Chapter 6: Black Owned Business, the Family Run City, and the Warning

Chapter 6:  Black Owned Business, the Family Run City, and the Warning

Passing by a newspaper stand, Quincy read one of the headlines “Mayor Rhode’s Controversial Remarks: The Brothers and Sisters are running this town.”  For some reason, these words grabbed Quincy’s attention.  He desperately wanted to know which family was running the city and why it was so controversial.  As he read through the article, Quincy saw the words ‘African American Mayor’, ‘racism’ and ‘NAACP’ used over and over again.  He became confused as to what racism and the NAACP had to do with some family running the city of Philadelphia.  He was further confused by an additional quote of the Mayors that was included in the story.  The Mayor has previously made the statement to a ‘white reporter’, “All you people look the same to me.” He could not figure out how this all related to some brothers and sisters governing the city of Philadelphia.  Who cares if the Mayor thought all reporters looked the same.  Other quotes from random people seemed to revolve around the suggestion that the Mayor’s statements could be overlooked because he had done a lot for the city.  What did this mean, what had the Mayor done wrong?  Growing frustrated, Quincy decided to drop the paper and continue on his walk.

He passed by a restaurant with a sign that read ‘Black Owned Business’.  Quincy wondered if Mr. Black was someone famous from the neighborhood.  Obviously he believed his last name would draw people to eat there, since he so proudly boasted it on his sign.  Now that he though of it, maybe it was part of a chain of restaurants.  He had seen another restaurant a few blocks away that was ‘Black Owned.’  Maybe it wasn’t just a he.  Maybe it was the Black Family that owned the restaurants.  He came to this possibility when considering the fact the Bob Evans and Roy Roger had used their whole names.  So maybe Mr. Black was only one of the owners of the restaurant.  Maybe there was a Mrs. Black, and little boy and girl Black.  Possibly it wasn’t even just a nuclear family that owned the place.  Maybe there was an Aunt and Uncle Black.  He wondered if they knew the family that was running the city.  As he continued to mull over the wondrous possibilities his attention was turned to the middle of the busy street.

A woman had stopped her car in the middle of traffic and then motioned to the man in the car behind her to come to her.  The said ‘man in the car behind her’ got out and had walked up to her car.  They talked for about a minute.  The man was pointing in various directions, making random hand gestures, and Quincy heard the last few lines of the conversation “you’ll see it on your left.”  The cars stopped behind them honked their horns furiously.  Quincy smiled and felt his heart warming.  What a wonderful place, he thought. People are always willing to help out their fellow drivers when they get lost.   

Finally deciding to return home, Quincy began back tracking.  An older white woman he had never seen before approached him.  She was vastly overweight and was donning an old sweat suit that fit snuggly over her ample body.  She stared at Quincy with the saddest eyes he had ever seen and said, “My daughter needs asthma medicine and I don’t get paid till Friday.  Can you spare a few dollars?”

Unable to say no to such a plea, Quincy quickly pulled out a few dollars and handed it to the lady.

“Thank you sir! God bless you!”

The lady walked off, and Quincy proceeded on his course.  In his heart, he felt so good knowing that he had helped out this young girl.  He hated to think what might have happened had he not had money to lend her.  He almost wished he had asked if he might give her his phone number so that she could let him know how her daughter was doing, or even call if she desperately needed money again. 

Just then a piece of paper blew up into Quincy’s face.  The piece of paper had been caught by the wind and found him off guard.  As he pulled the paper down he noticed only one word was written on the paper in large letters.  It said ‘INFAMY’.  Suddenly a hand appeared out of nowhere; mind you it was attached to an arm, which was attached to an old skinny man.  The man stole the paper from Quincy’s hand and crushed it into a ball, and whispered to Quincy, “Yours eyes have not yet opened, but they will be.”

Quincy looked at the old man and felt as though he should know him, but he was soon distracted by the voice of the lady he had just given money.  He turned to see what was going on.  Nearby, she was asking someone else for money for her son who needed medicine for his asthma.  Quincy wondered how one woman could have such bad luck as to have two children with the same problem, and not have money enough to get either medicine.  And why had she not just asked Quincy for more money for the son.  While he was thinking all this, the person the lady had asked for money said no.  Quincy could not believe that anyone would let her children suffer.  He concluded that the man she asked must have no money. Otherwise he would have helped her out. 

As Quincy turned back around, the old man was gone.  But Quincy could not help but ponder what the old man had meant.  What did he mean his eyes were not open?  How could he be walking around the streets of Philadelphia, without having his eyes open?  Unable to make heads or tails of the old man’s words, Quincy soon made his way back  home.  Sure enough, from above came the welcoming sound, “Have a good day.”