Support Metro Foodland in Detroit! Support Black Business!

[Meddle]

I mean, the New Nation of Islam is the organization that aired the broadcast that Mr. Hooks was interviewed on.

So THEREFORE, the header says "New Nation of Islam".

So why would you include that? The opening post is so badly laid out, I couldn't make much sense of it at all. It looks like you just copied and pasted another web page without regard to formatting. It makes it look like the store is actively promoting that religion.

Did you get their [[NNI) permission to repost their graphics and content?

[CalvinJam]

So why would you include that? The opening post is so badly laid out, I couldn't make much sense of it at all. It looks like you just copied and pasted another web page without regard to formatting. It makes it look like the store is actively promoting that religion.

Did you get their [[NNI) permission to repost their graphics and content?

Now you're just saying random things because you just don't want to admit that you're wrong.

The New Nation of Islam is the organization that aired the broadcast.

So why wouldn't I put who the broadcast was aired by?

Don't you know that if I take content from a website or publication and post it without listing where I got it from - don't you know that's illegal?

I'm pretty sure that's illegal, but if it's not illegal, then I know for sure that it's unethical.

So why are you trying to tell me that I shouldn't include the source of the content that I posted?

Now you're asking me if I got permission from the New Nation of Islam to post the New Nation of Islam's graphics and content.

Well, genius, if you look down at the very bottom of my first post, you'll see where it says, "Please pass this message along."

That means, the New Nation of Islam is giving permission to people to pass it on through email, blogs, forums, or whatever other medium people choose.

See, you're just grasping at straws now. You're just too proud and arrogant to admit that you're wrong on this.

Now you want to nitpick things such as "the opening post is so badly laid out" and "did you get their permission to repost their graphics and content"?

[jpbollma]

Calvin,

Sorry I haven't been home to respond and am on a phone. I did watch the. Video which is why I said he is a nice and decent man. I've never shopped there because I've never lived in Detroit and won't until September. At that point I may check out the gentlemans store. My only point was that I didn't think te race/religion angle was needed to tell the mans history and inform about the store. Didn't mean to offend anyone.

[CalvinJam]

Calvin,

Sorry I haven't been home to respond and am on a phone. I did watch the. Video which is why I said he is a nice and decent man. I've never shopped there because I've never lived in Detroit and won't until September. At that point I may check out the gentlemans store. My only point was that I didn't think te race/religion angle was needed to tell the mans history and inform about the store. Didn't mean to offend anyone.

Jpbollma, thank you for the apology.

As you said, when you watch the video, you can see that Mr. Hooks is a nice and decent man.

I've never even met him personally, but when I just look at the store that he has and listen to his story, he's a great inspiration to me.

[mcsdetroitfriend]

So the fact that unemployment in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rates in other communities - That shouldn't be relevant to me?

I shouldn't even care about that? I shouldn't worry about that at all?

What he's getting at, and other's in the thread are getting at is you could've helped advertise the man's business in the same way, but with out categorizing his religious beliefs, or his race; they would've been interested regardless.

They're irked because you made a point to put those two facts in there like it mattered. When it comes down to it, as several people have stated, it really doesn't matter if the owner is black white yellow pink purple or red, follows God, the Devil, or any other deity, what matters to them are the products and all you had to do was make the same pitch with out the other stuff.

Peace and love

[DeFunk]

This is starting to get ridiculous. On both sides.

Just cool down Calvin just posted a story about the store that the new nation of islam happened to report about. Just like the Detroit News would have reported about a local business.

To make a point they also stated that Mr Hooks is the only black owner of a supermarket inside the city. Kinda significant in a city that is mostly black! Gets you thinking.

Nevertheless the first post does seem like copy and paste. I didnt see any connection with title of the post on first sight.

Next time you post an article similar to this, calvin, you should just put in an excerpt with a link to the original article and add some words of your own to the post. Thats how i see it done around here and in other forums.
Anyone interested will take the time to read and will lead to conversation...

[GUSHI]

Only black grocery store in the city that's head to believe, so all the other grocery stores are Chaldean owned, why aren't there more black owned businesses in the city,

[CalvinJam]

What he's getting at, and other's in the thread are getting at is you could've helped advertise the man's business in the same way, but with out categorizing his religious beliefs, or his race; they would've been interested regardless.

They're irked because you made a point to put those two facts in there like it mattered. When it comes down to it, as several people have stated, it really doesn't matter if the owner is black white yellow pink purple or red, follows God, the Devil, or any other deity, what matters to them are the products and all you had to do was make the same pitch with out the other stuff.

Peace and love

Well peace and love to you too, but you didn't read what I said - obviously.

Again, I never categorized the man's religious beliefs.

The man is not a Muslim. I never said he was a Muslim.

So why are you telling me that I categorized his religious beliefs?


The second thing is, you just told me that it doesn't matter if the owner is black, white, yellow, pink, purple or red; but wait a minute.

Again, the national unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rate in any other community.

The national average is 8.2%, but the unemployment rate in the Black community is approximately 15% [[or higher).

There are hundreds of supermarkets in the city of Detroit, which is a predominantly black city; but only one supermarket in the city is black-owned.

Now these are facts that you can go and verify for yourself. But for some reason, you and some of the other posters in this forum are "irked" that I'm merely voicing something that is verifiably true.

You're trying to tell me that those facts don't matter.

I mean, let me ask this: Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that the unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rates in other communities?

Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that Detroit is a predominantly Black city with hundreds of supermarkets, but only one of them is Black-owned?

[GUSHI]

There is jobs out there, a lot of Detroiter's don't care to work

[jpbollma]

Well peace and love to you too, but you didn't read what I said - obviously.

Again, I never categorized the man's religious beliefs.

The man is not a Muslim. I never said he was a Muslim.

So why are you telling me that I categorized his religious beliefs?


The second thing is, you just told me that it doesn't matter if the owner is black, white, yellow, pink, purple or red; but wait a minute.

Again, the national unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rate in any other community.

The national average is 8.2%, but the unemployment rate in the Black community is approximately 15% [[or higher).

There are hundreds of supermarkets in the city of Detroit, which is a predominantly black city; but only one supermarket in the city is black-owned.

Now these are facts that you can go and verify for yourself. But for some reason, you and some of the other posters in this forum are "irked" that I'm merely voicing something that is verifiably true.

You're trying to tell me that those facts don't matter.

I mean, let me ask this: Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that the unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rates in other communities?

Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that Detroit is a predominantly Black city with hundreds of supermarkets, but only one of them is Black-owned?

Since I do not live there yet, I have been trying to learn more about Detroit before I move. It is true that this is the only black supermarket. I had read that before. So that is definitely a fact.

[Detroitej72]

There is jobs out there, a lot of Detroiter's don't care to work

If your a Detroiter who can't afford a car[[which is a large number), how do you expect them to get out to the suburbs to find a job, by taking advantage of our great mass transit system?

[jpbollma]

If your a Detroiter who can't afford a car[[which is a large number), how do you expect them to get out to the suburbs to find a job, take advantage of our great mass transit?[[sarcasm)

Show me all the jobs within the city limits are.

That is a very good point. There will always be an element in our population that prefers not to work. Skill training, education, and transit are the keys to success but we have to have te funding for those things. I feel that this thread has really gone off topic. The guy seems to have a great store but once race/religion are brought in the topic always changes. That is why I recommended this tread could have been started on the business merits without that.

[Parkguy]

Concentrating on the store: the store is a fine business in the community. It is clean and well organized, and has a good selection of groceries. The owner has started a "healthy rewards" program that gives points and discounts based on the healthy foods you buy, and that encourages better food choices. The store is very walkable for Rosedale Park, and I'm glad the store is there. I shop there regularly.

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't care what color or religion Mr. Hooks associates himself with. We should support locally owned and operated businesses that employ residents of our metropolitan area and sell locally made goods. He has a very nicely run store and is all that I mentioned above. Who cares if the Nation of Islam supports him? We should also support him.

[GUSHI]

My parents took the bus or walked when they came here , why cant they,

here's a thought take the bus for a few months save some cash, buy a car,

JUST a thought

[jpbollma]

My parents took the bus or walked when they came here , why cant they,

here's a thought take the bus for a few months save some cash, buy a car,

JUST a thought

Gushi I would totally agree with you and I may be off base here since I haven't moved yet, but aren't the Detroit busses extremely unreliable? That's the impression I got

[antongast]

It's not relevant. If it's a good, clean, safe store with fresh product at good prices, I don't care if little green men from Mars own it.

You personally not caring about something isn't the same as it not being relevant. There are lots of threads on DetroitYes about subjects that I don't personally care about [[I don't think I've clicked on the Sports section once since I signed up here), but I don't go out of my way to post in each one of those threads and tell all the people discussing the topic that it isn't relevant because I don't care about it.

[mcsdetroitfriend]

What I'm saying is it feels like you've got a lot invested in this for never meeting the owner.

You could've just said "check out this awesome grocery store"

Well peace and love to you too, but you didn't read what I said - obviously.

Again, I never categorized the man's religious beliefs.

The man is not a Muslim. I never said he was a Muslim.

So why are you telling me that I categorized his religious beliefs?


The second thing is, you just told me that it doesn't matter if the owner is black, white, yellow, pink, purple or red; but wait a minute.

Again, the national unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rate in any other community.

The national average is 8.2%, but the unemployment rate in the Black community is approximately 15% [[or higher).

There are hundreds of supermarkets in the city of Detroit, which is a predominantly black city; but only one supermarket in the city is black-owned.

Now these are facts that you can go and verify for yourself. But for some reason, you and some of the other posters in this forum are "irked" that I'm merely voicing something that is verifiably true.

You're trying to tell me that those facts don't matter.

I mean, let me ask this: Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that the unemployment rate in the Black community is higher than the unemployment rates in other communities?

Could you explain to me why it shouldn't matter that Detroit is a predominantly Black city with hundreds of supermarkets, but only one of them is Black-owned?

[CalvinJam]

This is starting to get ridiculous. On both sides.

Just cool down Calvin just posted a story about the store that the new nation of islam happened to report about. Just like the Detroit News would have reported about a local business.

To make a point they also stated that Mr Hooks is the only black owner of a supermarket inside the city. Kinda significant in a city that is mostly black! Gets you thinking.

Nevertheless the first post does seem like copy and paste. I didnt see any connection with title of the post on first sight.

Next time you post an article similar to this, calvin, you should just put in an excerpt with a link to the original article and add some words of your own to the post. Thats how i see it done around here and in other forums.
Anyone interested will take the time to read and will lead to conversation...

Thank you, DeFunk for that. Next time I will create a better post that will be more easily understood.

I was not at all trying to make it seem as if Mr. Hooks was affiliated with the New Nation of Islam.

This post was about an interview that Mr. Hooks did with the Son of Man, the leader and teacher of the New Nation of Islam.


By asking people to support Metro Foodland, I didn't intend to create a racial conversation, because that's really not what this is about.

As someone else said, this is a business in the community. Regardless of who owns it, we should support it.

It's here, it's in the city limits, and it's creating jobs for people. Not just Black people, but everyone.

No, Mr. Hooks is not a Muslim, but I'm not going to let that keep me from patronizing his store.

I'm a Muslim, and I'm not going to boycott Metro Foodland just because Mr. Hooks is not a Muslim.

As the Son of Man himself said upon reading some of your comments, we are trying to support the good in the community.

Anything that's here, that's benefiting the people, we want to support that.

So again, I do apologize for any confusion that may have taken place, as a result of how I posted this.

And I do appreciate the constructive criticism that many of you offered.

[CalvinJam]

What I'm saying is it feels like you've got a lot invested in this for never meeting the owner.

You could've just said "check out this awesome grocery store"

Well, I have a lot invested in the community. That's all I'm trying to say.

That's the only point that I wanted to make with this entire post - We have to support the good people and good things in our community that are benefiting us.

That's what the Son of Man teaches. It doesn't matter if it's Black or White owned - if it's something that is benefiting us [[people period), then we should support it.

[Zacha341]

zzz-ZZ-z relative to NNOI... ... .

Great news relative to thriving 'full-service' grocery store within the city limits! That's a feat alone withstanding the 'baggage' per this specific promotion and the challenges business endure on so many levels.

They've been there a while and I hope they continue and thrive.

I've shopped there in the past. Would do so more, but not in my area of frequency.

[CalvinJam]

I don't care what color or religion Mr. Hooks associates himself with. We should support locally owned and operated businesses that employ residents of our metropolitan area and sell locally made goods. He has a very nicely run store and is all that I mentioned above. Who cares if the Nation of Islam supports him? We should also support him.

And that's all I've been trying to say.

Yes, the Son of Man and the New Nation of Islam supports Metro Foodland even though Mr. Hooks is not a Muslim.

The fact that he is not a Muslim doesn't matter to us.

Regardless of that, he's someone in our community that is trying to make the community better.

We all should support him.

[Zacha341]

I'm not the one to make excuses for the 'segment' of folk who have little ambition to improve their lot, be it school, work or training! But hoping on the bus is not so easy... for anyone!

I too rode the buses as a child, with parents, and later as a teen and a bit in my early 20's. Have been driving since thankfully as bus transportation has become increasingly unreliable and haggard over the last 25 years.

As a teacher at a suburban community college, I've had hard working, serious students struggle to get to class and then back home or to work on the buses [[DOT and SMART).

Wait times are well beyond acceptable. Miss a bus connection, and you are done, three hours later - late to your destination.

To 'confirm' what I was hearing and seeing I was in between cars for a couple of months and had my taste of it personally. I was barely able to get to class ahead of my students! Had to take cabs often or get a ride until I purchased a replacement car.

The bus systems as it stands now is not reliable transportation. I hear some jobs are asking if you drive, if the answer is no, sometime that impacts their choice to hire you.

Good this store is thriving as everyone cannot get out to suburban grocery stores. And I am tired of the grim-grime grocers with their 'captive audience' approach to quality and pricing!

My parents took the bus or walked when they came here , why cant they,

here's a thought take the bus for a few months save some cash, buy a car,

JUST a thought

[Zacha341]

What does Islam have to do with this? World Islam does not consider NOI or NNOI Islamic. They consider it as urban American religious 'construct'.

And that's all I've been trying to say.

Yes, the Son of Man and the New Nation of Islam supports Metro Foodland even though Mr. Hooks is not a Muslim.

The fact that he is not a Muslim doesn't matter to us.

Regardless of that, he's someone in our community that is trying to make the community better.

We all should support him.

[CalvinJam]

What does Islam have to do with this? World Islam does not consider NOI or NNOI Islamic. They consider it as urban American religious 'construct'.

Zacha341, that's been my whole point.

Islam has nothing at all to do with Mr. James Hooks or Metro Foodland.

Again, he's not a Muslim.

He was just interviewed by the Son of Man, who is the leader and teacher of the New Nation of Islam.

The New Nation of Islam supports good endeavors in the community.

As far as what you're saying about World Islam, you're bringing up some very good points.

In fact, Dahwud McCray, who is of the World Islamic faith, will be a guest on the Son of Man's broadcast tomorrow night [[Friday night at 9 PM eastern).

Mr. McCray [[who is an Orthodox Muslim) wants to question the Son of Man on his support of Metro Foodland, and he also wants to question the Son of Man about things that he teaches.

The Son of Man has said many times that if he is wrong, then he hopes that someone will correct him.

Mr. McCray feels that the Son of Man is wrong on many of the stances that he [[the Son of Man) has taken. He also feels that the New Nation of Islam as a whole is wrong.

Mr. McCray is going to take advantage of this opportunity to show the Son of Man the error of his ways.

This is going to be broadcast on WHPR 88.1 FM & UHF TV33/Comcast 20.

Again it starts at 9 PM eastern.

If you are unable to watch it on TV or listen to it on radio, you can call this conference call # [[this is just a regular long-distance number):

[[712) 432-0075
access code 912932#

This is not a closed forum. You will be able to unmute your phone by pressing *6 if you want to voice a disagreement with the Son of Man.

You can find out more about this by calling [[601) 786-9788.