Many Latino businesses in Chicago are struggling in the wake of the federal immigration crackdown. One group is using the power of music to give those businesses a boost.
On the corner of 26th Street and Hamlin Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood sits Carnitas Uruapan, a Chicago staple for 50 years.
“Our Little Village location is our third location, we consider it special,” Marcos Carbajal told CBS News Chicago. “It’s our flagship location and it’s bigger than the others and it’s on the ‘Mexican Mag Mile’ here on 26th Street.”
Marcos is the second-generation owner of the business who took it over in 2013 from his father, Inocencio, who founded the restaurant in 1975.
“26th street is just an area that I think is primed for a lot of growth,” the younger Carbajal said.
However, that growth took a hit with the arrival of “Operation Midway Blitz,” which brought a heavy and constant presence of federal agents as part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago. Since the start of the operation in September, 26th Street in Little Village was among the hardest areas in the city, seeing frequent raids of ICE and Border Patrol agents in the neighborhood, including instances where agents deployed tear gas and other uses of force.
“When that operation started, business dropped 35, 40 percent pretty much overnight,” Marcos said.
That experience for Carnitas Uruapan was a common one for others in the area.
The elder Carbajal says people do not come out to businesses because immigration enforcement operations spark fear and keep them at home.
But on an unusually warm Saturday in November, dozens of young people lined up around the block of the restaurant; not for a sit-down meal, but rather to see the dining room be converted into a dance floor as part of an event called Sentido.
The restaurant moved out tables, set up a DJ mix set, invited attendees in and the dancing began with cumbia and other genres blasting out of speakers.
“Sentido is an open-format DJ experience that highlights local Latino businesses,” Sentido founder Oscar Castillo told CBS News Chicago. “We wanted to create an experience that stems more from a cultural responsibility as opposed to just a party.”
Along with DJ sets, Sentido offers attendees limited-run jerseys for those who purchase goods or gift cards from the hosting business.
“Having it in the businesses that a lot of us grew up on, we came here as kids a lot of people have a lot of memories here,” Castillo said. “To be able to reconnect that bridge at these establishments with a modern-day concept, it hits people a little bit more.”
Sentido events have been held in restaurants, cafés, bakeries, museums and even auto body shops.
Castillo started the events in May of this year but said the effort took on new meaning as he witnessed the effect of immigration enforcement operations.
“These businesses are being affected by it and while there’s a battlefront on the protest side, there’s also a battlefront on the business side too,” Castillo said.
“It’s a blessing to see people out here to have a good time and support a local business,” Marcos Carbajal said. “We’re hopeful that things will start to normalize and pick up again.”
Inocencio told CBS News Chicago he’s grateful for the support coming at a difficult time for the community.
That impact is why Castillo hopes to continue his mission moving forward.
“Keep it going, try to help as many businesses as we can, again, just moving intentional,” Castillo said. “We’re not here to make money, we’re here to make memories and we’re here to make an impression to save Latino-owned businesses.”
Sentido’s next event is Sunday, Nov. 30 at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen.
More about Sentido can be found on their Instagram page.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cbsnews.com ’
