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<\/p>\nOn July 3, many lives were altered forever on July 3 when a mass shooting took place outside the River North spot Artis Restaurant & Lounge\u2014a POC-, women- and queer-owned BYOB spot whose owners, married couple Brandi and Brittany Artis, were on a mission to make it a safe space. Four people were killed with another 14 injured at the event, which was an album release party for local rapper Mello Buckzz. \u00a0
On July 15, the owners announced on Instagram that they were closing Artis permanently, stating, \u201cWe are still processing, still grieving, and still holding one another close. Thank you to everyone who reached out with love and support. Please continue to hold space for our staff, our families, the victims, and this entire community. We will not be defined by this violence, but we will never forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In part, the actual message read, \u201cThe rising pressure, coded policies, and attempted public persecution have sent a clear message: We are not welcome here. Still, we leave with our heads high and hearts full. \u2026 To our community: Please know this was never just a business\u2014this was a beacon\u201d
The couple recently talked with Windy City Times about that fateful night\u2014and also delivered a message to the public about their present and future.<\/p>\n
Note: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n
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Artis. Photo by Andrew Davis<\/p>\n
Windy City Times: How are you in this moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n Brandi Artis: I\u2019m worse than sad\u2014I\u2019m devastated, I\u2019m traumatized. We\u2019re many things, to say the least.WCT: My understanding is that you were there during the incident. Can you walk me through it? Brandy: We have some military-trained staffers on our team and my wife is EMS-trained so we tried to do everything we could to take care of people. .I\u2019m also [trained in] first aid but they would not let us back upstairs to take care of anyone; they wanted us to stay safe downstairs because none of us knew what was happening at the time.<\/p>\n WCT: What do you have to say to those who have disparaging things about what happened? Some people have said that they\u2019re genuinely sad but others have stated things like \u201cOf course, this was going to happen.\u2019<\/strong> These are issues that our country has: violence, lack of access, people doing things because of systemic oppression\u2014not because someone had an event. That is so absurd. It\u2019s not a way an event like this should be [seen]; people, including the media, tend to see the smaller thing and not the bigger thing. This was a tragic event that ruined a lot of lives, including ours. While I don\u2019t have any physical marks, I have trauma\u2014to the point where I damn near have PTSD\u2014and stress, of course. It was a very unfortunate event that is not isolated in Chicago\u2014and people are not going below the surface to see the [true] causes of why events like this happen. I have not been back to the space and I don\u2019t want to be there because that\u2019s not the space we created\u2014a space of love, creation and safety. I have not been back because of the violation I feel from that night. Our food, sauces and seasonings will be available soon. We\u2019re working on our seasonings being available as soon as next week, and we\u2019re working on our sauces as well. We will also be doing our catering and hosting pop-ups, so people will have to keep up with our\u00a0Instagram page<\/a>\u00a0and just see what we\u2019re doing from there.WCT: Is there anything either one of you wanted to say to the public, to the victims\u2019 families or anyone else?<\/strong> The GoFundMe page \u201cStand with Artis: Aid for Brandi and Brittany\u201d can be accessedhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t
Brandi: Yes, we were ther<\/strong>e all night. I was running around in the kitchen, getting product for the event. We were there the entire time; I\u2019m always in my establishment.
I was standing in the middle of the bar [when I first heard the shots] and I couldn\u2019t move; I was frozen. I could see the bullets flying across the door.
Brittany Artis: I saw and heard the shots first because I was standing in the bar; it was me, Brandi and our bartender, Paris. I heard the shots\u2014but I wasn\u2019t alarmed until I saw the bullets flying by. I said, \u201cBrandi, get down.\u201d She turned around and saw the same bullets flying by, and she finally got down. We ran into the basement. From there, we were making sure our staff was okay, secure and in a safe place; we were also trying to make sure that nobody was trying to enter through the front or the back.
The media did not say that my staff was [employing] life-saving measures and administering care. They were applying pressure, using tourniquets and doing all the things people could to save someone\u2019s life. My staff was doing that before emergency services arrived.<\/p>\n
Brandi: I would say, \u201cShame on you for saying anything like that.\u201d
Brittany: This was an act of violence; you can\u2019t point the finger at anything. My biggest issue is that things like this happen all over Chicago and all over the world, and there\u2019s never anyone who says, \u201cHey, alder\u2014this is your fault.\u201d [Note: Ald. Brendan Reilly, of the city\u2019s 42nd Ward, was among those saying Artis should be shut down for good, asking the city to permanently revoke the lounge\u2019s license.] I\u2019m a Chicago native; I grew up on the South Side in the \u201890s. There\u2019s no way that a finger can be pointed toward an establishment or business owner.<\/p>\n
WCT: What are you two focused on right now?<\/strong>
Brandi: We focus on healing. We focus on getting some type of business going for ourselves. We lost about $100,000, if not more. I haven\u2019t even been able to sit down and do the math. We try to recuperate and adjust, and we try to decide what\u2019s best for us and our family. [The couple have two children.] But we want to continue. We want to create, but we\u2019re not exactly sure what that will look like. We\u2019re going to go back to catering and do pop-ups and, hopefully, we\u2019ll be able to use some amazing spaces. Eli Tea [Bar] reached out to me, and Chef B with [a pizzeria] has reached out to me as well. So we\u2019re going to see what we can do in other spaces.<\/p>\n
WCT: There are so many sad components, obviously\u2014but one of the sadness is that this incident was so [opposite] to your expressed mission of establishing a safe space for all. But speaking of you two forging ahead, you have a GoFundMe page, correct?<\/strong>
Brandi: Yes. It was started by some friends of ours who knew how hard we worked for the things we have, and that we are self-funded who have worked so hard to get where we are. We closed one restaurant right before opening [Artis] because we couldn\u2019t focus on three\u2014especially with us opening something so large in Chicago. Now, we are trying to see what kind of support we can get so we can see what\u2019s next for us.<\/p>\n
Brittany: From a community standpoint, our stance is that we tried to open a space that was open and welcoming, and we did just that. Unfortunately, it was taken advantage of. We send all of our thoughts, prayers and condolences to those who were physically and\/or emotionally impacted, from the people who are no longer here to the people who were injured to the people on our staff and the security staff. It is a very tragic thing to the families who lost individuals. For us, life is so very precious that it\u2019s unfortunate when a life is lost, period. Even in our home, we try to have a healing space; people come into our space to get loved on, to feel good, to be seen and heard.
Brandi: We just send love, light and prayers to those who have been affected. We\u2019re also thankful for all the support that we\u2019ve received from everyone. We just want to move and create in love and joy.
Brittany: We want to spread positivity.
Brandi: I saw a Black woman who was an artist who wanted to use my space, and I was honored that someone wanted to use it. We\u2019re at a loss for words, quite honestly.<\/p>\n