Maytha Alhassen: The Liquor Store Wars
i came across this article that talks about cultural dynamics between black folks in oakland and the arab muslim liquor store owners that proliferate the inner city neighborhoods in the O. besides the author's ability to interview arab store owners in a candid fashion because of her shared ethnic background, the article also impressed me with some unknown stats about my city "The sheer over saturation of liquor stores, an illegal presence that in Oakland totals 326, which is 54 over the number permitted by the law" Combining poverty and access to alcohol while missing the presence of grocery stores poses a real problem, let alone the inner-racial tensions that are created along the way - has been on the minds of many in the social justice movements, let alone in the fabric of hip-hop (ice cube's "black korea" comes to mind) this article continues the conversation.
