It’s “business as usual” in sunny California. Those were the words of restaurant employee Joseph Collins, who met up with city officials and community activists at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, a legendary Los Angeles eatery that recently made headlines for being the location of PnB Rock’s violent murder.
“For the most part, the staff got up this morning, and yesterday, and they came to work,” said Collins. “We opened up and we got back to work. It’s business as usual and that’s something to see when you have such awesome staff as we have.”
Just three days after PnB Rock was gunned down while eating brunch with his girlfriend at the restaurant located on Manchester and Main, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, LA City Councilmember, Ben Owens, Southern California Cease Fire Committee representative, Tim Kornegay, Live Free California Director, and many others conducted a prayer before patronizing the business, according to a report from CBS News. Their hope is that they can convince consumers that Roscoe’s is a safe place to eat and still a staple of the South Central LA community.
“What we want this to be is a cry to action,” said Kornegay. “Although this is a tragedy, it’s an opportunity to lift this up as this should not ever happen again.”
Despite the desire for change, there are no official confirmations that the employees or restaurant patrons will receive any support to unravel the trauma of the murder, such as therapy or a reasonable amount of paid time off to recover from the incident. The community certainly wants a change, but is constantly given lip service from higher ups.
“We are disgusted by it and we wanted to demonstrate that we’re not gonna stand for it,” added Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “We want to say we’re gonna show up to Roscoe’s. Roscoe’s is our neighborhood restaurant it’s our community institution.”
The work to restore Roscoe’s name has become an overshadowing deflection to the reality that PnB Rock’s murderer is still at large. Although the gunman shot PnB Rock several times and robbed him of his jewelry at a busy hour for the restaurant in the middle of the day, LAPD has yet to confirm whether restaurant employees or patrons have been helpful in the case.
LAPD Chief, Michel Moore, has confirmed, however, that there are two suspects — one who was the gunman and the other, driver of the getaway car. The LAPD plans to release surveillance video surrounding PnB Rock’s death in the coming weeks.
It wasn’t too long ago that Nipsey Hussle was gunned down a few miles away from the Roscoe’s location, and luckily, surveillance cameras and witnesses were everywhere, ensuring that his murder would not be another forgotten cold case. Ironically, Hussle’s death was a great segue for the City to make substantial changes to the area, such as adding a train line and making plans for additional rental housing and business commerce.
With many other Roscoe locations to patronize — there’s a restaurant in Hollywood, one south of the Fairfax district, and one located closer to the LAX — the legacy of the restaurant isn’t in danger, at least to those who frequent the establishments.
However, at this point, should that be the biggest concern? Los Angeles County has continued to be unsafe for rappers, dating back to the epic death of the Notorious B.I.G. in ’90s and investigations are still lagging. Community leaders and city officials should be meeting to resolve that, not to promote the false narrative that it’s business as usual.
