After Being Called Out For Racism, What Comes Next?

In Minneapolis, Majdi Wadi was a celebrated businessman. Three generations of his Palestinian American family run the Holy Land brand, a multi-million-dollar enterprise with restaurants, a grocery store, a bakery and a hummus factory. It's become well known locally and nationally after the Wadi family was featured on local television programs and on the Food Channel's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives for bringing a "little piece of the Middle East to the Midwest."

But the business Wadi and his family built in Northeast Minneapolis is in jeopardy now. Three days after George Floyd was killed by police, a series of anti-Black, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ social media posts from Wadi's daughter, Lianne Wadi, dating back to 2012 and 2016, came to light. Wadi fired his daughter as director of catering within hours of the posts resurfacing, saying the behavior wouldn't be tolerated at the business.

But in the midst of mass protests against police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism, the reaction from the public was swift. Holy Land was evicted from one location over the posts, where it had a butcher store and deli. It has lost millions of dollars in contracts for its renowned hummus, closed its factory and two other Holy Land locations and laid off at least 46 people, mostly immigrants and people of color, in the face of a boycott campaign.

The incident also opened deep wounds in Minneapolis'