jokes are not funny,” she wrote. “If this is a joke at all, it is tasteless. … I will be damned if this will occur in my House District … in this historical black community or any community.”
She wrote that city officials are investigating the origins of the sticker but urged people to not support the store until “ ‘some explaining’ is done.”
“If the explanation is unbelievable …. They need to be put out of business, ASAP,” she wrote.
The photo was originally posted on Facebook by Brianna Smith, who said she walked by the store on Wednesday morning.
“This just goes to show racism is very much alive TODAY,” she wrote. “And by this being sponsored by the city of Austin absolutely DISGUST me.”
A spokesman for the city of Austin has said the city has nothing to do with the stickers.
Dukes said by phone that a constituent brought the sticker at Rare Trends to her attention and she “immediately went into motion contacting the proper authorities to get this shut down.”
“This will not be tolerated,” she said.
When asked about the possibility that Rare Trends did not put the sticker on its window, Dukes said they should have taken it down.
The Facebook page for Rare Trends also shared Smith’s photo of the sticker and denied responsibility for it.
"We are victims of an outrageous vandalism act occurring on many East Austin business," the post states. "Rare Trends does not or will never discriminate against any person regardless of their age, ethnicity or religious beliefs."
Alejandra Cook, the store’s community manager, said that employees didn’t initially notice the sticker because it was blocked by a window display.
As she described numerous angry phone calls she and another employee have received about the sign, Nelson Linder, president of Austin NAACP, entered the store and asked about it.
“We had nothing to do with it,” Cook could be heard saying.
Linder said during a phone interview later that he went to Rare Trends after receiving a call from someone who had seen the sticker.
He said the sticker is “absolutely stupid” and that the person or people responsible should be dealt with legally.
“Don’t put signs like that on people’s doors because you want to bring attention to your plight,” he said.
Gentrification is an issue that is not new to the African American community in Austin, Linder said, adding that the NAACP is going to monitor this situation closely and will try to help as necessary.
12:20 p.m. update: The manager of El Chilito Tacos y Café said that stickers were found on the restaurant's Manor Road and East Seventh Street locations.
The owner of Windmill Bicycles, next door to El Chilito on Manor Road, also reported finding a sticker at the bike shop.
Sarah Goethe, a co-owner of Windmill, said that the stickers seemed like the work of an artist but she wondered if the person “did any research about who owns these businesses” because some aren’t owned by white people.
Earlier: Employees at two East Austin businesses arrived to work on Wednesday morning to find stickers plastered on the buildings that declared they were "exclusively for white people."
"Maximum of 5 colored customers/colored BOH staff accepted," the stickers stated, referring to the "back of house" operations at a restaurant.
The stickers also feature a City of Austin logo and state that the message is “sponsored by the City of Austin Contemporary Partition and Restoration Program.”
One of the stickers was affixed to the front window of the Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop on Manor Road.
The owners of Sugar Mama’s posted an a photo showing part of the sticker on Instagram around 11 a.m., saying that they didn’t post the whole sticker because “it is too offensive.”
“Today we were the victim of what I consider to be a hate crime against our family and staff at our Eastside location,” the post states. “Our business was built on family and love and we will let that shine on.”
April Jensen, who works at the cupcake shop on Manor, said she was shocked when she and a co-worker noticed the sticker.
“It kind of hurt,” said Jensen, who is African American. “I don’t really understand the message behind it. … All types of customers come in here.”
A sticker was also placed on El Chile Café y Cantina, about a block up the street from Sugar Mama’s.
Candice Armstong, the store’s manager, said it didn’t appear that the two other businesses on Manor Road that are owned by the El Chile Food Group were targeted.
A spokesman for the City of Austin said that he was unaware of the stickers and that he could not immediately comment on them.
Sugar Mama’s reported the sticker found there to police and an officer is expected to take statements from the employees later Wednesday.
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