Boycott while protesting

I haven’t blogged in a while because my heart was not in it. I didn’t feel the urge to type and talk about what people should know or do not want to know. I live in a world filled with foolishness with that seems to have no end. My co-worker and I were discussing the hot topic of the weekend; Paula Dean. We discussed the hoopla on how she referred to blacks as Niggers and how black people that work in her establishment were underpaid. As for me, I was not a bit surprised. She’s from the south and her great grandfather owned slaves. Her fans still loves her, and that’s the way it is. If she had made a derogatory statement against the Jewish people or homosexuals, would her fans still adore her? However, my co-worker/associate/friend begins to discuss to me what took place in her community over the weekend. A convenience store owned by Arabs in her community, in Nashville Tennessee is not very kind to black people. The owner of this convenience store refers to black people as slaves. Apparently he called a young black man a slave and this black man attacked him. My co-worker informed me this is something that happens often. I asked, “Why are you and everyone in this neighborhood still patronizing this store”? My co-worker informed me that she would no longer patronize this particular store and she asked if everyone else did the same within her neighborhood. By the way; the store is named “Obama Market”. I believe that was the owner’s method of mockery to make the people in that community believes that he likes black people. I suggested that her community boycotts this store. I proceeded to type up a flyer stating, “Do not patronize the Obama Market (listed the address) because they refer to black people as slaves”. I told her that the only way that this boycott will be affective if everyone sticks to their guns and stay away from that store. I reiterated; do not buy from that store under any circumstances. Pass by the store as if it is the plague. It is too late in the day for such nonsense. Black people aren’t some new discovery that arrived from Mars. Black people were stolen from their land, stripped of everything – their language and culture just to become slaves. That is a heartening situation that no one wants to explore, but keeps reminding black people of our degradation. I’m not prejudiced and I’m most certainly not a racist. I don’t have the money or power to be racist. I don’t count how many friends or associates I have, black, white, blue or pink. I don’t believe it’s fair to make racial slurs or refer to a people that was subjected to years of turmoil (and still today) due to the color of their skin. If you’re not black or have a black child, you will never know how discrimination hurts. I don’t want my children to experience this so I keep them away from people as much as possible, but I can only do this for so long. Eventually they will have to see and experience the hardship of this world and it breaks my heart thinking about it. It’s cruel and inhumane to treat people with such hate. It’s amazing how people are so protective of animals, but don’t give a damn about people. The only way for this owner to know what he has done is to attack his wallet. Protesting is not enough. You can march and picket until the cows come home, but when you stop the cash flow, it’s priceless. Just ask Paula and others that took that path. This world was made for all people not for one race. People need to understand that this is a melting pot. If our creator didn’t want us to be different, everyone would look the same. I do believe that would be a bit boring. Think about it