Businessman confronts racist incident head-on

Apr. 27—LOCKPORT — It wasn't something he sought, but for Calvin Shellman, Lockport native and entrepreneur, a trip to the hardware store ended in with him providing a stern lesson on racism.

Shellman, who is Black, owns the landscaping and power-washing business Four Brothers, named for his generation of four brothers, and also for his own four sons. He said he likes to help other small businesses and popped into Grimbles Hardware Inc., a 100-year-old shop on West Main Street, to pick up a few items before going to a job site on April 9.

While Shellman compared products in the store, he overheard a conversation between two men whom he believed were store employees.

"They're talking about George Floyd," Shellman said. "And the guy goes, 'You know what? What do you think you're going to get when you resist? You're going to get a knee on your neck every time.' "

Shellman said his ears "perked up" but he understood that the men had a right to their opinion, however dissimilar to his own.

But that was not the end of it.

The two men went on to discuss Black individuals in bars, and how that wasn't good for business. According to Shellman, they talked about seeing 10 African-Americans headed to a bar, and "a couple of 'wiggers' with them."

"Wigger" is a pejorative aimed at a white person who tries to emulate or acquire cultural behavior and tastes attributed to African Americans.

"Just talking about it gets me animated," Shellman said. "I just couldn't believe what I was hearing."

Shellman said he was boiling but kept his cool. He realized that going to another hardware store would make him late getting to work, and decided to make a purchase. He noted the looks on the men's faces when they realized he had overheard their conversation.

"I'm going make the purchase. I'm going to look them dead in the eye and I'm hoping when I get to the counter, I'll know what to say," Shellman said of what was going through his mind. "I'm hoping I can say the words that will capture what they said and spotlight it.

"I get to the counter, they couldn't even look at me."

Shellman drove away after the incident, but a bit later realized he couldn't leave it at that. He went back and confronted the men.

"I go back, I walk in, and I say, 'Hey, I've got to speak to you,' " he said.

Shellman said he told the men that the things they said were racist, and repeated their words to them. Immediately, the men said they weren't racist, that they had a bunch of Black friends. One man said that if they'd known he was there, they never would've said anything like that.

"I said to him, 'That's the problem!'" Shellman said. "That's the problem!"

Store owner Doug Roberts, who has since apologized for the incident, said on April 19 that the two men overheard by Shellman were "temps" and that they were "gone."

It was unclear how Roberts had heard of the incident, because he does not use social media or Facebook — which is where the US&J first had its attention brought in regard to the situation — but he did say that on the day Shellman walked into his store, he was not there and was out with COVID-19. Since then, he has heard of it, but has not been in contact with the individuals working on that day. They will not be working at the store in any capacity, he said.

"We love people, we love everyone here," Roberts said. "We welcome everybody. Everybody has always been welcome."

Roberts said that while he doesn't know Shellman, he sincerely apologizes for the incident and said it will not happen again.

For Shellman, bottling up his emotions and staying quiet in the face of such speech wasn't an option.

"What would you do?" Shellman said. "I have to do what I believe is the right thing, otherwise it doesn't get any better. If we don't confront it and expose it, then we condone it."