Immigrant whose business was burned down during Black Lives Matter riots has van stolen
Thomas McDonald
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A Bangladeshi immigrant whose business was burned down during the Black Lives Matter riots last summer has now had his business van stolen from him.
“If you need food, I’ll give you food all your life. You’ll have it. Need a job to rent a house? I’ll give you a job. Come work with us and solve the problem…This is what we have to do,” said Ruhel Islam, owner of Curry in a Hurry, in a message to the criminals who stole his van.
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“We have some more unfortunate news. Someone has broken into our restaurant, 3025 east Franklin Avenue, and got away with everything in our register. This is quite unfortunate. We ask our community to look out for each other in these very trying times and take care of one another,” Curry in a Hurry posted to social media following the break-in.
Islam is attempting to rebuild the now-demolished site of his former business Gandhi Mahal. He plans to turn it into a community gathering space and garden. He established a scaled-back version of his former restaurant less than two miles away to make ends meet. Curry in a Hurry does takeout, delivery, and catering and relies solely on the van to do business.
Islam says the van was newly purchased and contained brand new catering supplies, kitchen gear, and private business account paperwork inside.
In the aftermath of his business burning to the ground during last summer’s Black Lives Matter riots, Islam posted a response to social media saying, “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served, put those officers in jail.”
The Independent Chronicle contacted Islam’s business for comment but did not immediately receive a response.