Payday Lenders Still Hold Sway

Back in November of last year I penned a rather scathing piece regarding the Ohio Black Legislative Caucus (OBLC) allowing it's logo to be used by CheckSmart, those "nice" payday lending folks who routinely charge customers a whooping, ungodly 391percent APR (Annual Percentage Rate). They sent out an email inviting folks to what was billed as "Free Seminars on Financial Education."

These modern-day Robber Barons were going around the state "educating" folks on finances, but what they didn't include in the curriculum was a lesson which stated "Stop, under no circumstance should anyone go through the doors of these rip-off loan shops." These "seminars" were akin to foxes telling hens how to make their family's meager fortunes safe.

For my efforts I got a call from my State Representative, Sandra Williams, who also is the head of the OBLC, and she was fit to be tied over a couple of words I used in the article to describe my feelings in regard to an organization of black elected officials allowing its name to be used in conjunction to what can only be characterized as a blatant scheme. These vicious shysters were attempting to curry favor with the folks they want to continue to rob, even after voters had resoundingly said at the ballot box they want to put a 28 percent cap on the outrageous fees.

I promised Williams at that time I would not use pejorative terms in future articles (one of the words started with the letter "P" and is used to describe persons who sell their bodies; the other word started with the letter "W" and means the same thing ... but in street vernacular it's often a two-letter word that begins with the letter "H" and is something you might hear Santa Claus say three times). Boy, do I just love being a "word nerd."

I've kept my promise ... I haven't used the words she found so offensive, and now I'm going to keep another promise I made to State Rep. Williams: I'm going to call her and other Democrats out for continuing to play footsy with payday lending lobbyists. A bill is pending that would finally cap these outrageous fees once and for all, but a committee that Williams sits on has it bottled up and won't allow it to come to a floor vote. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or someone with a crystal ball to figure out what's going on here.

These elected officials appear to be in someone's pocket, and it's certainly not the pocket of the folks who elected them to go to Columbus and do their bidding. Shame on these politicians who are obviously bought and paid for -- at least on this issue -- with blood money extracted from their constituents.

Thoughts of Spring

I love it when gardening tools and seed catalogues begin to arrive ... it's a sure harbinger of spring, and it also combines two of my passions: Tools and gardening. I'm probably most happy wandering through aisles of Sutton's Hardware on 38th and Prospect, Harbor Freight Tools, and even the Home Despot (sorry, I mean "Depot"). And I love to squabble with my wife over what vegetables we're going to plant each year (we thought it wise to find something-- at least one thing -- to argue over and this is it).

So it was with great glee that I settled in with my newly arrived, big and glossy Lee Valley catalog that I received for the first time this year. My wife had ordered me a couple of hard-to-find gadgets from these folks so that's how I got on their mailing list. And, man, is it a first-class operation ... well almost. They say something about treating customers like friends, but the only problem is, all of their friends are white. Out of the literally hundreds of photos in the 172-page catalog not one single one is of a person of color.

Oh, wait! Could those two fingers in the photo on page 167 be those of Manny Sosa, or some other person who used to be black? Nah, I was just hoping.

When I wrote about this lack of diversity in catalogs a few months ago a black woman writer, who currently lives in Chicago and once worked in advertising, emailed me to say that I was spot-on in my criticism. Having worked in the field she was keenly aware of the lack of inclusion of persons of color by many companies -- both agencies and clients. Fortunately, the bigger companies have come into the 21st century on this. Just look at the catalogs of Land's End, L.L. Bean, or Paul Fredrick, just to name a few. They "get" it.

So, sadly, I'll have to write the nice (but dense and insensitive) folks at Lee Valley and inform them I will not be purchasing anything from their company until they correct this deficiency. They obviously want my money (otherwise they would not be sending me a catalog, would they?), but don't see the need to include people that look like me -- well, maybe not as old and grizzled as me -- in it.

It certainly would help if likeminded readers of my column would also drop them an email at customerservice@leevalley.com and express their feelings. I know, I know, with everything else going on in the world today, this certainly is no biggie, but then again, it is about jobs. For everyone who says they want progressive change for the better in our country this is something simple, easy -- and guaranteed effective if they receive enough emails -- to do. Change will only come incrementally and usually in baby steps. Please, take one for equality gentle reader. Or, at the very least, don't buy anything from Lee Valley.

Orphan Fruit Trees

This is the year I hope to put into place my orphan fruit tree plan. Around most inner-city neighborhoods there are empty lots where homes use to stand, but the only thing left behind are untended fruit trees. With pruning these trees would once again produce wonderful fruit. Free food ... it's hard to beat free.

I "adopted" an apple tree that sits on the tree lawn across the street from my house last year, pruned that sucker, and got almost a bushel of apples that I mostly gave to the retirees at Fatima Family Center. They loved them, and in return one of the women made me some tasty apple butter.

If you know of any tress in your 'hood, let me know the location. You see those guys around town, working for Court Community Service, picking up trash by the side of the road to serve out their fines in lieu of going to jail? If I can find enough trees I'm going to petition the program manager to assign some of these folks to pruning duty ... to me it sure would beat picking up trash. I'll even volunteer to teach them how to prune. Hey, it could turn into a work opportunity for someone, who knows?

I do know this: General Motors or Ford ain't coming back to save our sorry asses, so we'd better learn to do everything we can to save ourselves, and the planet along with us.


Shut Up and Do Something

For all of the folks who are as disappointed as I am over the president's failure to get the progressive agenda moving in this country, I've got some questions to ask: What did you personally do to help him when he asked? Did you get up off your butt and go out to a community meeting? Did you volunteer to tutor a child? Did you sign up for the county transition effort? Did you fill any of the empty precinct committee slots around the county? Or did you just sit home complaining about how nothing has changed?

If you did something, you've earned the right to bitch, if you didn't, then, please, just shut the hell up. All Obama's election did was to open a door ... it's still up to us to go through it. Go out and get involved ... see you on the battle lines.

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier's From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.