The Unwritten Rules For Shopping in the Black Community

Every Black shopping district has these foreign owned jeans and sneaker stores, these foreign-owned supermarkets, and these jewelry and 99 cent store places. And the protocol for shopping in these stores usually consists of the following rules:

All Bags must be checked at the door. Because the owners of these businesses believe every Black person steals.

If your packages are lost the store is only responsible for $15. After insisting Blacks check their bags at the door, the employee who is supposed to be watching your packages will leave their station to do other work in the store. And if your packages that may contain a laptop or an expensive smartphone get lost or stolen under their care…Oh well, They’re only responsible for $15.

You will be followed around by salespeople. Again, because Black people steal. In these kinds of establishments salespeople here don’t sell merchandise. Hell, most of them don’t even know much about the merchandise. They’re glorified security out to make sure your Black ass doesn’t steal anything.

All the expensive stuff will be locked up.  Any expensive or popular merchandise will be locked up in a glass case and you’ll have to ask a clerk to get it for you. Or it’ll be placed in a section of the store with iron bars (Saw this with Tommy Hilfiger Shirts back in the 1996 at a Dr. Jays on Third Avenue in the Bronx) Again, because Negroes steal, the expensive stuff has to be locked up in a super secure area to keep them from shoplifting. 

If you order fast food, there will be bulletproof Glass and a revolving door.  Some grocery stores and Fast food restaurants like KFC and White Castle are so afraid of your Black ass sticking them up they use bulletproof glass to partition the counter from the dining area. And in these establishments you place your order, pay, and then after they fill your order, they give you your merchandise in a revolving door of bulletproof glass. Again, that’s to keep your Black ass from sticking them up. Because the Negro is a savage.

Your money will be scrutinized for its authenticity. If you spend anything higher than a $5 bill in one of these establishments, cashiers will hold it high in the air to make sure it’s an authentic $5, 10 or $20 bill. Because most of these jivetime Negroes think they’re so smart they can pass funny money of as real.

If you present a $50 or $100 bill you will be asked where you got it from, especially if you are a Black man. In the eyes of these store owners Negroes can’t make over $100 unless they’re selling drugs or participating in some sort of illegal activity.

If you want to use a credit card, you must present photo ID. Because Negroes don’t have good credit. And if they own a credit card it must be stolen from some good White person.

If you want a refund, you can’t get one. In these kinds of stores there is no such thing as a cash refund even with a receipt and photo ID. Once you buy something here, you own it.

If you want an exchange you can’t get one. If something doesn’t fit or someone doesn’t like it, you can’t exchange the item. Again, all sales are final for Negroes even though there are signs throughout the store saying there’s a return policy with a receipt. 

If a product is defective, you can’t get a refund. In these establishments there is no such thing as a refund. If you bring back a defective item even with a receipt, some of these store owners will even question if you bought the item there, even though they sold it to you.

In a White or middle-class neighborhood, businesses with these kinds of racist and illegal business practices would be met with resistance. Peoplewould just not shop there.

Unfortunately In the face of all this mistreatment the Negro does not take any action to stand against these foreign owned businesses and the everyday racial profiling that goes on there. He just sits there and accepts this abuse.

Why? Because he has to have the latest Air Jordans before all the dudes on the block get them. Because social currency with his friends is more valuable to him than his own dignity.

Shopping in an inner-city shopping district is a frustrating hassle due to foreign owned stores such as these. When I was a kid I’ve gone on many a shopping trip where we had to visit these kinds of stores FIRST to avoid the bag checks. And me and my family members had to watch how we walked and what we touched to let everyone know we weren’t stealing anything.

The way these businesses treat Black people is reprehensible and the way they exploit young brothers and sisters to get their cash is egregious. These businesses want Black dollars but don’t want to value Black people enough to treat them with respect when they shop there.

But because no one teaches the Negro about their personal intangibles such as dignity and self-respect when they are young, they camp outside at these same stores to buy $200 sneakers from a business owner that wouldn’t give them a job making $10 an hour to work there.

Because, again, Negroes steal. So that business owner won’t have him work where he shops. And even sadder, the Negro never comes to understand that he or she is more valuable than all the merchandise in that foreigners’ store. 

When I was a kid I grew up believing many of these unethical and illegal practices were just how things were supposed to be. That this was shopping in the ghetto. I had to settle for less.

But as I got older I learned that’s not what shopping is supposed to be about. That I deserved better. It was my money, and the merchant had to EARN IT. I did not have to accept substandard as the standard for being a Black customer.

In business the customer is ALWAYS RIGHT. And the customer has the RIGHT to NOT SPEND THEIR DOLLARS from businesses that do not RESPECT THEM.

50 years after the Civil Rights movement, most Black folks don’t understand IT’S YOUR MONEY. MAKE WHOEVER WANTS YOUR MONEY WORK FOR IT.

Black folks don’t understand the power of their dollars. Which is why foreign-owned businesses like this thrive in our communities for decades. And while these institutions disrespect us, insult us, and racially profile us when we shop at these establishments, Black folks get the poorest quality products and even poorer customer service from surly and rude employees who act like they can’t be bothered with taking the money that pays their salaries. It’s time Black people started showing these business owners the value of the Black dollar.

Brothers and sisters you don’t need Jesse, Al Sharpton or any Civil Rights group to protest the business policies of these stores. Just don’t shop there.

Better yet, shop at Black-owned businesses in your community. Black Group Economics is how we put racist businesses like this out of business in the Black community.

I haven’t shopped at a foreign-owned jeans and sneaker store in places like Fordham Road or Third Avenue here in the Bronx since 1997. And I make it my BUSINESS to AVOID any store with a bag check policy, or a dysfunctional return policy that makes me jump through hoops just to return something. I understand it’s my money, and the business owners have to WORK to EARN it. If enough brothers and sisters understood this valuable life principle, business in the Black community would get it together and start doing business on the Black customers’ terms.