Bridgeport Records receives death threat for selling 'Black music, rap music, Spanish music'

The owners of Bridgeport Records, a record shop dedicated to house and dance music, received a death threat Saturday night for selling diverse music.

Owners Jerry Morrison and Vick Lavender were watching the Bears game at their shop with friends and customers when Morrison received a call around 7:30 p.m.

"An older white man called and said he was on his way to kill us," Morrison told the Sun-Times. "This was someone who had been in the store, knew the layout, knew our music. He said he knew we sell Black music, rap music, Spanish music in Bridgeport, and he said we were going to die."

Morrison called the police, and officers were able to ping the man's location in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Morrison decided to quickly clear out the shop, sending customers home.

"We left so fast I left the lights and music on," Morrison said. "We just locked the door and left in the middle of a Bears game."

Police have not made an arrest yet. The Chicago Police Department confirmed Morrison reported the threat but did not share further details about their investigation of the incident.

On Sunday, Morrison was on his way back to the shop to open up.

"They ain't messing with us. We’re going to turn up some Black dance music and turn it up loud," he said.

Although it was alarming, Morrison said the threat doesn't represent the neighborhood or how his shop has been received since opening in July 2024.

"The neighborhood loves us. We have close ties with lots of prominent deejays and producers," Morrison said. "We've become a social hub in the music scene on the South Side."

Lavender — a house deejay, producer and record label owner — and Morrison, a former longtime labor leader, opened Bridgeport Records to build a "third space" for artists, musicians and deejays on the South Side. Many of their customers are young and diverse. Morrison's son, who is trans, also works at the shop.

The caller, who also used several slurs in his threat and said he was going to bring a bomb, called Morrison and Lavender "fake South Siders."

"We’re not a typical white rock 'n' roll record shop," Morrison said. "He was probably irritated that he saw young, Black and Latino kids in and out of our shop."

It's the first time Morrison and Lavender have received this type of threat at their shop.

"These cranks, they’re emboldened," Morrison said. "There are some folks who just don’t like change, and these days, they feel emboldened to say the darkest sh-- on their minds."

He added: "We just want people to know that this is not going to be tolerated in the community."