A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.
When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.
But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”
“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”
I clicked on this story by accident, but I’m glad I read it. There’s some real gold in here…
“I’m mad at you for getting grease in the sewer…so I will cut this line which I supposedly believe contains grease so it can go all over the street, smelling great and eventually getting washed into this very same sewer anyway!”
“T’is but a coincidence!”
Sounds like this guy isn’t aware who funds this town… They must make up a large portion of the residents to have this much stuff there in this tiny little town.
I wish my town was full of people as patient and civil as this couple!
How dare they?!?
Thanks for posting, OP, this was crazy!
And, contrary to suburbanite propaganda, communities like this Haitian one often are the ones funding the wealthy suburbs where all the city councilors live, not the other way around.
Interesting link, thank you for sharing!
The very poor and very rich pay very little tax relative to their income. By lifting people up to a decent income, making them taxpayers, it would seem help everyone. I don’t get the incentive to keep anyone poor.
Plus I’d rather have a cool Haitian neighbor than some snooty person. Haiti seems to get especially screwed over by both people and nature, so those guys deserve a break.
The very poor are held up as a threat to get people to work in ahit conditions for bad pay. The economy requires a certain level of unemployment in order to function. Too high and the wheels don’t turn. Too low and employers lose leverage, then people might start to unionize.
I was curious about how this approach differed from gentrification and thought I’d leave what I had learnt for other curious people.
It seems the main difference is in displacing the existing residents. The improvements suggested by the article are small things that help the community. Gentrification would be the other way around where shiny new homes are built to attract wealthier residents and then the area is improved afterwards to accommodate them, pricing out the existing population.
It’s a small change in the approach to improving an area but it makes a big difference.
I lived in Lafayette. Had to nope out of that article, too many bad memories. Thanks for sharing though.
How do I subscribe to your commentary?
Lol I’m live all day, every day at !superbowl@lemmy.world
Stop by this weekend for the Superbowl Superbowl…it’s like the Puppy Bowl, but for owls, and you get to participate!
What’s the deal with $1 in nominal damages?
You have to make a demand for damages. Asking for $1 makes it symbolic more than anything. A jury can still go “Screw that, pay them a million bucks” though.
Looks like they’re not being unnecessarily vengeful, just making the point stick?
Not a lawyer, but this is my understanding. To sue them, they need to sue for damages, but instead of going for some large amount that their fellow citizens would have to ultimately foot the bill for if they sue the town, they can win the case and get it in legal record that the town officials were in the wrong. The dollar is just a technicality so legal action can be taken.
I just had to correct a deed to a former property I was still getting tax bills for because the title company screwed up the paperwork, so what I had to do was “sell” that parcel of land to my ex for $1 so a legal transaction could be recorded.
You’re kidding? While i wholly understand expedience vs whole-lot-of inconvenience, would the time company not be responsible for correcting their own error, has you pressed it? Assuming you had proper documentation, of course.
Hah, this process took 8 years, 3 title companies, 3 banks, and a district judge! Thankfully it didn’t cost either me or my ex a cent to my knowledge.
It’s a very long and boring story about the most amicable divorce ever, but in the end, the title people made things right. All I had to do was write a letter to the collection agency lawyers every year saying “I ain’t paying shit” and that was the end of it until the next year for me. I’d send a copy of the bill to my ex and she’d pay it as should have been the case to start with.
I’m glad you can read through atrocious autocorrect, which never seems to happen until I actually hit the “send” button, or at least until the particular autocorrect leaves my vision.
I’m equally impressed with the amicable divorce (a pity most can’t be, we all make mistakes or deliberately screw up, but can’t as immediately or willingly resolve things equitably).
Interesting sub note, having complained that autocorrect didn’t falsely correct anything until the word was not visible to me, I actually saw it change “equally” to “implicitly” or some other nonsense. My phone can spy on me enough to prove me wrong, but not correct it’s own incorrect behavior?! And Big Tech want us to trust them it won’t HAL us?!
I feel your pain. Since switching to a new phone last year from a pretty old one (S8 to Pixel 7) I feel autocorrect has taken a huge step backwards. It seems I need to correct at least a word a sentence, and even after that, I still have to edit my posts like 3 times as I keep finding weird stuff.
My ex’s dad died suddenly and I wasn’t ever really good with emotional things (undiagnosed depression) and me not being able to give her the support she needed made her decide she needed someone different in her life.
I didn’t blame her for that, and it led to me finally learning to get the help I needed, and I came into my now-girlfriend’s life at a time she was about to get into a really bad state, and this time I was able to support someone exactly how they needed, so it all worked out for everyone involved.
Fixing my depression turned out to be extremely easy, and it made me regret half of my life almost immediately for not getting help earlier. My gf’s issues have been much more complex, and took about 2 years to dial in right, but she went from basically a total mental breakdown, and now she’s almost ready to graduate from college. Whatever help any of you may need, just either take the first step to do it, or stay with it even if you feel it’s not working yet. The only thing you’ll regret is not starting sooner!
What a beautiful story, brought tears to my eyes. I agree. I’m happy all of you found strength and happiness during the melee .
I went through some horrific stuff last year and lost access to my therapist about the same time as the crescendo of crap. Funnily enough, I stopped wanting to die, stopped wanting to survive. I came to desire living and thriving. All by myself (that just means I’ve not met anyone romantically, friends and family are still in active illness and/or addiction), so far. I’ve gotten busy being my own therapist and doing the shadow work. Maybe years of therapy HaVe me the tools to stop playing and get on with it. I’m not finished; Uber sue (<— that WAS “there have”) been blind spots and set backs. I’m sure there are more to come. I’ll continue anyway, and hopefully if therapy and medication are needed, we’ll have evolved society enough to make it accessible to anyone and everyone who needs it. Blessings to you, your current and ex. You all sound like lovely souls. Please hug each other for me, if appropriate.