Define ‘paraphernalia’
by Vin Suprynowicz
June/July 2001
No one had told them till recently there was any problem with the stuff they were selling — not sofa-sized Turkish hookahs, mind you, but perfectly legal novelty glass vials (some containing artificial novelty rosebuds) and miniature copper scouring brushes which police say can be used to facilitate the consumption of crack cocaine.
The proprietors of the two west side convenience stores — including Koreans Ki Son and Suk Son — even promised they would stop selling the items, now that the problem has been pointed out.
But that wasn’t enough for Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, who was set on staging a publicity stunt Wednesday apparently aimed at driving the Korean merchants from his primarily black neighborhood — a proceeding more than a little tinged with racism and xenophobia.
The Rev. Gary Hunter of the Greater St. James Baptist Church hauled about 40 young children into the council chambers for this show, the better to illustrate his point that the Sons’ new Jackson Market was too close to his church at 316 Madison Ave. (The Sons needed to apply for for council permission to shift their license from the store they now operate on F Street to their new location on D Street, two blocks away, because selling liquor is deemed a "privilege.")
"The behavior pattern of these store owners are disrespectful to our children and our women," the Rev. Hunter told the City Council.
Their behavior pattern … or their race and national origin?
"People who don’t understand English don’t understand respect," the Rev. Hunter continued, referring to the fact that the Sons — Korean natives — depended on interpreters during Wednesday’s council hearing.
In the end, the liquor licenses were denied. (The owners of the second store, J. & D. Mini Market on North Martin Luther King, had also promised to stop selling the items to which Mr. Weekly objected … to no avail. He’s an Arab.)
Nor were these denials based on repeated liquor sales to minors or any such violations of law, mind you. No, the merchants were penalized for selling perfectly legal products.
"I think there’s something really, really wrong with what I’ve heard in the last month," commented Mayor Oscar Goodman, who along Councilman Larry Brown voted against the regulatory lynching. "If there’s something wrong with the (novelty) roses … I want to know why we didn’t do something about it before two weeks ago."
Regulators say both license applications were considered routine till Mr. Weekly saw his chance to make political hay. The Councilman – and those who sided with him – have thus set a very dangerous precedent. If they want to outlaw certain glass bottles and copper brushes, let them see if they can come up with an effective, constitutional ordinance that anyone can make sense of, so everyone can look up the law and see where they stand. (And lots of luck.)
Meantime, what next? Shall local supermarkets with the "wrong kinds" of owners lose their business licenses in surprise proceedings for selling Dow Corning and Union Carbide sandwich bags – perfectly legal products, but items in which we all know controlled drugs are sometimes stored and transported?
Deprived of their liquor licenses, will the two stores in question now shut down — depriving Mr. Weekly’s constituents of handy places to buy milk and diapers — or instead raise their prices on other items to make up for their lost liquor revenues? Either way, it’s hard to see how Mr. Weekly’s constituents benefit.
Or does Mr. Weekly now intend to approach these businessmen and urge them to sell out their now devalued businesses, perhaps to new owners more likely to win liquor license approval, given that their skin color and accents would doubtless be more pleasing — more "respectful" to the sensitivities — of Mr. Weekly and the esteemed Rev. Hunter?
This is dangerous stuff.
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His book, “Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998,” is available by dialing 1-800-244-2224; or via web site www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html.
by Vin Suprynowicz
Copyright © 2001 The Multiracial Activist. All rights reserved.