A Struggling Business Owner Embraces the Black Lives Matter Movement
This Minneapolis Entrepreneur has Heartfelt Advice on the George Floyd Protests
It was the last week of May, and Sarah Jane’s Music School was still closed due to COVID-19. At least 20–30 people were dying per day in Minnesota, with cases averaging 573 per 100,000 people; a rate much higher than bigger states like Texas or California. In a state of 5.64 million, more than 750,000 had filed for unemployment.
The City of Minneapolis had become a barren landscape for its once bustling hub of small businesses, yet there was a degree of hope as Governor Tim Walz gradually began allowing the local economy to reopen. Uncertainty remained however, as health officials continued to warn the state had not reached its peak infection rate.
“I take each day at a time. Some days I’m super driven to make it through all this; some days I’d rather give up.”
Sarah Jane Perbix had opened up her music school in 2015, mainly because she felt her neighborhood of Northeast, Minneapolis had been under-served in the musical arts. She wanted children to have a place where an all-encompassing education in music was possible, and hoped her shop could provide an opportunity for other artists like her to foster a community of impassioned learners.
By 2020, her business had 20 teachers serving over 400 students. Things had gone beyond her highest expectations, and only seemed to be getting brighter, until of course that March, when the economy was effectively shut down by the governor via strict stay-at-home orders. Although she figured Zoom could work for a few private sessions, she was forced to cancel all group classes. The school has been empty ever since.
Little did anyone expect the wrought of a lock-down, much less the dramatic turn-of-events one Memorial Day would usher in.
In Minneapolis, a thriving urban center known as “The City of Lakes,” racial inequality is “among the worst” according to a report by the Washington Post. Like in many cities throughout the United States, African-Americans live in segregated neighborhoods, on average making ten cents for every dollar someone who is white makes in the same metropolitan area. No one in town was surprised when the youthful battle-cry of Black Lives Matter entered politics.
Sarah Jane’s Music School is about a bus ride away from what is now in historical terms Sarah’s most famous neighbor; a man named George Floyd.
“Keep your eyes and ears wide open to the injustices in your community. In the words of our late Senator Paul Wellstone, We all do better when we all do better.”
Protesters and riot police in Minneapolis. Photos courtesy of Josh Hild and Munshots.
As Sarah recollects it, not a day or night went by without protests the day video of Floyd’s murder by a white police officer went viral. Most were peaceful, but over time erupted into mass rioting, looting and vandalism. Many businesses were already closed in the area due to stay-at-home orders, but the movement still reigned in. As a strict curfew went in place (6AM-6PM), things became even more tense. “We, like many businesses, boarded up our school in hopes to deter vandals,” she told me.
Like many business owners in the area, Sarah felt the protests were necessary for progress in a city with a great deal of racial disparity. She was glad to find out the Minneapolis City Council voted to dismantle it’s police department — a historic precedent — as it was proof this time the Black Lives Matter movement was succeeding in its goals to resonate with those in power.
Many shop owners showed their support of BLM by adding signage and graffiti artwork on the built-up plywood. Surprisingly, the strife of civil unrest was met with universal sympathy; the support by small businesses throughout Minneapolis became an immense social force. “It still shocks me that people are protesting around the world about a murder in my city,” she told me in an email exchange, “there is a lot of good in the world and people standing up for what is right.”
“Stuff can be replaced…I want to have a business in a community that respects all of its citizens.”
As protests continue around the world, and with a dramatic resurgence in COVID-19 cases leading to more uncertainty on a reopening, I asked Sarah what kept her going through these unprecedented circumstances.
Like so many people watching from the sidelines, I have seen business owners struggle with this newfound reality, one that rivals that of the mobilization efforts of World War II, and the economic dearth of the Great Depression. Usually it seems there’s a mentality of caution; the ship is sailing in a dark sea of unknowns, and all the captain can do is stay steady. But Sarah, even with her business on the brink of despair, offered a more resilient outlook:
“If our business can survive through a pandemic, social injustice, rioting, and political unrest, then we’re bound to thrive in peace times. Change is coming.”
With such unprecedented challenges we face in finding a post-COVID norm, and the inconvenient truths Black Lives Matter has made us realize about privilege and power, it was truly touching to see that Sarah has tackled these challenges with an attitude that perseverance can not only make us wiser, but prepared to do better.
As a blogger for Hartled, I’ve had the privilege of discussing with Jon the many challenges his clients face. It was during a timely discussion on how owners are grappling with COVID-19 that I learned of Sarah’s story. Jon is her brother, and founded his consulting firm around the time she was starting up her business; he has helped to provide coaching and guidance throughout.
What will happen next in an era where things go haywire without us looking? What else is there to believe but in the drive to adapt to these larger-than-life challenges? One thing is certain: regardless of the circumstances, Sarah Jane’s Music School knows that to thrive means to learn.