It’s tax season. Baby momma’s and baby daddies are finally getting the payoff of having kids that they really can’t take care of, really can’t afford or really don’t want.
It’s that time of year when there is an influx in the number of temporary license plates on the cars driving down Chicago and North avenues, Division and Madison streets.
Stores like Diana Shoes, City Sports, Kneeknockers and Footlocker located at the Madison and Pulaski shopping center in nearby Garfield Park see an increase in shoppers despite the recent recession. It’s the time of the year when everyday people from the hood become what one of my friends calls “thousandaires.”
I didn’t want to write about it because who am I to judge? But I made several comments on Facebook about “hoodrats with income tax checks,” and friends encouraged me to continue the discussion here. They said it couldn’t be any worse than my previous comments about a woman and her “rugrats.” And the truth of the matter is that we do talk about the subject in barbershops, beauty shops, nail salons, and in grocery stores. Some of us just never admit out loud that we are making stereotyped assessments.
And my initial remark was made out of malice, but a friend eventually replied, “We spreading some knowledge now.” She preceded, “I’m just hoping the sistas will put a little to the side for a rainy day, in their kid’s account, school, and tuition (other than materialistic stuff, TV’s, shoes, clothes, jewelry). You look good, but you’re still broke.”
I continued to play the antagonist: “They gone buy a car that lasts ’til August, get drunk, high, let they baby daddies take some and go shoppin!”
The real gem of the conversation came from Tonie. She wrote, “You know that these girls get all this money, don’t even let those black dollars circulate in the community not one god damn time. They go get any and everything with an Italian last name. ‘Nails done by the Korean’s, fake hair by Europeans’ and the Chinese – if they just save half of the checks for 2 years, they can take they section 8 and buy a home for their 2-6 kids.”
The fact is that we secretly joke about these women and men in our social circles, but the H&R Blocks and Jackson and Hewitts are ready to prey on those willing to sacrifice their hard-earned bucks for a quick payday. It’s part of the vicious circle of high-interest lenders in urban communities that we reported on earlier. Inner cities fall victim to the high-interest amid the short-sightedness of fast cash.
“We, black folks were never taught fiscal responsibility because we were never used to having nothing,” says Tonie.
What do you think?
