I canvassed, sold and collected in black neighborhoods, and I saw inside thousands of homes of thousands of people of all races. I can tell you that the tidiness and neatness of home interiors were not indicative of any race. People in general in those days took more pride in everything they did; storeowners swept the sidewalk in front of their stores, and people swept their sidewalks as well.

The looks of poverty in any neighborhood are the result of attitude, like gang grafitti that can rapidly turn a tidy area into one that gives off the appearance of a slum. It cannot be cured overnight, but like Rosa Parks, someone has to say, “Enough.” Someone has to begin preaching “pride” in everything you do.

Football teams take pride, baseball teams have pride, school bands have pride. Why shouldn’t a Kentucky Fried Chicken place simply sparkle in any neighborhood, poor or not? After all, your customers are like you, friends and neighbors and possibly your relatives. I’d want them to feel like they were dining in the very best K.F.C. place in the whole country! Wouldn’t you?

I completely agree with you.

As I mentioned earlier, why then is this so prevalent in the areas that I mentioned (please keep in mind that my observation is based on my experience in cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia area, Southern California [many examples] , Northern New Jersey]) . Another thing, Wal-Mart and K-Mart are just examples. I have seen this with many grocery stores as well.

The logic is simple:

motivated Management motivates employees

motivated employees creates a clean, well organized store.

Should I mention the staff is integrated as is the area? And the area is solidly middle class?

“You must take care of the root in order to heal the tree.” –Gullah Proverb

I think it’s all intertwined. Your value system is part of your spirit. It’s who you are. Step away from that system and assume someone else’s and you’re lost–in more ways than one. You’ve just substituted water for blood. We integrated and we dropped our internal values in favor of consumerism/materialism (the majority’s values).

This is a piece that I keep bookmarked and it’s (“putting myself back in balance and harmony” while also existing in the mainstream) a mindset that I try to spread to others. It’s wisdom that easily translates from the Native American community to the Black community.

All too often, I think we get trapped in the “Black Bubble” (thinking that we have to reinvent the wheel and/or solve all the issues on our own) and don’t incorporate the “best of” wisdom from other cultures.

It’s not about shunning everything/everybody white. It’s about rediscovery and filling ourselves spiritually.

Taking care of the root…

__________

“What we must begin in a very serious and committed way, is spending as much time and energy as is necessary to learn about ourselves by getting educated in our own Indian Elders school system. I don’t mean we should not get the white man’s education but that should be our choice. As I see it, we have no choice; right up to today, the white man’s education is still being imposed upon us in various ways. This is where awareness becomes very important. We must be aware that the white man’s educational system is designed to serve their needs and their interests, and the option to be part of that system has not been, and never will be, our choice. It won’t be our choice until we are allowed the opportunity to bring ourselves back to balance and harmony through our own traditional teachings – our spiritual teachings, our language, our culture, our ceremonies, our identity, and the teachings of our Elders. This is the kind of balance and harmony toward which I am working. For our people, the white man’s education should be seen as a tool; a tool to help us get along in the white man’s world and nothing more. In my view, it is not a particularly good tool at that. It is racist, sexist, elitist, and imperialist. It is exclusive and uninclusive. It is one-sided and biased, pro-war and anti-peace, pro-competition and anti-cooperation, and it is pro-business and profits and anti-human and anti-Earth Mother. How can this help me?

“As I have already stated, I am trying to put myself back in balance and harmony. I realize it begins with me. In order to do so, I’m studying in our ‘Medicine Elders school system.’ I am studying for my Ph.D. in Indian spirituality, ceremonies, culture, history, values, world view, language and Maliseet (Indian) identity. I have been doing this for the past 25 years in a very serious and committed way. I will continue until my Earth Walk is completed.”

“If they don’t care, why should we?”

That statement raised another question in my mind–

Why is it that seemingly minorities that fit the profile I mention above took more pride in their work back during a time in our country when segregation and racism was part of the norm of everyday life? My grandparents were not rich (grandfather worked in a paper mill, grandmother cleaned houses), but they (and their friends and family) always kept a clean house, clean neighborhood, etc. ?

We as blacks have been in a position of us against them when it comes to employers for a long time. We don’t take pride in our work places because we think that it all belongs to the “MAN” anyway. We never seem to take ownership of our work places like some others do. I realy don’t want to over generalize this but something is wrong when this happens from sea to shinning sea in our community.

They were the stores that the top brass frequented on a regular basis and they were the stores always kept in mint condition (even if that meant working ’til 2-3 am in the morning–box folding aisle after aisle of polo shirts, stacking shelf after shelf jeans, redressing mannequins, etc.).

During my “flagship” tenure (“Won’t they pleeeeease go somewhere else?!”), Corporate paying a visit to one of the downtown DC stores was about as likely an event as the President leaving the White House and strolling through the sections of DC that, in appearance, rival third-world countries. It was something that just NEVER happened.

I think that people who’re already feeling disenfranchised (economically, and from being overlooked) probably feel even more disenfranchised when they’re repeatedly bypassed and rendered invisible. So the attitude becomes: “If they don’t care, why should we?”

Our downtown stores? They resembled the Wal-Marts and K-Marts that you’ve been noticing. Yet the chain itself was “upscale”–akin to Macy’s. The staff and the customers just weren’t invested with the same fervor that those of us from the “key” stores were.

That said, “If they don’t care, why should we?” is a really messed up mindset (whether it’s happening in a store or a community) because what it says, in my mind, is “We’re not valid until someone from outside stamps our hands…we’re not worthy of more.”

Race, historical baggage, economic disenfranchisement, low self-esteem from constantly being rendered “invisible,” self-destruction (due to low self-esteem)? I think that a little of each plays into it. The ball of string’s a long one to unravel. Keith Boykin’s “Our Own Worst Enemy” is a good start.

Ultimately, that hand-stamp validation has to come from within.