$9.82 came back to Dan Goldman after Poetica Coffee posted on Sunday that it does not serve him and refunded his Brooklyn purchase. The shop’s message turned a routine coffee stop into a public exclusion, with the post naming the congressman and tying the refund to his position on Israel.
Poetica Coffee wrote, “Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference?” It added, “We issued you a refund—we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways),” and ended with, “Don’t ever come to Poetica.”
Dan Goldman in the Williamsburg shop was also shown in a picture attached to the post, which said the business does not serve “genocide enablers.” The same post said, “Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away.”
Mark Treyger on New York law
Mark Treyger said the post “absolutely violates New York’s human rights laws that bar discrimination,” and added that “Assigning collective blame to Jews or perceived supporters of Israel over disagreements with Middle East policies is the very definition of antisemitism.” He also said, “The nature of the social media post leaves serious questions about the business’s practices that warrant a thorough review under City and State human rights law. Turning a cup of coffee into a Jewish identity litmus test is an affront to the law, our values, and every New Yorker who rejects discrimination.”
Rory Lancman also criticized Poetica Coffee’s use of “AIPAC,” saying, “There’s nothing poetic in Poetica’s flippant use of ‘AIPAC’ as a slur against a Jewish public official, which like ‘Zionist’ or its more noxious shorthand, ‘Zio,’ is nothing more than a coded dog-whistle for ‘Jew.’” Those reactions pushed the post beyond a single customer dispute and into a dispute over whether a business can publicly refuse service on political or identity grounds.
Poetica Coffee’s dignity claim
Poetica Coffee’s website says that “whoever walks through the door is treated with unconditional dignity,” and that “The guest is sacred because the act of welcoming is how a community keeps itself intact.” The Sunday post sits in direct conflict with that promise, because it singled out one customer, named him publicly, and linked the refund to a political accusation.
Dan Goldman faces a Democratic primary challenge from Brad Lander on Tuesday, which gives the post a sharper political edge inside New York. Whether any government agency will investigate Poetica Coffee’s refund and exclusion is still the unresolved issue, and the business has already made its position plain in public.
