It’s rare a day goes by that I don’t witness one plying his trade.
They’re generally faceless men (and a growing number of women), their features chiseled by the state’s harsh weather and long hours of grimy work.
Most are adorned in time-worn tennis shoes, tattered coats, and dirty jeans. In most cases, they can be found pushing (borrowed) grocery carts, saddled with garbage bags loaded with aluminum and other metals worth a few coins at the neighborhood salvage company.
These enterprising entrepreneurs scour the streets in search of salvageable materials, and it’s not unusual to find one searching through recycle bins, business dumpsters, and building rubble.
Though many look upon these brothers with pity or scorn, through my prisms they are worthy of tacit respect, if not envy.
While they are apparently down on their luck, I’ve seen few with their heads hung low. Nor can we—or should we—ignore their decision to survive ‘legally’ instead of the alternative.
Most of these ‘cartsmen’ (or persons) have decided to work as junk collectors rather than beg, borrow, or steal.
They would rather emulate Fred Sanford, (look up Red Foxx show titled, ‘Sanford and Son’ on BET) then give in to the easy and ‘alluring’ lifestyle of thievery and crime.
Or beg for change from drivers while situated on street corner islands.
(By the way, citing safety concerns, the city outlawed panhandling on islands a few years ago, although neither the boys and girls in blue nor the scrounger in soured silk seem concerned.)
In any event, beneath the veil of uncut whiskers (and detracted eyelashes and wigs) of the ‘salvagers’ are features honed from the blade of pride, self-esteem, and self-determination.
Moreover, they possess something far too many of today’s generation lack: a strong work ethic.
In fact, ask the managers of central city fast food restaurants, the handful of grocery stores still located in the central city, or owners of businesses receiving government-assigned employees.
Most would prefer the ‘salvagers’ than the 19-year-olds whose clothes reek of weed and who don’t realize ‘fitnah’ isn’t a word and ‘I seant the basketball game yesterday’ isn’t proper grammar.
I know of tribal elders who bypass a central city Burger King or KFC because of the poor customer service offered by young cashiers who obviously lack home training or work ethics.
Indeed, late last year, an African American entrepreneur revealed his business was in jeopardy because he couldn’t find reliable workers.
And I’m not talking about a high-tech position or a vocation requiring academic credentials. I’m talking about an entry-level slot with the possibility of upward advancement.
The brother said he didn’t get the opportunity to fire one insolent employee because she went MIA two weeks into her tenure, during which she was late twice.
The owner was taken aback a few days before her disappearance when the 19-year-old (who was also a mother of two) implied he was a ‘sellout’ because he didn’t accommodate her schedule and personal needs.
The brother said he didn’t fare much better with two ‘temporary’ employees he solicited through a ‘welfare-to-work agency.’
I’ve noted several times that Milwaukee has the country’s highest Black male unemployment rate.
Generally, my notation was to underscore the city’s ‘earned’ status as one of the worst places in the country for Black people. (A report released last week revealed we had moved from last among the nation’s largest cities to ‘technically’ last—133 two years ago, to 130 last year).
But that relatively minuscule gain didn’t move the needle because we continue to lead the nation in seven other negative social indicators, each contributing to our abysmal unemployment paradigm.
Yet, to be honest, some negativities cannot be blamed solely on systemic racism or ineffective leadership.
For example, our nation-leading Black poverty rate is partly a byproduct of single-parent incomes.
Much to the disappointment of our ancestors who flocked to churches following the end of the civil war to formalize their marital status, today over 70% of Black Milwaukee households pursuing stolen vehicles and investigating car thefts.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau found that Milwaukee had the eighth-highest motor vehicle theft rate of any U.S. city in 2021, and that Milwaukee experienced the highest increase in vehicle thefts from 2020 to 2021 in the nation.
Alderwoman Coggs and Alderman Rainey said: “Every aldermanic district and every neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee has been touched by the rash of vehicle thefts, and we have seen the terror and hardship that having a vehicle stolen can bring. We are hopeful that this action can lead to some compensation and justice for our city, and we thank our colleagues for their strong support of this legislation.”
are headed by a never-married sister.
Worse than that curious paradigm, many of those sisters are card-carrying members of the ‘Cultural of Poverty’ (COP…kind of ironic, isn’t it).
Various research sadly reveals COP membership is generational or the byproduct of a new societal norm that some call a ‘quasi-slavery’ index.
Further impeding a significant percentage of the children born into this culture is that their ‘baby daddy’ (in too many cases) is an uncaring or uncultured sperm donor who contributes neither parenting nor ‘paper’ (green…’dead presidents’…MONEY).
Speaking of paper, many of the ‘sperm donors’—true ‘Neckbones’—are ‘on paper,’ meaning they spent time ‘institutionalized’ (jail or prison) and, as a result, have limited employment options.
But that’s another column, one in which I would address the school-to-prison pipeline and why so many felons turn to drugs (selling and consuming).
While it is often ignored, many do so (consume or sell drugs) because they feel severely handicapped by the ‘felony paper,’ which gives employers an excuse not to hire them.
I’m not excusing! But most Black felons—regardless of their crime—get life sentences with limited options after release.
Most are further hampered by their COP culture and upbringing—or lack thereof.
The common assumption among sociologists and victims is they would have traveled a different path had they been brought up in ‘nuclear’ families. Or one headed by a hard-working, culturally grounded sister who inspired and podded her children to reach their full potential.
I firmly believe children—particularly males—fare better if raised in two-parent households, with a ‘father’ who interprets his responsibility as taking his children ‘further’ than his generation.
Fortunately, aside from the ridiculous suggestion that a woman can be both mother and father, many sisters excel at single-parenting.
Many of our leaders and role models are the products of single-parent households.
Obviously, systemic racism and its evil twin (liberal paternalism) undermine and enslave. Still, you must wonder why some achieve despite the challenges presented by COP while others are victims.
Under the COP path, the ‘Neckbones-in-training’ can’t figure out how those ‘blunts’ they smoke limit their employment options as much as their ability (or should that be ‘inability’) to read, add and subtract. Likewise, many young sisters see themselves through the lens of parenthood versus being professionals.
Far too many brothers sadly determine their manhood by the number of babies they make versus the children they raise or the families they are ‘allowed’ to head.
It doesn’t help in either case that most are also handicapped by their ‘edu-ma-ca-tions’ in one of the worst ‘government school’ systems in the country.
Under that system, less than 10% of our children can read within two years of grade level. The math proficiency rate is equally embarrassing, and the school graduation rate for Black males hovers around 60%.
Sex education isn’t taught, nor do teachers fill the void for creating a solid work ethic and discipline (as illustrated by the lack of homework or reading assignments).
The other polka-dot elephant in the room is that few of us care enough to bring about accountability.
Nor are we smart enough to see how special interests—missionaries, so-called progressive organizations, and the Democratic Party—are pimping us. Those plantation overseers are getting rich off of our dysfunction.
Poverty can be overcome, as well as environmental shortcomings.
But the key to escaping the Culture of Poverty is discipline, self-determination, and a strong work ethic. And it doesn’t hurt if you can control sexual urges, stand on a cultural platform and share a belief that someone, a superior entity, has empowered and watches over us.
I try (unsuccessfully in many cases) to avoid generalizing. Still, I can confidently say children brought up witnessing hard-working parent(s) in homes where God is appreciated, and read a book for empowerment, fare better than those where the parent is more interested in tattoos, blond wigs, and $200 accessories.
In fact, children brought up where God—Nyame, Jehovah, Allah, or Buddha—is honored are likelier to possess high self-esteem, cultural strength, self-respect, and a strong work ethic.
What separates many of this generation’s young brothers and sisters from the ‘salvagers’ driving grocery carts instead of Cadillacs is the latter’s work ethic and spirituality.
Many view their circumstances as temporary, as tests, and subscribe to a cultural norm where they would rather work than steal or beg.
It may not seem so, but those salvagers have pride and operate under a set of principles that are worthy of emulation.
Some may call them hobos, bums, or garbagemen. But in many respects are better role models than the punks and punkettes whose thick gold chains and diamond earrings were purchased with ‘salaries’ obtained from selling drugs or stealing/robbing.
Because the Milwaukee Community Journal’sownership decided four decades ago to accentuatethe positives versus sensationalizing the negatives,we feature many stories on Black youth excelling orbreaking new ground. Without exception, they havestrong work ethics, which are exhibited in theirschool performance and lifestyles the newspaperchampions.
I thought of that decision and the roots of thosefuture leaders—many, if not most, brought up in single-parent households—as I read of an individualwho epitomized the opposite paradigm.
Seventeen-year-old Lawrence Griffin was chargedMonday with murdering 12-year-old Ronnel Smithin February.
The 12-year-old was murdered over a pair of designer glasses…GLASSES!
I can proudly say that my children have attendedcollege or earned specialty certificates. The difference between them and Griffin was my tribewatched me (when I was a single parent), workingtwo jobs while attending school to improve myselfand their lives.
My children had an extensive library to selectfrom. They watched me and their mother readingdaily–including the Bible–and introducing them toGod, our history, and our Africentric culture.
They were told from infancy of the benefits ofhard work, serving Nyame, family, and community—the village.
I can’t guarantee where they will end up, producing aluminum or searching for it in garbage bins.
But I can guarantee they will never kill someonefor a pair of glasses. Instead, they would work for apair if they don’t make or sell them.
Hotep.
SIGNIFYIN’
(continued from page 4)
Council okayed measure could lead to lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai
(continued from page 4)
NEW YORK — Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including “The Wire,” “Fringe” and the “John Wick” franchise, died recently at age 60.
Reddick died “suddenly” last week Friday, his publicist Mia Hansen said in a statement, attributing his death to natural causes. His death was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.com.
Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall taciturn and elegant men of distinction.
He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series “The Wire,” where his character was agonizingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.
“I’m an artist at heart. I feel that I’m very good at what I do. When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a Black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.
Reddick also starred on the Fox series “Fringe” as a special agent Phillip Broyles, the smartly dressed Matthew Abaddon on “Lost” and played the multi-skilled Continental Hotel concierge Charon in the “John Wick” movies, including the fourth in the series opening this month
He earned a SAG Award nomination in 2021 as part of the ensemble for Regina King’s film “One Night in Miami.” Reddick played recurring roles on “Intelligence” and “American Horror Story” and was on the show “Bosch” for its seven-year run.
Lance Reddick, ‘The Wire’ and ‘John Wick’ star, dies at 60
by Mark Kennedy
Actor Lance Reddick participates in the “Bosch” panel at the The Amazon 2016 Winter TCA on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
“When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a Black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed…”
Vice President Kamala Harris is sure to be remembered every March in Women’s History Month as the first woman and the first person of color to serve our nation in that position.
As notable as those two facts are, she may grow to be known just as much for a single vote in the Senate that helped save the planet.
Last August, she broke the 50-50 deadlock between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to pass the Inflation Reduction Act.
That historic package, along with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Harris had crisscrossed the country in 2021 to build support for, give us a once-in-a-generation chance to protect the climate and build a cleaner, fairer economy.
Both laws bear Harris’ mark. For example, the two packages provide billions to replace diesel school buses with electric ones and an additional tax credit for purchases that counties and cities make on their own.
As a senator, Harris repeatedly sponsored
Leave a Reply