A group of about 10 Milwaukee Black Panthers intimidated an Asian nail salon’s employees during an aggressive confrontation captured on video; when we went to the nail salon, we discovered that the Milwaukee small business has closed for good. You can watch two videos of the intimidation tactics later in this article.
They accused an employee of disrespecting Black Lives Matter and a black woman.
After seeing the video circulating on Twitter among conservative sites (it appears to have been ignored by the other media) in April, Wisconsin Right Now traced its origins to the Facebook page of “Darryl King Rick Farmer II,” whose Facebook page proclaims him as, “LEADER AND BLACK GENERAL OF THE ORIGINAL BLACK PANTHERS NATIONWIDE AND OTHER COUNTRIES!” You can also see the phrase Original Black Panthers Milwaukee on the jackets worn by the men in the video.
We’re surprised the video isn’t getting more media attention considering its focus on condemning anti-Asian hatred lately.
On April 4, we went to the nail salon’s location at 1422 E. Brady St. We found that the nail salon is now out of business. In fact, its sign is gone and the building is completely empty. Its phone number is now disconnected. However, Wisconsin Right Now has learned the nail salon was dealing with a lot of other issues, an eviction proceeding and expired state license.
On his page, “King Rick” claimed that the nail salon – Jade’s Nails and Spa on Brady Street – shut down for good not long after he and his Panthers walked in, said no other customers could come in, and harangued the employees in a disturbing scene. The incident occurred in mid January but is just going viral now. A second video is available on King Rick’s page, and it shows Milwaukee police officers responding to the scene.
In one of the videos, a Milwaukee police officer responds, thanks the Milwaukee Black Panthers, calls Farmer “General,” and tells the Black Panthers she appreciated them coming down (see the full MPD response at the end of this article).
As far back as 2017, Fox 6 was reporting of the group: “There are allegations of extortion and harassment against the original Black Panthers of Milwaukee.” King Rick denied those accusations, which centered around Stark Foods, located at 13th and Atkinson.
Farmer took credit for the nail salon business closing down and expressed jubilation. “The Original Black Panthers and the biggest Panther in the jungle, King Rick!! We are proud to announce the permanent closing of Jade’s Nails on Brady St.!! Due to the efforts of the OBP and community they no longer exist!! They disrespected our queens and paid the ultimate price!! Out of business!! Black Panther power once again in full effect!” he wrote on Facebook.
Here’s the first video, as it appears on King Rick’s page.
Here’s the second video. It shows police arriving.
In the videos, King Rick tells the Asian employee, “We gonna shut you down, stop talking sh-t. You disrespected a black woman by calling her a b-tch.”
A male and female employee are seen in the video. They could not be reached for comment about any of the allegations or why the salon closed because the business is now closed down. The videos date to early January but just started going viral; we found the salon closed on April 4. However, in the video, the male tries to deny the allegations, telling the Black Panthers, “I did not,” and generally trying to avoid directly confronting them back.
We looked up the registered agents of the nail salon, but we aren’t naming them for their own protection. We also looked up their license to run a manicure establishment with the state and discovered its license expired in 2019. There are no orders against the salon on the state website. The woman listed as the registered agent for the nail salon’s LLC has a valid manicurist’s license with the state through 2023.
We also wrote to an email on the nail salon’s website to ask for comment, including why the nail salon closed and exactly when. If we get a response, we will update this story.
Despite King Rick’s claim, though, that they no longer existed due to his group’s efforts, we found that the nail salon’s owners did have a pending eviction hearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. They left before they could be evicted, though. “Plaintiff informs the court they have spoken with the defendant this morning and were informed defendant has vacated the property. Defendant states that is correct, they have vacated the property,” a notation in court records says on January 14. That was the date an eviction hearing was scheduled; the landlord claimed the nail salon owed $65,000 in back rent. In February, the court granted a judgment against five defendants. A Vietnamese interpreter was used.
King Rick wrote on Facebook on January 17, 2021, that the nail salon “is closed permanently.” That came 15 days after he first shared the video on January 2, writing,
“TODAY THE ORIGINAL BLACK PANTHERS AND THE BIGGEST PANTHER IN THE JUNGLE, KING RICK! CONVERGED ON JADES NAILS AND SPA SALON 1422 E. BRADY IN MILWAUKEE!! THE OWNER DISRESPECTED BLACK QUEENS IN OUR COMMUNITY CALLING THEM BITCHES! HE ALSO SAID HE DOES NOT NEED THEM TO SPEND MONEY THERE!! MPD WAS CALLED! SAW IT WAS OBP AND WANTED NO PARTS!! BLACK WOMEN DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH THIS BUSINESS!! THEY DONT RESPECT YOU OR WANT YOUR $$$!! NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!!”
“Oh, I’m coming back. I can come back any time I want to, yeah,” King Rick says in the video, his voice in yelling tone. “And whatcha gonna do when I do, you’re going to call the police right? They’re going to shut you down. I’m going to shut you down. We’re going to shut that ass down.”
The confrontation included about 10 Milwaukee Black Panthers, including one who was carrying what appeared to be a wooden stick (or cane). There were customers in the nail salon at the time.
King Rick said in the video, “I will tear this joint up. Black women don’t come back here no more.”
The male employee told the Milwaukee Black Panthers, “I don’t disrespect the black community, I don’t, I swear to God. I am yellow-skinned. I’m not white.”
King Rick says, “You have no idea who you’re f-cking with.” He tells a customer, “Don’t spend no money here, dear.” He tells the employee to shut up. “Don’t spend any more money with them,” a Black Panther says.
In one of the videos, King Rick points his finger and says, “I’ll tell you why I am here – last week was a black woman came in here, you cussed her out, called her a b-tch, started yelling black lives matter. I have you on video sir, that’s why I am here today. You don’t disrespect black women in our community. That’s going to stop. Do I make myself clear.”
The truth behind those claims is not clear.
King Rick then says, “Black women shouldn’t be in this shop. Don’t let nobody in here when I’m talking.”
He adds, “You ever disrespect a black woman again, we’re going to shut you down.”
The Milwaukee Black Panthers raise their fists and chant, “No justice, no peace.” At one point, they also directly address customers inside the salon. “You all shouldn’t be up in here,” he says. The customers said they were from Chicago and didn’t know.
“I’m glad that you know, now don’t come back here anymore,” said King Rick.
On Facebook, King Rick wrote, “*PLEASE SHARE* JADE’S NAILS & SPA LOCATED AT 1422 E. BRADY ST. IN MILWAUKEE!! DISRESPECTED OUR QUEENS! THE ORIGINAL BLACK PANTHERS AND THE BIGGEST PANTHER IN THE JUNGLE, KING RICK FOUND OUT!! JADE’S IS CLOSED PERMANENTLY!! THE COMPLETE VILLAGE IS OUR FAMILY!!! ANY QUESTIONS?”
In one video, two police officers arrived, a black female and a white male.
The female officer asks, “What happened? What did I miss?”
Referring to King Rick, she says, “General, I just want to know what’s going on.”
He tells her that the Asian man “disrespected black women in our community. It was on live. We came in.” The Asian man tries to tell the officer that he believed the Panthers were messing up his stuff. King Rick tells the male employee, “Nobody was going to mess up your store.”
“I know, I know,” said the female police officer. The male employee laughed in an unbelieving fashion, but King Rick said, “He’s laughing,” to which the officer responded, “I agree.”
The female cop concludes by saying, “All right, I’m sure that he got your message, sir, thank you so much. We really appreciate you coming down. Thank you though.”
The video ends with the Milwaukee Black Panthers appearing to leave the store.
Another Milwaukee Black Panthers Confrontation
King Rick’s Facebook page shows the group also recently aggressively confronted employees in another business – this a convenience store – over assault allegations. A 2019 article in the Milwaukee Courier described how the Panthers have a history of confronting businesses where they think blacks were mistreated, run a hotline, have regular meetings, and even do community patrols.
Farmer was once involved in a failed effort to recall Mayor Tom Barrett.
We reached out to MPD to determine whether any further action was taken against the Milwaukee Black Panthers and whether police were called in the earlier incident in which it’s alleged a black woman was called the B word. We received this response,
“Milwaukee Police responded to a trouble with subject complaint that occurred on January 2, 2021, at approximately 2:47 p.m. on the 1400 block of E. Brady Street. Members of the New Black Panther Party were protesting against a nail salon employee that allegedly disrespected a black woman. Officers advised all parties involved and the members of the Black Panther Party left the area.” Police could not find any prior incidents or any further incidents involving members of the Black Panther Party at this location.
“The Milwaukee Police Department’s main priority is public safety. We respect the rights of all individuals who wish to peacefully express their First Amendment rights. The Milwaukee Police Department is committed to working with our community and system partners to continue to build sustainable neighborhoods free of crime that are built on positive relationships,” the police spokesman Sgt. Efrain Cornejo said in a statement.
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