Support Poetica today.

From the owner

A letter from Parviz

Poetica Coffee · Brooklyn · June 2026

Last week on Father's Day, Dan Goldman — my Congressional representative, whose views and actions I abhor — visited my coffee shop, Poetica. He bought coffee, his young daughter used the bathroom, he paid, tipped, and left. The barista who served him then contacted me, not wanting to accept his tip. After confirming his identity on security footage, I posted my feelings about him as my representative and refunded his payment in full.

This happened in the final hours of his contentious re-election campaign. He and the media amplified my post as though it were breaking news. That sparked both an outpouring of support for Poetica and horrific harassment — including death threats (under NYPD investigation) and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation targeting me and my business. I haven't spoken out until now because I've been focused on my family's safety. On Monday, police had to be present when my son was picked up from school; he hasn't attended since. On Father's Day, I told Mr. Goldman he's not welcome at my coffee shop. On Tuesday, our community told him he's not welcome in Congress.

The next non-story has surely already replaced this one, even as the threats against us continue. But a few things are worth addressing:

First, had I known my post would reach a global audience, I would have written it more carefully. The incident occurred at a deeply difficult moment for me as a father. Watching ongoing reports of genocide, I let passion drive my words. I'm not apologizing for calling out a terrible elected official, and death threats in response to a social media post are never acceptable. I simply wish I had been more deliberate, given the climate we're in. I sincerely regret the impact on my family's and staff's safety.

Second, watching Mr. Goldman's interviews, I had to wonder why he repeatedly mentioned that our barista was wearing a hijab — not once, but in multiple interviews during what amounted to a press tour about my coffee shop. What message was he trying to send? Shortly after those interviews, roughly a dozen people showed up to harass that barista, who had been easily identified thanks to him.

Third, as business owners who serve the public, we must understand both our legal obligations to serve everyone and our free speech rights to operate according to our values. We don't want to return to the days of segregation at the Woolworth's lunch counter — but we also aren't obligated to give elected oppressors a free pass through our businesses without accountability. Ownership carries social responsibility, and we shouldn't abandon it because it's easier or safer.

Everyone has always been welcome at Poetica, and — as Mr. Goldman himself experienced — everyone is treated with kindness at the door. That won't change. The law and our values prohibit unequal treatment based on protected characteristics: race, religion, national origin, sex, and others. That is not what happened here, whatever Mr. Goldman implies.

As I stated in my original post, we don't serve racists, fascists, homophobes, or genocide enablers — and we make no apology for that. These are not protected classes under the law, and neither are elected officials whose voting records fund the machinery of oppression. An official who has voted to bankroll the war on Gaza — and the documented human rights abuses against Palestinians it entails — falls squarely into that category. We can't know everyone who walks through our door, and safety always comes first. But just as we'd have every right to refuse service to someone wearing a pro-Nazi shirt, we have every right to refuse service to those whose policy choices make them complicit in atrocities. The First Amendment protects our right to speak and to run this business by our values.

The core issue: What generated such disdain toward Mr. Goldman? I have written to him for years about his voting record on Israel and Gaza. I never received a meaningful response — and neither, it seems, did the international community. Time and again, Mr. Goldman has ignored Israel's human rights abuses against Palestinians, even in the face of formal findings by the International Court of Justice, a United Nations commission of inquiry and the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants. (Sources on the ICC's actions are here, here and here.) My concerns, like those of other constituents and international bodies, went unanswered — unless you count his votes to sanction the ICC as a reply. When is a genocide a genocide to Mr. Goldman? That's impossible to answer when he voted twice to sanction the very body with the legal authority and expertise to investigate genocide.

To be clear: everyone is welcome to buy a cup of coffee — quite a good one — at Poetica. No unequal treatment. We have a point of view, and we don't welcome hostility, racism, genocide, fascism, or homophobia at our shop. And if you're an elected official enabling genocide, we may post about you.

Mr. Goldman lost on Tuesday, but he remains my representative and I remain his constituent. That relationship doesn't end at the ballot box, and neither does my willingness to sit across a table from him. I hope he agrees to meet — not as an act of reconciliation, but because elected officials owe that conversation to the people they represent, especially those who disagree. If and when we meet, the coffee is on me.