Deserts

Peace!

I'm Black. And I have lived in Black neighborhoods most of my life... BY CHOICE! But in my new digs, some realities have become abundantly clear. Black neighborhoods are food deserts. Not all... but most.

Food deserts are defined as areas where fresh foods aren't available. Seriously... Really???? What Black people don't want fresh foods? We are cool with fast and processed foods? I don't think so.

I remember an argument with my mother and my uncle. My aunt and uncle came to visit us in NJ, and my uncle straight clowned my mother about her choice to remain in Jersey. The most memorable part of the argument was that our food was nasty. What??? How could our food be nasty? It came from the grocery store. But the grocery store was the same kind of store that every one had. I mean across the bridge where the white people lived, they had better stores, but that was over there. We could go over there if we wanted too. My parents had cars, and sometimes we did go to those stores, but it involved a bit of a road trip.

I went to a HBCU. I lived off campus. And again, the only option was 1 grocery store and a few gas stations. And speaking of gas stations... I had a coworker who lives in the belly of the hood, with no car of her own. I have witnessed this former coworker buy ALL her groceries from either the gas station or Family Dollar. This is the option that is offered to people who choose to live in Black neighborhoods.

I've lived in neighborhoods that started off mixed. I mean if I live there then its mixed right? These neighborhoods had grocery stores (not food marts) banks (not check cashing places), restaurants (not many fast food restaurants), etc. But as the neighborhood became darker... These amenities disappeared. Not all at once, but eventually. And it was blamed on rising crime rates. I call Bullshit! These neighborhoods didn't become more crime ridden. It just got darker. I looked at the statistics that are available for all folks to see and those were lies. Those companies just didn't want to be in dark neighborhoods.

On the flip side. I've lived in neighborhoods that started out very Black, and then white people came on in... They bring in the new businesses... white businesses.... and then the prices of rent and taxes go up forcing the dark people out. there is an area in Atlanta called "Browntown" that's not so brown anymore. They even built these people a new park!!!!

And this isn't a war Black folks can win. Are very presence decreases property values. It's not that we are nasty or violent. But just us being there means that the neighborhood is going downhill. And if we keep coming, they will keep fleeing. The Obamas could move in a lily white neighborhood and the values would drop.

The basics that Black folks get in there own neighborhoods, is always sub par. The schools suck, the roads suck, the cops are meaner, and the food sucks! Food is a primal necessity we all need. How are we supposed to prosper without proper nourishment? When I 1st moved to the city (rather than suburbs) the only person in my office who lived in the city was my white boss. I made a comment about the loss of electricity when the weather got bad and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. He said he can't remember the last time he lost electricity in his white neighborhood. We would lose electricity every week in my Black neighborhood. Not just me, the street lights would start blinking.

So what do we do? The canned answer is we need to do for ourselves. But we have shown and proven that that isn't going to happen. We've drank too much of the Kool-Aid. What we really need to do is have a mental paradigm shift. Yes we need to have our own... But we need to do it right and not half assed. We need to offer our own the very best, with the best customer service. Not that shitty service we get from hood type shops. I went to florist in the hood looking for carnations and you should have seen the anorexic looking specimen she pulled out of the refrigerator. The look of shock on my face had her lie to me and tell me that's all she had. She didn't expect for me to go to the back and look myself. When I saw she was offering me bullshit at full price, I bounced. Also we need to not ask for hook ups like just because someone shares our skin color, they owe us a solid. You don't do that when you go to a white store.

But here's the thing... White folks don't like when we get our shit together. Most race wars were started because poor white folks were mad that Black folks had more than they did. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Until we take the devil off our planet... we will have no justice or peace.

I gotta go now. I have a long drive to get some good groceries....


Peace