When we go into these grocery stores and try to get these accounts, they’re not just looking at us as a product. They’re looking at who we are as individuals and then the question lies: Do they do that with anybody else of different backgrounds? When we first started, we were told from a gentleman that was in this industry for over 40 years, that this was the first time his people were sitting down with Black people. To hear those statements, and realize the importance of African American business … our role is to say that all Black men are not dangerous. Just because we’re from Chicago, the South Side, young, Black males, we automatically have this stereotype, or stigma over us, which is not the case.
