It's an amazing picture of how the poorest made a blackout into an opportunity to, at least temporarily, find relief from their grinding poverty.

The diaper caper and the small-dog scam

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During the blackout, Lucky G’s father and his brother hot-wired a van to carry stuff away. But unlike most of the looters, who went after jewelry or electronics stores, Lucky G’s father and uncle followed the housewives and made for supermarkets.

If the housewives hadn’t gotten there yet and broken through the gates, Lucky G’s father would smash the hot-wired van right through supermarket windows. They loaded the van with entire aisles of Pampers, including the diapers in the stock room. They hit most of the supermarkets in Spanish Harlem, stopping only long enough to dump their booty before heading to their next target, hoping the housewives hadn’t yet cleaned out the place.

The following morning, there was not a diaper to be bought in the neighborhood. Word spread quickly as to who had Pampers and who didn’t. For weeks Lucky G’s father sold Pampers at discount rates. He made a killing. He even had a system for storage: Pampers for newborns were stacked in the bedroom, Pampers for little babies were in the living room, and diapers for older babies were in Lucky G’s room. When I went over to hang with Lucky G, I saw boxes and boxes of Pampers stacked against the walls like bricks.

Lucky G.’s father really had hit the biggest score. It was way bigger than the score at the Ace Pontiac on Jerome Avenue in the South Bronx, where about 200 people had crashed through the plate-glass windows of the dealership and driven off with 50 Pontiacs. We didn’t need cars, and we certainly couldn’t afford them, especially during a gasoline shortage.

For a few days, a blackout black market flourished in Spanish Harlem. Those who stole televisions, radios and jewelry could not unload them anywhere as fast, or for as much money, as those who stole useful things like Pampers, baby food, whiskey and sneakers. At one abandoned tenement, Pro-Keds and Converse went for $5 a pair.

The ethos of getting something for nothing gripped entire families, especially those living in bleak apartments furnished with couches and beds purchased on the installment plan. For these people, the idea was not to steal anything, but simply to make sure that the books of the furniture stores were set ablaze.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Particularly satisfying is reading about how the residents set fire to furniture stores and their bookkeeping records because everyone was on "payment plans" for the furniture they couldn't afford to buy outright in their homes.

It's an amazing picture of how the poorest made a blackout into an opportunity to, at least temporarily, find relief from their grinding poverty.

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It's actually about theft. Theft is theft. If some of the residents could not afford to purchase the furniture, they should not have purchased the furniture. Simple, eh?

Now the owners of the furniture stores are on the hook for the criminal actions of a few. Presumeably the insurance did not pay up because riots are standard policy exemptions.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
I'm sorry, were you under the impression that I give a shit whether you think I'm "classy" or not? Or that it's somehow my goal in life to get approval from the likes of you?

Think again.

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Again, you demonstrate lack class. The fact is that praising theft is not classy, ergo you are not classy.

What makes you think I'd think that you'd want approval from me? Frankly, I don't give a shit about your personal beliefs or motivations or whatever.

I liked this article because it was an unapologetic history by one of the people who were there at the time, living in the poverty of Spanish Harlem, and seeing this from the point of view of the people who were doing what they could to get by.

I don't feel sorry for the furniture store owner, because if they were anything like they are today, they're basically just loan sharks preying on people living in poverty with astronomical interest rates. The article said that they didn't try to loot the furniture in the store, they just set fire to the books. A bit of citizen-initiated loan forgiveness.

I also do not condemn the author for his small dog scam. There is a certain collective responsibility that rich people who live right next door to the poorest of the poor, who they pay next to nothing to do their menial tasks for them, need to recognize. If you pay your housekeeper next to nothing, then most likely her kid is going to have to run dognapping scams and other "below the radar" stuff in order for their family to stay afloat and clothed and with a working phone.

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You agree to avoid personal insults, attacks and mischievous antagonism (otherwise known as "trolling").

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Wow. This is all pretty heavy for 8:00 in the AM on a Sunday. It makes you think. I'm making coffee. I'm making it myself instead of going out to Tim Horton's or Starbucks. So, I'm siding with the oppressed. But it isn't "fair trade" coffee, so I'm siding with the oppressor. I'm grinding it myself, so I'm siding with the oppressed. But I'm using a french press, so I'm siding with the oppressor. Now here's where it gets tricky. If I use sugar, then the Cuban Revolution succeeds. But if I add cream, the rights of collective bargaining are lost.

[ 08 July 2007: Message edited by: The Wizard of Socialism ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Hey, 3G, it seems you didn't read the policy you agreed to when you signed up for babble:

For some reason, you've decided to spend two posts personally attacking me. Find something else to do.

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Further comments deleted by oldgoat for reasons of taste. I mean God knows we have little enough of that around here, but still...

[ 09 July 2007: Message edited by: oldgoat ]

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It's actually about theft. Theft is theft.

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Originally posted by N.R.KISSED:
Don't look down your standing on stolen land. Maybe it's time to leave?

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Exactly, for those who would cast stones, while being no better. Of course they would not see it as such either.

The looting which has taken place in several inner city "riots" in the United States is in my opinion merely a natural outcome of the race and class divide in that country. The existence of this divide makes a mockery of the "official line" of the american neocons in their stated goal of spreading "freedom and democracy" in the world.

The importance of the stories is that this society fails - fails in its own social culture and fails in its own ability to provide a rationale distribution of wealth.

Thank you again.

I should add that perhaps these stories were from 1977, but the situation has only worsened. One need look no further then the racist venom in the recent so-called immigration debate.

[ 08 July 2007: Message edited by: munroe ]

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Originally posted by bruce_the_vii:
Low wages are popular. There's a human need for some people to have low wages.

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Originally posted by bruce_the_vii:
Low wages are popular. There's a human need for some people to have low wages.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
Well, in that case, looting and petty crime and underground economies will be popular too, and there will be a human need for some people to do that.

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Yes no kidding, and there will be more and more crimes of poverty, and they will be called criminals, when really the criminals are those who exploit, people or the environment, to make massive profits.

The boss was so happy he took me on a tour. The further in I got, the less comfortable I was. The prices, I thought, the prices aren't lower. All my sweat, all my effort in support of low wages was dashed.

Maybe I'll just spend a day and meditate on the issue. The low wage non-union garbage collectors come tomorrow (used to be city employees paid a living wage). At least maybe they'll come tomorrow - its been kinda hit and miss since the city contracted it out (funny, I see the City also raised taxes to pay for it).

[ 08 July 2007: Message edited by: munroe ]