Black vegan restaurant owner who appeared with Trump speaks out
Shana Gray, owner of Gray Jett Cafe, tells 'The Ingraham Angle' Biden's policies are not helping small businesses.
A vegan cafe owner in Milwaukee who recently spoke beside former President Trump at a Waukesha rally told Fox News that her remarks were a plea to the person she voted for in 2020 — President Biden — to understand the plight of struggling business owners like herself.
Shana Gray said that since her appearance, it has been an "eventful" time, which host Laura Ingraham reported included messages of hate and at least one case of a person with differing political beliefs "storm[ing]" her cafe.
"I just pretty much put a plea out there to the administration of which I voted for to let them know that I am a struggling business owner," Gray said Friday.
"I'm just looking for a change to pretty much help me and people of my community. Understand, my cafe was created to be a community space to provide not just good vegan food, but a space for people to come — a very safe space for people to come and have conversations of things and topics that are affecting them."
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Gray said customers at Gray Jett, which is on Marquette University's campus, have discussed the way they are feeling inflation, and how they "don't know about tomorrow" in the realm of making spending decisions on gas, groceries and necessities.
She said the Trump rally allowed her a platform to spread those messages from her customers herself, adding that the commonality of feeling squeezed by the economic malaise transcends race and ethnicity.
When Gray joined him on stage, Trump quipped that he's "not into the vegan stuff," but pledged to eat at her restaurant when he returns to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, according to Urban Milwaukee.
"Shana says her business is being brutalized by the soaring cost of food. She’s never seen anything like it," Trump said.
Gray also was asked about comments President Biden made to the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce in December.
"Every new business opening is a vote for hope," he said. "You're making the American economy stronger and our nation more competitive. I'm here to celebrate the progress we're making to support Black small businesses here and around the country... When Black small businesses grow. everything benefits, the community benefits. Everyone benefits — not a joke."
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Gray commented that Biden said "accurate things" but that in her case, she is being heavily affected by inflation and that it is hard to envision the dream the president spoke about.
Gray's comments were echoed somewhat by another swing state business owner in a recent Fox News interview that was held on the day of a similar nearby Trump rally.
Pennsylvania tavern owner Al Anderson said in April his costs are "through the roof just to stay in business."
"From A to Z, we didn't have this four years ago. Of course, Bidenomics is nothing but printing money and creating inflation," said Anderson, who owns the Leather Corner Post Hotel near Schnecksville.
"I think in the Trump years, we all had more money in our pockets, so we could buy things at a lower cost… you could do more things with less money," Anderson added. "[Biden-era] economics don't make sense."
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