Before it was Fashionable

You know, about thirty years ago, my Mom worked for the City of Philadelphia as a Tax Assessor. She was good at it too. Which, at the time was a pretty good job for a single Mom of two. She told me she took a test to get a better position, because she wanted to make sure her babies had a balance meal every night after she and my Father split. My Mom says, she remembers making sure we had meat, a green vegetable, a starch and some pudding or Jell-O for dessert. Some times we ate hot dogs and bake beans a lot, but we didn’t care we like hot dogs and bake beans. Mom said, but she cared and so she knew she had to do something about that.

As she moved up in the city job, she would often tell me stories about how people would call her up about their properties and bribe, threaten and cry to her about not raising their taxes. Every now and then, the people would bring race into the equation. Some of the disgusting things they would say to her about her race would make her stomach turn. The funny thing is the people she dealt with always assumed she was white and that made it okay to say those disgusting things. You see, there was no way she could be anything else but white in a job like that. Ignorance, knows no bounds. She said, when she got a call like that, she would make a mental note. Most of the time she could help them out, but she was always fair. However, when she got a call like that, instead of helping them out, she did what was fair. Occasionally, she would meet the people that were so horrible to her on the phone out in the field. And boy was that awkward. She said, the look on their faces when she came to their house was priceless. In her mind she thought, who has all the power now?

I just remember how cool it was when she would pick me up from school. I didn’t have to catch the bus home and we got to go to Wendy’s every time for lunch. Although, we were doing better, my Mom felt she wanted to provide more for her daughters. So, she went to real estate school.

Once she got her sales license, she worked part time at a neighborhood Real Estate office. She still worked full time for the city, took care of us and put me through college. What a Superwoman! She was good at selling homes and she like it. One day, she put her heart and soul into selling this one house. When she got back to the office to collect her commission one of the senior sales associate had already taken the money and deposited into her account. My Mom was devastated. When she questioned the senior sales person, the woman told her the office owed her money. The check was made out to the office. The Broker backed up his associate. He said, “Oh you’ll get the next one”. My Mom said, to herself, “You’re damn right I will”! So she started study for the Real Estate Broker’s exam. The Broker got wind of her studying for the exam. He told her, it was a hard test and “Good Luck passing it.” She said, “Thanks, I’ll let you know how hard it was when I open up next to you”.

And so, she did just that. She opened her own Real Estate Company, before it was fashionable to be a black woman business owner, of course. And for over twenty years she’s helped our family and friends own a piece of the American Dream. Passing the Real Estate exam was just the beginning of the struggle, but as she persevered she found her purpose. For every time she heard, “You don’t belong here”! “I wasn’t expecting you”. Or, “There’s nothing here for you”. She kicked in the door and said, “Well, I’m what you’ve got today, so deal with it”!

My Mom broke barriers that she didn’t even know she was breaking. She just wanted a better life for her kids and that’s what she set out to do. And she did it before it was fashionable to support black businesses. We didn’t want for anything and she made sure of that. She decided early on not to be told, “No” by men or bigots. If you ask me, I’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill. Because of her, I am who I am and I will not be denied. So, you could say my hero puts on heels as opposed to a cape everyday. She walked the road less traveled as opposed to flying around the world. And rose to the occasion every time she had too as opposed to curling up into a ball in the company of sexism and racism. She’s a woman; she’s black and a business owner. And she did it before it was fashionable.

THE END