Posted
by Dardi Norwood, ATLANTA, GA – Liquor stores can tell you a lot about the
racial and socio-economic composition of a neighborhood. I live in a middle
class suburb of Atlanta where the Eagles Landing Bottle Shop is located. The landscaping is immaculate and it’s in a new two
story brick building. The inside is filled with a wide variety of alcoholic beverages including fine wines. The staff is friendly and courteous and the
owner is frequently there. They sell chips, soda drinks, and snack type foods as well. The floors are clean and shiny and the aisles are large. There is only one other liquor store in the area.
The
liquor stores on the southwest side of Atlanta tell a different story. They are
almost on every corner. They are run down, dirty, small, cramped and some have
drive-thru windows. The actual names have “liquor” or “package” in them unlike
the Eagles Landing Bottle Shop. They have bullet proof glass dividers on the
inside to separate the patron from the cashiers. They sell lottery tickets, blunt
cigars, cigarettes, and rolling papers. They do not have a vast selection of wines but
they do have an enormous selection of hard liquor.
One
cannot help but think that this stark contrast has something to do with the
racial and socioeconomic composition of these places – one more middle class
and more white, the other more poor and mostly Black. Unfortunately, this is
one aspect of race and ethnicity in our society that reveals the structural inequalities perpetuated by racism,
greed and capitalism.
Dardi Norwood is an undergraduate
student at Georgia State University who is majoring in Speech.
Sad but true, unfortunately the lower class are more accepting of sub par aesthetics and services in their neighborhoods.
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