Hip-Hop Predicted Liquor Store Trashings Long Ago
Commentary, Adisa Banjoko, New America Media, Dec 02, 2005
<http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=de07d83115234 00686599b218482867d>
from which:
Many African Americans and other ghetto citizens feel they are being targeted for a slow death by liquor store owners. The group most active in opposing the liquor stores is often black Muslims. They do this because in the Qu'ran it states, "And obey Allah and the Messenger Muhammad and beware of even coming near to drinking or gambling and fear Allah." This situation gives rise to an intricate tension that involves race and class as much as it does faith.
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This is an example of what happens when people don't have a comprehensive view of the forces shaping their environment. In this case, Mr. Banjoko and the angry folks he's writing about surely know about some of the critical factors - the liquor store's negative effects on quality of life by selling alcohol to minors is one - but not how these elements fit into a larger picture and what's fueling the whole machine.
Liquor stores that operate in poor neighborhoods do play by very different rules than similar stores (similar in that spirits' are marketed and sold) found in more affluent areas.
For example, it's not uncommon for the 'ghetto' corner liquor store to be open 24 hours a day and to become a hangout for young men with nothing else to do (or with too much to do but none of it helpful to their community). To counter the security threat posed by some of their own customers, store owners often interact with purchasers from behind bullet resistant barriers and while heavily armed. I remember one North Philadelphia liquor store run by three brothers from Yemen, all former military. The counter guy kept a 9 mm ready and close by while, in the back, his two brothers observed the main floor via closed circuit television and sat cradling AK-47s in case of trouble. After one attempted robbery which ended with the would-be thief on the floor with the business end of an AK pushed against the back of his skull word got around it would be best to leave these gentlemen alone.
What sort of business are you running when this level of aggressiveness is necessary?
A real investigation into the hows and whys might begin by asking why it's apparently alright for the 'Stop and Go' store in a poor neighborhood to still be open at 3 am while the 'Wine and Spirit Shoppe' in the suburban boutique strip mall or posh downtown neighborhood must close by 6 or 7 pm at the latest.
Another key question is why immigrants - who, of necessity, often have a very keen understanding of the geographic logics of profit - place and maintain these stores in poor neighborhoods and not more monied locations. In other words, what is the relationship between zoning laws, strong demand for the product (perhaps as a stress reliever) and lax enforcement of age restrictions (if only poor kids are getting hurt) that conspire, if you will, to create this situation? And then there's the question of the alcohol content and quality of the products sold in the 'ghetto' stores - they're often much stronger and much more damaging - over a shorter period of time - than the beers and wines sold at more upscale outlets. Why is that?
I think these are the kinds of questions that must be asked.
Mr. Banjoko's emphasis on racism is not off-track since racism and class bias clearly play prominent roles here. Still, race and class are vital, but not sufficient explanations (and the brief discussion of the role of Islam is something best left to believers who're concerned with that sort of thing).
There's a broader story that's not being told. Or perhaps, it has been told and many of us aren't aware of how to find that analysis.
.d.