Criminal?
I grew up in them infamous streets Smokey sang about in Friday, "between Normandie and Western", Florence and Manchester. Not too long ago, our neighborhood got us a Jack and the Box on Florence and Western. Business is still booming. At all hours of the night. But I'm not surprised. This was a somewhat big deal for us "Hood dwellahs." It was closer [within walking distance] than the Burger King/McDonald's/Louisiana Fried Chicken Fried Chicken trifecta on Manchester and Normandie, was offering jobs to whomever stepped up in time with proof of worker's competence and was in search of employment, and brought a little variety [and competition] to a four way intersection with a housing project like Apt. building on one corner, a Burger Palace on the other, and a long standing family Cleaner's establishment on the other one. Now I am not the biggest Jack and the Box fan, but seriously, you don't understand that, again, this was a kind of big deal for that vacant lot on the southwest corner of Florence and Western to be populated in the end with a Jack and the Box. And kind of sad. But when businesses flee [and/or overlook you] and development is few and far between, you often take what you can get, and settle. This Jack and the Box was a sign of our hood "creeping on the come up." But that's the problem right? We can get a Jack in the Box, a McDonald's, a Burger King; these are guaranteed money makers right? Even we "poor" and/or underrepresented folks can afford and get hip to that right? Who needs a shopping center, parking garage, park, and/or swimming pool? People gotta eat right?
Right.
But with limits of course. The tide has now changed. This boy has been taken out the hood, and, if all goes well for those on high, so will fast food establishments. Here's hoping that it goes both ways, as racism, white flight, economic AND social fear take a back seat, and bring us "hood dwellahs" more of what we want, and, most importantly, more of what we need.
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