CRIME
Rainbow Flag Torn Down at Barbershop in Brooklyn
Black-owned LGBTQ barbershop gets targeted in series of incidents
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A Rainbow Flag was torn
down from a Blackowned
LGBTQ barbershop
in Brooklyn
on June 21 in what the owner described
as the latest in a string of
anti-LGBTQ incidents targeting
the shop.
Surveillance footage shows a
suspect with curly hair and wearing
a navy blue T-shirt riding a
scooter and removing the Rainbow
Flag from the front of Camera
Ready Kutz, Inc. at 73 Utica Avenue
between Pacifi c and Dean Street in
Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
In the video, the suspect appears
to injure their arm while stripping
the fl ag from the awning, throwing
the banner onto the ground, and
fl eeing the scene.
The same barbershop has been
dealing with adversity since the
start of Pride Month, according to
Khane Kutzwell, the shop’s owner
and master barber. Kutzwell said
she found dog poop placed in a bag
and scattered on the site’s premises.
She also noticed a dead rat
emitting a fetid odor from the back
of the shop.
“I knew it defi nitely had to be
something that was done on purpose,”
Kutzwell said. “One pile of
dog doo-doo, you understand that,
but when you have multiple piles of
dog doo-doo, and it’s going around
the shop — something’s going on.”
She added, “Then, a big dead rat
by our back door. A rat didn’t just
come out of the sewer and decide
to die right there. It defi nitely was
placed. It was already rotting.”
Kutzwell is unsure whether the
suspect in the video is connected
to the other acts. The master barber,
who has served the city’s LGBTQ
community for more than a
decade, blasted the attack as “old”
and “tiring.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” she
declared. “There’s always going to
be queer people around.”
Kutzwell also took to social media
to condemn the perpetrators.
“I’m proud of my Pride Flag…
She/He/They put up a good fi ght,”
An unknown suspect removed a Pride Flag from a Black-owned LGBTQ barbershop in Brooklyn.
Shop owner Khane Kutzwell fi led a police report with the NYPD’s 77th Precinct after the incident.
Kutzwell said alongside the Instagram
post of the surveillance
footage. “Like mama always says,
make sure you ain’t the only one
with a bruise after a fi ght.”
She added, “In my spiritual
world seeing that small of a bag
neatly tied and strategically placed
could indicate someone was trying
to wish bad on my shop. Not Today
Satan!! I’m waaaay too blessed
and protected for your antics.”
Kutzwell fi led a police report on
June 22 and police are investigating
a report of criminal mischief,
though no arrests have been made
and the investigation is ongoing.
Kutzwell said NYPD detectives
have not stopped by the shop since
the report was fi led.
Kutzwell also criticized similar
bias-fueled attacks across the city.
“We’re in times where hate, in
general, seems to be in fashion,”
she said. “Things happening between
police and Black men and
boys, things happening in our
government…hate against Asian
KHANE KUTZWELL
KHANE KUTZWELL
Americans. Everything seems like
a free-for-all of hate.”
After releasing the footage,
Kutzwell has seen an outpouring
of support for the shop on social
media. Plus, the Rainbow Flag has
returned.
“It is very telling that in 2021
we still have so far to go,” she said.
“The Pride Flag is right back up, so
the person didn’t do anything but
create even more pride within the
community…he can rip it down
as many times as he wants — I’ll
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