A group in Kewanee is calling for a boycott of a restaurant.
The group claims an employee, who happens to be the owner’s son, made racist comments online.
Protesters were on the sidewalk in front of the La Gondola Spaghetti House of Kewanee for about five hours.
“This feels so good, getting all the support that we have from the people that we’ve gotten the support from here in Kewanee. And exposing him for what he is.” That’s how Gregory Jackson felt as he protested outside of La Gondola’s.
Jackson says that his niece was fathered by Nathan Rashid, the employee in question.
Rashid’s Facebook messenger exchange went viral, because of the use of racial slurs when discussing Jackson’s sister and niece.
“That’s why we’re in the state it is right now,” Jackson said. “Because we had never made anybody pay consequences for actions like this. They make them say they’re sorry and move on. It’s not gonna be a sincere apology and you know that. He has showed his true colors.”
We discussed the chat logs with Jackson. A line in Rashid’s messages read “My daughter is half, and she’ll know the difference between white, black and n****** when she gets older.”
“See what else needs to be said?” Jackson said. “Nothing else needs to be said.”
“You choose your partner, whether red, yellow, black or white, and when you do that you need to respect each other,” William Tolliver, a protester said. “That means physically, respecting and not doing any types of harm. And also with your words.”
We made contact with La Gondola. Employees at the restaurant say the owner would not be commenting at this time on the incident.
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