Black Muslims and Segregation - A Good Thing

We’ve had a fun discussion in the ‘Worse College Towns’ post regarding whether Chester is a good college town, or not. 

One commenter suggests that maybe it’s because Chester is a black city that we are not more accommodating to Widener University (to put it nicely).

That’s a point I find hard to argue. 

In fact, when I consider a couple good college towns, in particular, towns where black colleges sit, those schools are in the bad section of those good towns, like Howard in D.C. and Morehouse / Spelman in Atlanta.

So, why don’t even the good black colleges in good cities sit in thriving black communities?

I contend that it’s because of the end of segregation in the 60s. Here’s what I mean.

If we just look at Dr. Martin Luther King’s battles against desegregation in the south, his primary focus was to fight for equal access to things that all tax payers and citizens should be sharing equally, like city buses, public schools, and the right to vote.

He wasn’t fighting for the families in the black community to gain access to the grocery store, pharmacy, insurance man, car dealer, carpet installer, restaurant, or other small business across town in the white community, because, by and large, the system of segregation forced black business people to provide these services for the black community in which they lived. 

As a result, many of the goods and services blacks purchased were from black businesses in their community and the owners made a living serving their own community. 

Once segregation was outlawed, the black community slowly abandoned their neighborhood (and neighbor’s) businesses due to the ‘free access’ to shop in places they never could before. 

And that’s where we remain today.

When I think of communities where blacks with a lot of money live, I’m back in D.C. and Atlanta. But those blacks make their money from good jobs, not from owning neighborhood businesses. Although they may live in very affluent black communities (which can be considered segregated) , they still buy their milk and bread at a non-black owned store outside of their ‘hood.

Why should Howard, Morehouse, and Spelman sit in the slums of their town, when they could be surrounded by the affluent black community that just happens to be on the other side of town? 

Getting back to Chester and Widener, since this is a black city, and there is no affluent section of town, Widener is double challenged in the prospect of ever seeing their surroundings resemble a college town if our demographics remain as there are now. 

As I implied earlier, segregation has practically removed the incentive for blacks to own small businesses in their own community now that they no longer have the target customer that segregation created for them. Now, blacks can shop where they please with no loyalty or law keeping them shopping with their neighbors.

Chester is somewhat different though. 

If you own a small business in Chester, you are practically committing your business to the Chester consumer because people from outside of Chester are scared to come inside the city limits to shop.

Therefore, the small businesses in Chester almost are like the ones in the old segregated south. The only difference is that there are too few locals who own these businesses.

Now, the Asians, Hispanics, Israelis, and folks from countries I can’t even name, have ascended on Chester to make our pizzas, sell our gas, clothe us, fry our chicken, beautify our hair and nails, and so on.

Yet, we do have one group of people who are setting up small businesses the old school way. The Black Muslims.

In a very quiet and deliberate fashion, they are owning properties and setting up small businesses that serve the Chester community they live in. And they provide high quality goods and services with respect for their customers. 

Sadly, when I was chasing advertising dollars with the Chester Spotlight, I never had a problem collecting from the Muslims or the white owned business. The only bounced checks, ‘see me next week’, and non-payments, came from the black Christian business owners.

In conclusion, unless the Black Muslims converge on the Widener side of town, it will be up to a new breed of white folks moving to Chester to build a college town environment that I feel Widener deserves.  

Black Christians, of which this city is full of with our 100+ churches, have proven to not have small business as a priority. Going to work, church, and to the mall is good enough for many. 

What up wit dat?