This Lemonade Fights Racism

BY TAMARA PALMER

A spate of racist incidents captured on viral videos that spawned names like BBQ Becky, Permit Patty and Burrito Bob have been a low point for the Bay Area this year, and it was all punctuated when someone called the police on the African-American owner of the new Gourmonade kiosk in San Francisco's Mission District just days after the business opened this summer. Viktor Stevenson had already faced the cruelty of someone spraying the words "monkey juice" on his kiosk before it had opened, and now he faced four cop cars one morning when he was just trying to set up for the day.

Gourmonade comes in heavy 16-ounce bottles with little nubbly feet that make for beautiful vases. The opening lineup featured lemonade and a Jasmine Palmer with lemonade and jasmine green tea., with the promise of future flavor specials. Eight dollars sounded like a lot for lemonade when I first heard what the price was going to be,. Now it feels like a small price to pay to at least symbolically try to preserve the spirit of the inclusive, together Bay Area that natives like me still want to see..