Issachar: Hard Questions at Blackberries
“Much of the future of the inner city will depend upon the women and men of the community who have the vision, spiritual depth, street smarts, and skills to midwife new ways of being church, of pastoring amidst suffering, and of generating alternative neighborhood visions and narratives.”
- Mark Gornik, To Live in Peace
At the Issachar Community, we agree. The future of the city will depend on leaders who understand their communities, and bring themselves wholly into to the development, service, and work needed to be done in their neighborhoods. This is why at Issachar we strive to create a space for young urban leaders to reflect on faith, action, and imagination.
The other day Greg and I took Skye and Krisangela, a couple of our Issachar Apprentices, to morning coffee at Blackberries. This local-favorite coffee shop is owned by an African-American male, and a few weeks prior Krisangela, a young African-American female, was lamenting over the way she felt her first time at Blackberries. She said, “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but the first time I was in there I felt bad. Sort of like it just wasn’t black enough. Like it didn’t really reflect my culture. It was too quiet. Like it wasn’t black-owned. I was surprised to know it was owned by a black person. I don’t know, it was just weird.” We challenged her, as a young leader and a student of business at Colorado Christian University, to ask herself why that might be?
Walking to Blackberries this time, we re-visited this issue. We challenged Krisangela to keep thinking about her concerns. To reflect on her gentrifying neighborhood (more wealthy white folks moving in), and wrestle with what it might mean for the owner of Blackberries to try have a business in the changing community. As we got closer to Blackberries, we agreed that if the owner was present she would take all her questions to the man in charge. To our delight he was there as we arrived. As we proceeded to the counter I looked at Krisangela and said, “Ask away.” The stream of questions began: “As a young black woman to a black man, I need to know if you’ve achieved your goal with your business.” We witnessed this business student learn more about neighborhood marketplace theory and practice than could ever be learned from a book.
Greg and I watched in awe at the way Krisangela asked hard questions in a polite, yet direct manner. The owner of the coffee shop—a respected and honorable member of the community—had to acknowledge the force of Krisangela’s questions. After twenty minutes or so of conversation, we ordered coffee!
We laughed at the spontaneous opportunity that we stumbled into. We talked about the permission that young leaders must have to ask questions of established leaders in their community. Our Issachar apprentices left that morning a little more informed about what it takes to contribute to the economics and spirit of a neighborhood coffee shop.
As we were leaving Krisangela decided to do something about the environment at Blackberries—the uncomfortable “quietness” she found there. Enjoy the following video of the “cultural presence” (her words), and pray for our apprentices as they discover their voice and calling in our city.
Sam Trujillo
Has lots to learn
Has lots to offer
Has lots to be grateful for.
Man, it’s cool to see Skye and Krisangela learning about community leadership in this way. I talked to Sudan later, and he seemed to really enjoy the interaction and a chance to talk about his business, which has brought something great to downtown Five Points. Thanks for your post, Sam.
Maybe I’m hopelessly naive or uninformed or … something… but I wish the question could be, “As a PERSON have you achieved your business goals?” It doesn’t seem right to me to impose a certain “culture” on an individual because he’s African-American. What if he’s always *liked* the atmosphere of a place like this one, and is delighted to have created one of his own, now? Why deny him that because he’s black?
Maybe I just don’t get it…would it be okay for me (a white woman) to own a bustling, noisy fried chicken place with red vinyl chairs and slightly chipped tables and flooring? If so, then why can’t this guy operate a clean, modern, Starbucks-esque place without being questioned?
I just hate stereotypes. I’ve never fit a box, and I hate to see others pressed into them. I see how Blackberries stands out in the neighborhood where it resides, and I kinda dig it. Blackberries has been there awhile, so I assume it’s succeeding, which it wouldn’t do if people in the neighborhood didn’t go there…so maybe they don’t mind it so much, either?
I’m happy when I *don’t* see only black faces in the Cole neighborhood — as happy as I might be to see *more* black faces in Highlands Ranch. Let’s mix it up a bit, people!
Is there something I’m missing? Really? Or are we imposing gentle pressure on people of various ethnicities to “stay in their place”?
Our neighborhood is changing. Blackberries is only a short walk from the Issachar house but when I walk inside Its kind of like stepping into another dimension. I was amazed at how contemporary the shop was, how high the prices were and that it was soo quiet. Though it is a beautiful shop, it just seemed to be out of place. Learning that Blackberries was owned by an African American raised some questions for me.
I learned recently that part of owning a business is understanding the market to which you desire to sell. Essentially my question to Sudan(the owner of Blackberries)was, do you feel that your shop is offering something that the people in *this* neighborhood can appreciate? I just don’t know that many people who get excited over expensive coffee. For example, if someone decided to open a Gucci store on our block I doubt that it would do much business because people in the neighborhood don’t have money to spend like that. His answer was that in the beginning business was a lot slower because *there werent many people in the neighborhood interested in coffee, and the prices didn’t help.*
Sudan explained that his target market is a ten block radius around the shop, and understanding the diversity within that radius helped him to make decisions on how to cater to the community better. In the end the prices were not adjusted but he added items to the menu that were more appealing to people around these parts.