What Are You Doing WHOLE FOODS?

I have to admit… this was the first time I have ever been inside a television student before. And oh man was I mesmerized. Here in Englewood, it was refreshing to see something so positive. The backstage look we had the opportunity to witness introduced us to the behind-the-scenes aspects of

WYCC at Kennedy King College

television that no one sees, including the operation room and the panelist transformed into TV-presentable individuals by professional makeup artists. The viewing of a taping was an experience of lifetime, especially for someone who is not interested in the industry (ie me). However, the largest takeaway from the experience was the debriefing following the taping.

The debriefing allowed many of us to express our sentiment as well as our frustration in addition to learning from one another. We expressed sentiments. We expressed frustrations. The conversation concluded with the discussion of the intrusion of Whole Foods in a community, which is has been categorized as a food desert.

Local Englewood Entrepreneur

Whole Foods as you may know is a high-end grocery store committed to providing the communities

they serve fresh, organic, healthy food options. However, the keyword here is “high-end.” Aware of their soaring prices, the grocery chain committed to lower their prices in low socioeconomic communities, as they claim they did in Englewood. In addition, they offer local entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their products in store.

Let’s look at the prices.

I signed up for a service where Whole Foods will deliver groceries to my residence at the same price as “Everyday store prices.” The zip code I entered is 60601, which serves the wealthier Downtown area of Chicago. The first item I looked at was an organic yellow bell pepper. Online these bell peppers are priced at $1.64/each. While organic yellow bell peppers sold in the Englewood Whole Foods is priced are priced at $1.99/each. This is surprising compared to the price at a local Pilsen grocery store for a yellow bell pepper priced at $1.38/lb.

Milk, a diet staple, was priced well in Englewood. Online the cheapest gallon of milk was $3.99, however, in Englewood milk is priced at $1.99.

While the grocery store is providing fresh food in a community that does not always have access to edible, healthy foods, Whole Foods is still Whole Foods. People in a community where the median household income is around $19,000/yr, $1.99 for a bell pepper isn't always an option. However, they probably will opt for the more costly option due to the status symbol that Whole Foods has established itself to be.

The grocers infiltration into the community can prove to be toxic as low income consumers begin to shop blindly at Whole Foods to conspicuously consume and utilize their groceries as symbolic capital.

It will be interesting to further investigate the Whole Foods impact on the community regarding the way in which they interact with symbolic, cultural, economic, and social capital.    

But Why Can't We Ever Win?

A Wonder in My Soul was a heartwarming play that featured strong female leads who depicted a telling history of the roots of Chicago’s Black community as well as the result of gentrification in the present. The play tugged at the audience’s heart strings and provided comedic relief to the alleviate the load of the heavy subjects presented. In attempt to target two audiences, those who belong to the Black community and those who do not, the play’s underlying message of cultural preservation may have been muddled due to the attempted balance.

Gentrification, the displacement of low income people in urban neighborhoods, presented itself as the driving force throughout the play. While the topic is serious in nature, the play was sprinkled with jokes to ease the sensitivity of the subject. In doing so, it allowed for the audience to relax a bit before jumping back into the seriousness of the topic. However, some of the jokes I did not find funny. The shop regular who was of higher economic

class would constantly express her concern over the safety of her top of the line vehicle in this rundown Chicago neighborhood that was soon to be lifted by the promise of gentrification. In the end of the play, the regular’s worst nightmare became reality when she stepped out the emptied shop to discover the rims on her vehicle to be missing. Her comedic reaction triggered an immediate out roar from the audience, most of whom were White. While it is clear what the playwright was attempting to do with the comedy, it reaffirmed the stereotypes associated with these neighborhoods who are faced with the problem of gentrification. It reiterated the need of gentrification because the process promises the removal of the unsafe neighborhoods by pushing out the problem – people who can no longer afford to live there, which just so happens to be mostly low income people of color.

The message of unity of resilience and echoed throughout the performance. Following the lives of two small business owners, originally from Mississippi who find themselves in history as a part of the Great Migration, strength is a significant characteristic featured within these characters. In doing so, strength includes the ability to stand tall despite consistently being knocked down. Therefore, although the hair salon was lost due to gentrification it is imperative to demonstrate strength despite it all. Culture was where the strength was found. The strong belief i

n being rooted in one’s culture and history presented itself as the light in the bleak darkness of gentrification. While the message was uplifting and provided a glimpse of hope, again, I believe it supported the argument for those for gentrification. The way I saw it was—since people of color always persevere, their displacement is fine because they will always pick up roots somewhere else.  

I wish the story went in a different direction. Yes, the story was telling of the hardships gentrification presents because of the building was ultimately bought out to be transformed into a Starbucks. And in doing so, the story allowed for the strength of Black people to be the heroes of the story, however, the message can be misinterpreted and misconstrued to ease the minds of the gentrifiers.

I wish stereotypes weren't exploited and perpetuated on the account of making a White audience laugh. I wish the shop could have been saved and history could have been preserved. I wish redemption was an option. I wish they could have kept their business. I wish it presented a narrative of resilience as the community fought back and won, instead of resilience being seen when the community was defeated.

The narrative of strength despite hardships has been told time in and time out. I wish the possibility of Black people being able to keep what is theirs after fighting for what was threatened to be taken away was given a chance. Yes, we are strong. But why can’t ever win?