Build, don’t tear down, communities

Recently I listened to Candace Owen’s podcast asking the question, “What does Black America want?” Then I read the Tribune article about the Roseland pharmacist (“Pharmacist vows to still serve Roseland,” June 22), and it brought back my memories of April 4, 1968, the day the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

We know he had a “dream” and even today could have been the answer to Owen’s question. Unfortunately if it hadn’t been for King’s killer, James Earl Ray, I really believe we wouldn’t have the problems of today.

Back then, I was a young soda salesman and lived in and serviced a mixed community in Columbus, Ohio. It was one of our best growing routes with independent stores servicing the community, but they struggled with finances and required special service as they were operating primarily on cash flow. However, as the community grew, so did the stores as they reinvested in their businesses.

On that day, things changed. Mr. Brasfield’s store was looted and his windows broken, and he had no money or bottle deposits for his next-day delivery. He cried as he, like many store owners, had no insurance. But he was concerned about me and said how afraid he was himself and since I was white I should go home. I made a few stops, and when Mr. Brown, a meat market owner, advised me to go home, I did go home. As I lived in the community, we all stayed in our apartments.

Most of the local stores did not reopen, the surrounding chains picked up the business and it was no longer a growing mixed community.

I believe the “dream” is not blue or black but supporting and building communities.

— Mike Krauss, Wayne