A Poet for Mayor? A Controversial D.C. Poet and Restauranteur Considers Politics
Anas "Andy" Shallal is no stranger to politics in Washington D.C.-- or to the impacts of politics elsewhere. Iraqi-born Shallal's family fled Iraq during a time of political unrest and settled in Northern Virginia where he grew up washing dishes at his parents's pizzeria. Now 58, he's run restaurants, protested wars and has combined both passions into his restaurant called Busboys and Poets: "an all-in-one restaurant-coffee shop-bookstore-bar-gathering spot." The Washington Post considers Shallal's potential:
In a city long divided by race and class, Busboys and Poets became a multicultural hub for discussion, then a brand, then a mini-empire, with four restaurants and two more on the way.
And it blossomed as Shallal paid his now 500-plus staff of waiters, cooks and janitors more than the minimum wage and provided them with health insurance.
Along the way, Shallal became increasingly active politically. He campaigned to limit money in politics, for D.C. statehood and to elect Barack Obama president. He protested big oil, big banks and war. The latter, again and again.
Shallal frequently casts himself as untainted by the District’s string of corruption probes and convictions, but he also briefly took on the role of campaign chairman for former council member Michael A. Brown, who pleaded guilty last year to charges of bribery. Brown staffers said Shallal was a figurehead, and records show that he never contributed to the candidate. Shallal said he accepted the role as a favor to his sister and never heard from Brown after his arrest. “I’d like to ask him: What the . . . hell?” Shallal said.
In 2010, Shallal supported Vincent C. Gray’s bid for mayor and sought increasing influence on social justice issues. When it became clear that he didn’t have much sway on causes such as a higher minimum wage for Wal-Mart workers, he said, he began pondering his own run. He got serious about his candidacy while Gray (D), dogged by a federal investigation into campaign improprieties, dallied last summer over his own reelection plans.
Shallal bridges many of the District’s most treacherous fault lines, said E. Ethelbert Miller, head of the African American Studies Resource Center at Howard University and one of the restaurateur’s strongest supporters.
“We’re talking about transformative politics,” Miller said. “What’s happening is not a restaurant owner, but a movement. I don’t care if it’s D.C, Akron or Kalamazoo, people hear about this guy, they’ll be talking. It’s similar to Obama.” [...]
If continuing to operate the chain “becomes an issue” for voters, he said he would be willing to sell the business, perhaps to his brother and daughter.
Miller, the Howard poet, thinks Shallal is simply the most inspiring person running for D.C. mayor. “All due respect to the other candidates, I find them dull,” Miller said. “Gray kept a good city good. Andy can make a good city great. You dig?”
Learn more at Washington Post.