Black Women Place Personal Vanity Over Personal Safety!
About a month ago I received a call from my sister telling me that I should go to the beauty shop where she gets her hair done and demonstrate my personal safety products. She spoke highly of this shop; the owner and the stylists are exceptional, they have a high-end clientele even though the shop is located in a depressed hig-crime area of Philadelphia. My sister lives in the suburbs and drives all the way across the city to patronize this place so they must be good cuz her hair looks fabulous all the time. She told me that male vendors hawking everything from boot-leg dvd's to body oils to knock-off handbags frequently come into the shop and that they make a good income from these women every week. She said that this shop often stayed open late at night and the owner carried a lot of cash out of there and was robbed once at gunpoint. So, one Friday, I packed up some products; pepper sprays, stunguns, and personal alarms in my knock-off Prada satchel and headed out to North Philly hoping not only to make a sale, but demonstrate the importance of self-protection. Well, I walked into the shop, I smiled and introduced myself to the ladies. I spoke briefly with the owner telling her what I have and asked if I could do a demonstration. I walked around and began pulling out items to show, explaining what they are and what they can do with it. Most of the women continued on having conversation or gossiping with each other, others showed indifference or lack of interest, the owner commented that she didn't need no pepper spray, she needed a gun. I told her that non-lethal weapons were just as effective and she didn't have to kill anyone. She just laughed. Long story short, none of the women in the shop were interested in what I was offering. I even brought to their attention a recent incident involving a young woman who was s*xually assaulted not too far from that shop. No one seemed bothered by this. Then an asian man came into the shop selling dvd's. The man could hardly speak english but he smiled alot and the ladies emptied their purses for a good copy of 2012 and Chris Rock's "Good Hair". Two weeks later, the owner of this shop house was burglarized while she slept! They could have killed her and her child and she didn't have anything to protect herself. This isn't the first time I was disregarded by sisters like this. Over the past 6 months since I started this business, I have been invited to all kinds of "parties" from Mary Kay to Avon to Spanx girdles. I even went to a "water" party! This sister was selling alkaline water and that evening she made $2,000! I said to myself, she could be selling tap water for all we know and if she can make that kind of money selling water, then I know I can do well with my business because I'm offering a service that empowers women to be self-confident and is vital to their life as well. I started doing PERSONAL PROTECTION PARTIES because most women don't know where to go to buy pepper spray and won't take the time to take a formal self-defense course. So I decided to bring the TRAINING and the PRODUCTS to THEM. I invite women over or they invite me, to LEARN safety awareness and how NOT to be targeted as a VICTIM, I TEACH them basic self-defense skills, I DEMONSTRATE the personal safety products and how to USE them. And I HELP them determine what THEY need for their own protection. No "one size fits all here". Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, I'm finding that Black women in Philly are just not that interested in personal safety and crimes against females in the city AND in the suburbs are steady rising. With the holidays coming it will only get worse. I've stood in the subway terminals and at the train depots canvassing with my flyers and talking to sisters about the need to protect themselves. Some just look at the flyer and laugh. It's no joke when a THUG has you face down on the ground trying to rip your clothes off. The police are nowhere in sight. If you have never been assaulted, you can't imagine how that feels. I have, and every time I hear about something like this it affects me so much. My own daughter was a victim of a s*xual assault 3 years ago at college. You can't imagine what it''s like to hold your daughter's hand while a rape kit is being done. It was very traumatic, for both of us. This is why this business is so important to me. I don't plan to get rich, I just want to make a difference in my community, my city, my state, the WORLD. Spiritually, I feel an obligation to do this. I even asked some sisters to invite me to come speak at their chuches, they said of course, but I have yet to hear from them. Meanwhile, In the suburbs I am called to speak at White churches, and when I talk to White females, they seem to be more concerned about the rising crime in their communties and are very receptive. They will often purchase an item not only for themselves, but for someone else in their family. They show up at the workshops and ask questions, but I don't see one black face in the crowd. Last month, there was a strike of public transit workers, people had to find their own way around the city. It was really scary for that entire week and as I expected, several women were s*xually assaulted and they were all African-American. None of these women had a weapon. A young White woman in the suburbs was attacked, but she fought back and got away ONLY because she had a PEPPER SPRAY! We as women are responsible for our own personal safety. African-American women in Philadelphia are more concerned about their PERSONAL appearance than their own personal SAFETY and that's sad. Maybe if I gave away a pack of Yaki #4 with a pepper spray........!
