Make Room For Andy

125 Make Room For Andy

Move over, Mel. There’s someone else needs a seat on the anti Semites’ bench, Andrew Young, former UN Ambassador, Mayor of Atlanta, and most recently Wal-Mart’s ambassador to black America.

Mel was drunk when he went on his anti Jewish tirade. Was Andy? Seems the Jews, the Koreans and the Arabs are ripping off the blacks in major urban areas, and that’s why they need Wal-Marts. Los Angeles, New York and other large cities have made it tough if not impossible to open there. In comes Super-Andy to pave the way.

‘Drew had the good sense to resign right away. Wal-Mart issued a weasel worded statement about how it wants to cuddle up with everyone (white Protestants and Pentecostals preferred, but what-the-hay, we’ll take anyone’s green money.)

Serial ripper offers in Black America, huh?

First the Jews, to be replaced by the Koreans and now the Arabs with stores in the black community. So that means this has been going on for what? Fifty years? Seventy five? One hundred?

If that’s true, Andy, what does that tell about the people who live there?

Young worried out loud about the sale of stale meat and outdated veggies in the inner cities. Later, he backpedaled and said he only meant his neighborhood in Atlanta.

The Wal-Mart here in Moote Pointe PA has its share of wilted vegetables, without benefit of a ghetto. Oh, and by the way, that self-same Wal-Mart? Most if not all of its African American, Asian and Middle Eastern employees have the night shift.

For the record, there are three major supermarkets on or about 125^th Street. The C-Town, Met Foods and Pathmark. And, yeah, sometimes the vegetables are wilted. And you have to watch the dates on meat and dairy. But it’s no worse than what we’ve come to expect from a city market in any neighborhood.

There are two hardware stores within a couple of blocks of the C-Town. Neither is as complete as Home Despot or even Wal-Mart. But they have pretty much what the neighborhood needs and at “regular” prices. One’s owned by a Spanish guy, the other by an Anglo. Both have high counters which probably conceal weapons of rip-off destruction – maybe a rifle or a baseball bat.

And what does THAT tell you about the black community, Mr. Ambassador.

(There’s also a paint store, owned by an African American couple. It’s next to a different kind of protection, a church. But, then, on 125, everything’s next to a church.)

Young was considered a middle of the road civil rights leader. That is, he never advocated the violent overthrow of the government in public, seemed to want to work with everyone, didn’t show up at irrelevant venues like Sharpton or Jesse, kept focused on the real issues, and so on. Maybe we all should re-think that.

And maybe we should try to figure out who else wants to climb on this big band wagon. It ain’t just Mel and Andy.

I'm Wes Richards, my opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.

(c) 2006 WJR