Latest / Austin Signal / Austin warming shelter’s lack of nutritious food draws concern

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Austin warming shelter’s lack of nutritious food draws concern · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  Nighttime temperatures in Austin
• 0:10
  will not be cold enough this week to
• 0:11
  warrant the opening of warming
• 0:13
  shelters But last month's prolonged
• 0:15
  freeze did highlight the lack of
• 0:16
  nutritious food being served at one
• 0:18
  refuge in town We're gonna hear from
• 0:20
  someone who's taking shelter there
• 0:21
  and the people helping to fill
• 0:23
  that need Plus Travis County
• 0:26
  District Attorney Jose Garza is
• 0:28
  joining a group of DA's banding
• 0:29
  together to hold federal officers
• 0:31
  Accountable to the world of law
• 0:33
  what brought them together and the
• 0:35
  complicated process that the project
• 0:36
  is hoping to tackle Those stories
• 0:38
  are coming up on today's show.
• 0:40
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:42
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:44
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:45
  And a new photo exhibit at the
• 0:47
  Central Library celebrates
• 0:49
  black-owned businesses in Austin and
• 0:51
  their role in preserving the city's
• 0:53
  cultural history.
• 0:54
  Come hear more about it.
• 0:55
  That's up next on Austin Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there, this is Austin
• 1:10
  Signal. Thank you for tuning in to
• 1:12
  listener-powered public radio KUT
• 1:14
  News. It is the first Monday
• 1:16
  of February 2026,
• 1:18
  just about 9% finished with
• 1:20
  the new year.
• 1:22
  We're glad that you're starting off
• 1:23
  the new week here with us.
• 1:26
  A quick note before we roll
• 1:28
  on with the show. Today is the
• 1:29
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  That form is available, again,
• 1:56
  votetexis.gov, it has to be
• 1:57
  postmarked or submitted today.
• 2:00
  We have more about that at kut.org.
• 2:03
  Also on the website is a story about
• 2:05
  women who during last month's harsh
• 2:07
  free state at an Austin shelter
• 2:09
  without proper food, leading
• 2:11
  to online backlash and even
• 2:13
  regular folks sending over some
• 2:14
  pizzas for them.
• 2:16
  For more about that story, we are
• 2:17
  joined by QUT's Government
• 2:19
  Accountability Reporter, Andrew
• 2:20
  Weber. Thanks for starting your
• 2:22
  Monday off with us, Andrew.
• 2:23
  Yes, sir. Thank you for having me,
• 2:24
  Jerry. So tell us which
• 2:26
  shelter was this and who's
• 2:28
  responsible for operating the
• 2:29
  shelter.
• 2:30
  This is the Eighth Street
• 2:32
  Shelter, which I think a lot of
• 2:33
  folks would know by its previous
• 2:35
  moniker, the Salvation Army Shelter.
• 2:37
  It operated as that for years.
• 2:38
  And it's actually the longest
• 2:40
  standing shelter in Austin,
• 2:42
  but it serves only women.
• 2:44
  And so it's about 165
• 2:46
  folks regularly.
• 2:47
  There were about 300, more
• 2:49
  than 300 folks who,
• 2:51
  and the shelter is
• 2:53
  run now by Endeavors,
• 2:56
  which is a nonprofit in San Antonio.
• 2:58
  And, uh, this...
• 2:58
  This situation there at the 8th
• 3:01
  Street shelter got some recent
• 3:02
  criticism, obviously because of the
• 3:04
  freeze that we had last month, but
• 3:06
  it seems like this wasn't an
• 3:07
  isolated instance at this location,
• 3:09
  correct?
• 3:09
  Yeah. Yeah. This all started because
• 3:11
  of a Reddit post and folks were
• 3:12
  like, hey, these conditions,
• 3:14
  this food rather doesn't look great.
• 3:16
  It was sort of a paltry
• 3:18
  sandwich. It was two pieces of bread
• 3:20
  and a packet of peanut
• 3:22
  butter and jam.
• 3:24
  And some folks had sort of intimated
• 3:26
  that it might be that
• 3:28
  sort of conditions, that
• 3:30
  food service might be sort the norm
• 3:32
  there, so we decided to check it
• 3:33
  out.
• 3:33
  And you spoke to somebody who has
• 3:35
  taken shelter at 8th Street before.
• 3:37
  Were they there during this recent
• 3:38
  freeze? Who did you speak with?
• 3:39
  Yeah, yeah. I spoke with a woman who
• 3:41
  wanted to be known as Star.
• 3:43
  She didn't want to, you know, give
• 3:44
  her a real name because she didn't
• 3:45
  wanna speak out and maybe get kicked
• 3:46
  out of the shelter.
• 3:48
  She's been there since May.
• 3:49
  So that's a while.
• 3:51
  And she said that the
• 3:53
  sandwiches that they offered
• 3:55
  over the freeze are pretty much what
• 3:56
  they offer every day for lunch.
• 3:58
  And that a lot of the food,
• 4:00
  even if it is a dinner,
• 4:02
  something like chicken, it usually
• 4:03
  comes in pretty cold.
• 4:06
  It really isn't enough to
• 4:08
  fill you up.
• 4:10
  We're hungry, you know, because it's
• 4:12
  not nutritious, really.
• 4:15
  Majority of us are hungry all the
• 4:17
  time.
• 4:19
  Yeah, and so I reached
• 4:21
  out to Endeavors, the non-profit,
• 4:23
  and I didn't really hear anything on
• 4:25
  the record from them.
• 4:26
  They deferred to the city, who
• 4:28
  said that this was an isolated
• 4:29
  incident and that they were working
• 4:31
  on this and that food service was
• 4:33
  adequate outside.
• 4:34
  Reporting on the homeless community
• 4:36
  here in Austin has been something
• 4:37
  that you've been doing for lots of
• 4:38
  years here at KUT.
• 4:40
  And often in these situations,
• 4:42
  community members and community
• 4:43
  organizations step in to fill
• 4:45
  the gaps that are
• 4:47
  there in the community.
• 4:48
  One such person that you talk about
• 4:50
  in your story is Pamela Bryant.
• 4:52
  Who is she? Tell us a little bit
• 4:53
  about her.
• 4:53
  Yeah, yeah, Pamela Bryant runs
• 4:55
  a nonprofit called Walking by
• 4:57
  Faith Prison Ministry.
• 4:59
  She previously was homeless, so
• 5:01
  she's been sort of an activist,
• 5:03
  a service provider for the last
• 5:04
  couple of years. Since 2023, when I
• 5:06
  met her, she was out giving hot
• 5:08
  meals to folks in camps who weren't
• 5:10
  in shelters.
• 5:11
  And when she was
• 5:13
  on the streets, she said that a home
• 5:15
  cooked meal from her grandma meant
• 5:16
  the world to her and sort of gave
• 5:18
  her time to reflect and see
• 5:20
  how she could doing better and you
• 5:22
  know maybe get off the street.
• 5:24
  But when you give them that home
• 5:26
  cooked food, they remember and
• 5:29
  sometimes it touched their stomachs
• 5:31
  and it touched their souls and it
• 5:33
  touched their mind and
• 5:35
  that's when you can have a
• 5:37
  relationship, a decent
• 5:39
  conversation with them where they
• 5:40
  want to change.
• 5:42
  Okay, we have been speaking with
• 5:44
  Andrew Weber.
• 5:45
  He is KUT's Government
• 5:46
  Accountability Reporter.
• 5:47
  We're gonna have a link to his
• 5:48
  reporting in today's show notes, and
• 5:50
  you can always find more over at
• 5:52
  kut.org.
• 5:54
  Thank you, Andrew, for your
• 5:55
  reporting on this story.
• 5:56
  Appreciate it, Jerry.
• 6:03
  The push and pull between states'
• 6:05
  rights and federal overreach is a
• 6:06
  tell as old as the country itself.
• 6:09
  Its most recent iteration is in
• 6:11
  the form of US immigration and
• 6:12
  customs enforcement operations in
• 6:14
  cities around the country, cracking
• 6:16
  down and arresting protesters,
• 6:18
  legal observers and US citizens.
• 6:20
  With the lack of federal government
• 6:21
  oversight over what some are calling
• 6:23
  questionable actions, a set of local
• 6:25
  district attorneys from across the
• 6:26
  country are banding together to hold
• 6:28
  federal officers accountable to the
• 6:30
  rule of law. It's a project called
• 6:31
  the Fight Against Federal Overreach,
• 6:34
  and Travis County's District
• 6:35
  Attorney Jose Garza is part of the
• 6:37
  coalition.
• 6:38
  He's with us today on Austin Signal.
• 6:39
  And, Dea Garza, thanks for speaking
• 6:40
  with us. Dea. Thanks for having me.
• 6:42
  So, I think the average listener
• 6:44
  of KUT has been well aware of
• 6:47
  the things that have been going on
• 6:48
  in this country, particularly in
• 6:49
  Minnesota, but also here in
• 6:51
  Texas as well.
• 6:52
  So, tell us a little bit about this
• 6:54
  project, how it came together, and
• 6:55
  how y'all decided uh...
• 6:57
  That you needed to to band together
• 6:58
  and work together
• 6:59
  Well first, it's been a week
• 7:01
  since what appears
• 7:03
  to me to be murder
• 7:05
  of Alex Preti.
• 7:08
  Like so many people last
• 7:10
  weekend when the shooting happened,
• 7:13
  I was outraged.
• 7:14
  As I said, I heartbroken not just
• 7:16
  for the people in communities
• 7:18
  involved but for all of us because
• 7:20
  of what that shooting
• 7:22
  means about the current state of
• 7:24
  our democracy.
• 7:25
  And so I was so grateful when my
• 7:27
  colleague from Philadelphia, Larry
• 7:29
  Krasner, reached out to me
• 7:31
  during the weekend to
• 7:34
  ask me to help be
• 7:36
  part of the solution.
• 7:39
  Many of us are in
• 7:40
  frequent communication.
• 7:42
  We deal with the same challenges,
• 7:44
  regardless of whether we're on the
• 7:46
  west coast or north or south
• 7:48
  or east coast.
• 7:49
  And it just
• 7:50
  made sense for us to get
• 7:52
  together.
• 7:53
  And to start doing our part to keep
• 7:55
  our community safe.
• 7:57
  And so that was last week and the
• 7:58
  same weekend as the killing of Alex
• 8:00
  Preti, that all kind of started
• 8:02
  bubbled up?
• 8:02
  That's correct. Okay, so what
• 8:05
  are the advantages, and you
• 8:06
  mentioned the DA from Philadelphia,
• 8:08
  I believe. There's a few from
• 8:09
  Virginia as well, Dallas.
• 8:11
  What are the advantage of this group
• 8:13
  of district attorneys working
• 8:14
  together as opposed to individually
• 8:16
  in this moment?
• 8:17
  Well, we should be clear as a
• 8:19
  starting place that, you
• 8:21
  know, contrary to
• 8:23
  the comments from our vice president
• 8:24
  and other commentators in
• 8:27
  the administration,
• 8:29
  federal law enforcement agents
• 8:31
  are not absolutely immune
• 8:33
  from criminal prosecution.
• 8:36
  Each of us has a responsibility to
• 8:38
  uphold the laws in our state.
• 8:40
  And if a law enforcement
• 8:42
  officer breaks the laws of the state
• 8:44
  of Texas...
• 8:45
  We have an absolute obligation to
• 8:47
  hold them accountable.
• 8:49
  But we should also be clear that
• 8:51
  holding accountable federal agents
• 8:53
  is difficult.
• 8:55
  The law and procedure
• 8:57
  around that kind of legal
• 8:59
  process can be complicated.
• 9:02
  We are also well aware that
• 9:04
  in this moment of
• 9:07
  heightened and pitched partisanship,
• 9:10
  that if ever any of
• 9:12
  us were in a circumstance where we
• 9:15
  had to make the difficult decision
• 9:16
  about whether or not a federal law
• 9:18
  enforcement agent should be held
• 9:19
  accountable, that we
• 9:22
  anticipate that we would be up
• 9:24
  against the full weight of the
• 9:25
  federal government and probably
• 9:27
  the full of the
• 9:30
  right-wing political apparatus,
• 9:33
  including its funding and legal
• 9:35
  infrastructure.
• 9:37
  And because of that, there is
• 9:39
  real value in prosecutors
• 9:41
  across the country coming
• 9:43
  together to share information.
• 9:45
  To help teach each other
• 9:47
  about the complicated process
• 9:49
  that is entailed if
• 9:51
  a federal law enforcement officer
• 9:52
  needs to be held accountable,
• 9:54
  and so that we can pool resources.
• 9:58
  And I think the real
• 10:00
  reason behind this,
• 10:02
  I think, is the same reason
• 10:04
  that animates so much
• 10:06
  of the activity that we
• 10:08
  see happening on the streets of
• 10:09
  Minneapolis, Chicago, Los
• 10:11
  Angeles. Here in Austin over
• 10:13
  the weekend. I think the point is
• 10:15
  that in this moment
• 10:18
  where what we are facing
• 10:20
  feels so big and existential,
• 10:23
  us coming together is a reminder
• 10:25
  to our communities and
• 10:27
  to each other that we are not alone
• 10:29
  in this moment, that we're
• 10:31
  more powerful together.
• 10:33
  And I think that's what
• 10:35
  we're trying to get across and what
• 10:36
  we trying to accomplish in this
• 10:38
  moment.
• 10:38
  When are y'all planning to meet
• 10:40
  and and what does that what might
• 10:42
  that end up in telling?
• 10:43
  We're actually getting together
• 10:45
  later this week in person.
• 10:47
  I think there's a couple of things
• 10:48
  that we hope to do, and again, most
• 10:50
  importantly, we hope to learn
• 10:51
  and share information.
• 10:54
  We are really
• 10:56
  fortunate to be joined in this
• 10:57
  coalition by the prosecuting
• 11:00
  attorney in Minneapolis, and
• 11:02
  she is currently
• 11:04
  investigating the
• 11:06
  conduct that all of us witnessed
• 11:08
  last week, and so it
• 11:09
  will be an opportunity for us to
• 11:11
  hear in real time.
• 11:13
  What that experience has been like.
• 11:15
  Just as someone who's
• 11:17
  observing what's happening in
• 11:18
  Minneapolis, I know that the legal
• 11:20
  proceedings have been
• 11:22
  unusual.
• 11:24
  Your listeners may have read that
• 11:26
  the state of Minnesota had to go
• 11:28
  into federal court to get a
• 11:30
  court order ordering DHS
• 11:31
  to preserve evidence.
• 11:33
  So it will be important for all of
• 11:35
  us to be aware of the kind of legal
• 11:36
  steps that they took so that we can
• 11:38
  be prepared to take the steps
• 11:40
  if we need to.
• 11:42
  And then there's also a
• 11:44
  member of our coalition who has
• 11:46
  successfully prosecuted
• 11:48
  a federal law enforcement agent
• 11:50
  in Virginia.
• 11:52
  And so it'll be an opportunity for
• 11:53
  us to learn in more detail what
• 11:55
  that process and experience was
• 11:57
  like.
• 11:58
  And then I think there are some
• 11:59
  concrete steps that each of us need
• 12:01
  to take to
• 12:03
  prepare our communities to
• 12:06
  respond to the kind of violence that
• 12:07
  we're seeing across the country.
• 12:08
  We'll be talking about those
• 12:10
  tangible steps, and I hope that
• 12:12
  I will be.
• 12:13
  Coming back from that meeting with
• 12:14
  some real tangible steps that
• 12:16
  our community can take.
• 12:18
  In the Minneapolis,
• 12:20
  D.A., that is, of course, in a state
• 12:22
  that has a Democratic governor.
• 12:24
  That seems as though maybe there
• 12:25
  might be a little more willingness
• 12:28
  to work hand-in-hand
• 12:30
  in that state.
• 12:31
  But here in Texas, Governor Greg
• 12:33
  Abbott is a Republican.
• 12:34
  He's often made it a point to stop
• 12:36
  instances of a Democratic-led
• 12:37
  city governance or actions.
• 12:39
  I'm thinking here in Austin
• 12:40
  specifically about ordinances
• 12:42
  like plastic bag bans or Uber
• 12:44
  regulations. Uh, on social media,
• 12:46
  uh, g- Governor Abbott said quote
• 12:48
  local prosecutors should be working
• 12:49
  with not against federal law
• 12:51
  enforcement to enforce the law and
• 12:53
  keep our community safe That was the
• 12:55
  end of his quote there.
• 12:56
  What do you have to say to that?
• 12:58
  Well, the governor has a
• 13:00
  responsibility to keep all
• 13:02
  Texans safe, not
• 13:04
  to be subservient to
• 13:06
  this president.
• 13:07
  At the end of the day, the governor
• 13:09
  of the state of Texas works for
• 13:11
  the people of the State of Texas.
• 13:13
  And I would remind him of that,
• 13:15
  just as I am proud to work for the
• 13:17
  People of Travis County.
• 13:19
  What I wake up every
• 13:21
  morning thinking about is
• 13:23
  the work that we have to do to
• 13:25
  keep our community safe.
• 13:27
  I am deeply concerned that what
• 13:29
  the governor wakes up every morning
• 13:30
  thinking about is how he can better
• 13:32
  serve Donald Trump.
• 13:35
  They have become one
• 13:37
  in the same, which is deeply
• 13:38
  disappointing, but not at all
• 13:40
  surprising.
• 13:41
  And I'm going to continue to be
• 13:42
  focused on the
• 13:44
  work of keeping our community safe.
• 13:46
  We are
• 13:48
  really grateful to have fantastic
• 13:51
  working relationships with
• 13:53
  all of our federal Law Enforcement
• 13:54
  Partners from ATF.
• 13:56
  To FBI, to the United States
• 13:57
  Attorney's Office.
• 13:58
  We work together day
• 14:00
  in and day out to keep this
• 14:02
  community safe.
• 14:03
  We're in close contact with those
• 14:05
  agencies and we're gonna
• 14:07
  continue to be.
• 14:09
  What we're talking about here is
• 14:11
  instances where federal
• 14:13
  law enforcement break state law.
• 14:16
  And in those circumstances, I would
• 14:18
  think and hope that everyone in
• 14:20
  the state of Texas would be
• 14:22
  committed to upholding the
• 14:24
  laws of our state.
• 14:25
  That's what we're gonna do.
• 14:27
  If the governor chooses to do
• 14:28
  something else, that's up to him.
• 14:30
  Do you think this is something that
• 14:32
  your voters want you to pursue in
• 14:35
  your role as Travis County District
• 14:36
  Attorney?
• 14:37
  What I have seen over
• 14:38
  the last several weeks is
• 14:41
  the compassion,
• 14:43
  the heart, and the persistence
• 14:46
  of this community.
• 14:48
  At the end of the day,
• 14:50
  the work of the district attorney's
• 14:52
  office is guided by
• 14:55
  the laws passed by the state
• 14:57
  of Texas legislature.
• 14:58
  And what the legislature
• 15:00
  has said is that
• 15:02
  the role of the local prosecutor
• 15:04
  is not to seek convictions, but
• 15:06
  to see that justice is done.
• 15:09
  And the fundamental question
• 15:11
  that animates our democracy and our
• 15:13
  judicial system is who gets
• 15:15
  to decide what justice
• 15:17
  is, who gets decide when
• 15:19
  justice is down. And I think the
• 15:20
  answer is really simple.
• 15:23
  You do.
• 15:24
  Every single person listening to
• 15:26
  this broadcast does.
• 15:28
  The people who live and
• 15:30
  work and vote in Travis County get
• 15:32
  to decide what justice is
• 15:34
  They have said repeatedly and
• 15:36
  clearly what they think justice
• 15:38
  is, and it's my responsibility
• 15:40
  to see their aspirations
• 15:43
  and their visions for justice
• 15:44
  in our community through.
• 15:46
  Alright, we have been speaking with
• 15:47
  Travis County District Attorney Jose
• 15:49
  Garza, D.A.
• 15:50
  Garza. Thank you so much for talking
• 15:51
  with us here on Austin Signal.
• 15:53
  Thank you for having me.
• 15:58
  And in more news, Texas prisons
• 16:00
  without air conditioning get so hot
• 16:02
  in summer, temperatures would
• 16:03
  violate state standards for other
• 16:05
  lockups like county jails.
• 16:06
  That's according to a new analysis
• 16:08
  of four years of heat data.
• 16:10
  The Texas Newsroom and Data Fellows
• 16:11
  at UT Austin's Media Innovation
• 16:13
  Group spent over a year analyzing
• 16:15
  temperatures at dozens of state
• 16:17
  prisons without AC.
• 16:18
  We have more about that story at
• 16:20
  kut.org, and we have more
• 16:22
  Austin Signal coming up
• 16:24
  after this break.
• 16:31
  This is Austin Signal, thank you for
• 16:32
  making us part of your Monday.
• 16:35
  A new photo exhibit at Austin's
• 16:37
  Central Library celebrates
• 16:39
  black-owned businesses and their
• 16:41
  role in preserving the city's
• 16:42
  cultural history.
• 16:44
  And as Stephanie Federico reports
• 16:46
  for KUT's Art Beat,
• 16:47
  the show also includes some
• 16:49
  personal treasures.
• 16:52
  Stephen Hatchet is standing in front
• 16:54
  of an old barber's chair.
• 16:55
  As you can see in the right hand
• 16:58
  side of the armchair there
• 17:00
  is an ashtray.
• 17:02
  The leather is creased and worn.
• 17:04
  Stuffing pokes out from one corner
• 17:06
  of the seat.
• 17:07
  Right below the ashtray is
• 17:09
  a lever so that the barber
• 17:11
  can pump the
• 17:13
  chair up higher or lower.
• 17:14
  There's oil smeared around the base.
• 17:16
  Because back in the day you had to
• 17:18
  fill that oil and get those gears to
• 17:21
  work.
• 17:21
  Thousands of customers got their
• 17:23
  hair cut in this chair over the
• 17:24
  decades.
• 17:26
  It might seem weird to have a
• 17:27
  barber's chair in a photo exhibit,
• 17:29
  but look behind it at the giant
• 17:31
  photo on the wall.
• 17:32
  In it, barber Kevin Asprey can be
• 17:34
  seen through the front window of
• 17:36
  Marshall's barber shop on 12th
• 17:37
  Street in East Austin.
• 17:39
  It's one of about a dozen
• 17:40
  photographs in Hatchet's show called
• 17:42
  Holding Spaces.
• 17:44
  The exhibit combines photos with
• 17:45
  objects from black owned businesses
• 17:47
  in Austin, objects that he
• 17:49
  calls artifacts.
• 17:50
  That overlay, that image,
• 17:52
  works perfectly as he's
• 17:54
  looking out over
• 17:56
  the chair.
• 17:57
  That is the artifact that
• 18:00
  speaks true to why he does it and
• 18:02
  is still there doing it.
• 18:04
  Hatchet is a portrait photographer
• 18:06
  and co-founder of a nonprofit called
• 18:08
  Of Color.
• 18:09
  The group supports the work of
• 18:11
  underrepresented communities in
• 18:12
  Austin.
• 18:14
  In holding spaces, he makes the case
• 18:16
  for supporting black businesses in
• 18:17
  the communal spaces they create.
• 18:20
  He argues that's needed to preserve
• 18:22
  cultural history and fight
• 18:23
  gentrification.
• 18:25
  He's also hoping to tell a deeper
• 18:26
  story of resilience and belonging.
• 18:28
  Even though the idea of
• 18:30
  displacement and
• 18:32
  folks leaving Austin is
• 18:34
  a very real thing, the folks
• 18:36
  that choose to stay, the folk that
• 18:38
  choose do the work, and the folks
• 18:40
  that choose the whole space,
• 18:42
  they are the lifeblood of the
• 18:44
  culture here.
• 18:44
  The exhibit includes portraits and
• 18:46
  stories from Rich's Art Gallery,
• 18:48
  Black Pearl Books, Kickin' It ATX,
• 18:51
  and others.
• 18:52
  Taylor Danielle Davis is an
• 18:54
  independent curator and cultural
• 18:55
  arts producer.
• 18:57
  She helped put the show together.
• 18:58
  And there's been a huge fight to
• 19:00
  protect cultural spaces, especially
• 19:02
  in East Austin and the historic
• 19:04
  Sixth Square.
• 19:05
  So to hold onto those spaces and
• 19:08
  to really highlight
• 19:10
  that they're here and that
• 19:12
  they are important, that they doing
• 19:13
  great work, I think that that's what
• 19:15
  this project means to me.
• 19:16
  Davis says she worked with Hatchet
• 19:17
  to make the exhibit feel more
• 19:19
  immersive and to bring businesses
• 19:21
  into the gallery space.
• 19:23
  They collected objects, like the
• 19:25
  barber's chair, from some of the
• 19:26
  people featured in the photos.
• 19:28
  There's also a collection of books
• 19:30
  recommended by Black Pearl,
• 19:32
  a sneaker from Kicken at ATX.
• 19:34
  All of those little things sort of
• 19:35
  make this more than just a photo
• 19:36
  exhibit, and that was really
• 19:37
  exciting to kind of work with him to
• 19:39
  figure that out.
• 19:40
  Across the room from the barber's
• 19:42
  chair, there's a giant vinyl photo
• 19:43
  of Minnie Little.
• 19:45
  She's staring into a mirror at her
• 19:47
  salon, Chag Noir.
• 19:49
  There's a plastic baggie in a glass
• 19:51
  case next to the photo.
• 19:53
  In the bag is a lock of curly gray
• 19:54
  hair.
• 19:56
  This was one of Little's offerings
• 19:57
  for the exhibit.
• 19:58
  As soon as I picked it up and I held
• 20:00
  it in my hand, I was like, this
• 20:01
  feels very heavy.
• 20:02
  I was, like, who's is this?
• 20:04
  She said, that's my grandmother's
• 20:05
  hair, very casual about it.
• 20:07
  A lot of these participants, I
• 20:09
  invited them to submit
• 20:11
  artifacts that meant something to
• 20:13
  them.
• 20:14
  To the right of the shag noir
• 20:15
  artifacts is another display with
• 20:17
  handmade wooden spoons.
• 20:19
  They belong to Chi Indika.
• 20:21
  She owns Love Fats Ice Cream.
• 20:23
  She says she grew up using similar
• 20:24
  spoons on trips to Kenya when she
• 20:26
  was young.
• 20:26
  It's just something that like
• 20:28
  reminds me of my family and
• 20:30
  like the food that I used to
• 20:32
  eat when I would go to Kenya and
• 20:33
  still eat.
• 20:34
  A photo in the exhibit shows Indika
• 20:36
  smiling from the service window of
• 20:37
  her former ice cream shop on North
• 20:39
  Lamar.
• 20:40
  She says her business has allowed
• 20:41
  her to build a new community.
• 20:43
  It's just a beautiful place to
• 20:45
  experience some joy and
• 20:47
  to be able to be
• 20:50
  around like-minded people and new
• 20:51
  people that you wouldn't necessarily
• 20:53
  be around.
• 20:54
  Indica had to close her shop last
• 20:56
  year after her rent went up almost
• 20:57
  $1,000.
• 20:59
  Her new brick and mortar space in
• 21:00
  East Austin isn't open yet.
• 21:04
  Back in the gallery, Hatch says he
• 21:06
  came up with the idea for the
• 21:07
  exhibit after hearing stories about
• 21:09
  the pressure to keep black-owned
• 21:10
  businesses open.
• 21:12
  What came out of hearing their
• 21:13
  stories became sort
• 21:16
  of a spiritual awakening around the
• 21:18
  idea of
• 21:20
  us wanting to hold a
• 21:22
  space for our humanity and
• 21:24
  safety and in
• 21:26
  camaraderie with what
• 21:27
  it means to be black in Austin.
• 21:29
  Hatchet moved here from Chicago nine
• 21:31
  years ago.
• 21:32
  He says black newcomers can feel
• 21:34
  disconnected in a city until they
• 21:36
  find community.
• 21:37
  These Austin business owners want to
• 21:39
  stay to provide that community.
• 21:41
  They need to be here.
• 21:43
  I think that's the most important
• 21:44
  piece to me is at the
• 21:46
  end of this exhibit, if folks
• 21:48
  can get an eye over
• 21:51
  the shoulder of one of these
• 21:52
  entrepreneurs and learn that
• 21:55
  through the blood, sweat, tears,
• 21:57
  the ability to say,
• 22:00
  I deserve
• 22:02
  to be here and here's why.
• 22:04
  For KUT's Art Beat, I'm Stephanie
• 22:06
  Federico in Austin.
• 22:10
  The Holding Spaces exhibit is
• 22:12
  up through March 29th at the Central
• 22:14
  Library in downtown Austin.
• 22:16
  There is an artist reception
• 22:18
  happening this Thursday at
• 22:20
  the gallery on the second floor of
• 22:21
  the library.
• 22:22
  That is from 5.30 until
• 22:25
  8 p.m. We're gonna have a link to
• 22:26
  this story and the others we covered
• 22:28
  today in our podcast show
• 22:30
  notes. And that is it for
• 22:32
  today's episode of Austin Signal.
• 22:34
  Thank you for including us in
• 22:36
  your Monday.
• 22:37
  We're here every weekday at one
• 22:38
  o'clock, and you can find more from
• 22:40
  us at kut.org
• 22:42
  slash signal.
• 22:43
  Kristen Cabrera is our managing
• 22:44
  producer.
• 22:45
  Rayna Sevilla is our technical
• 22:47
  director.
• 22:48
  Thank you to Andrew Weber, Stephanie
• 22:50
  Federico, and Rene Chavez for
• 22:52
  their help with today's show.
• 22:53
  I'm Jerry Quijano.
• 22:55
  We will talk to you tomorrow.
• 22:56
  Have a great day.