I did some grocery shopping in the predominantly Latino community of Arvin, California recently. I learned about La Raza Market from a local news story about previous sieges by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Arvin and surrounding areas. Their business was hurt by the climate of fear, and I wanted to help them in some way.
What took some courage on my part was to actually walk inside. In today’s climate of fear, I was unsure what the employees and clientele of La Raza Market would think of me, a perfect stranger who was obviously not a local resident.
I decided that this would be a good day to try it out. During the last ICE siege, the owner of La Raza Market told the interviewer that people whom he had never seen before had begun shopping there, buying goods for residents who were afraid to leave their homes. I decided to become one of those unfamiliar faces.
Taking the step
I was definitely the stranger, but I did not feel unwelcome. The store is very small, as one might expect, with a selection that in no way rivalled that of a familiar supermarket. One thing stood out: no packaged bread products like those found at supermarkets. They do all of their own baking.
I didn’t buy bread (yet), but I just started grabbing items off of the shelves and then made my way to the counter. Many of the prices weren’t marked, but I truly did not care. I expected them to be rather expensive, and the total at the register did not prove me wrong. But I wanted them to have my business, to make their lives a little bit better. For that purpose, the more expensive the better … to a point, of course.
The checker was courteous to this outsider, and I was on my way.
On the way home, I saw people working in the fields. That’s when I really started crying. They shouldn’t have to live in fear like that. They are just trying to exist and get by. I cried most of the way home.
It’s one thing to defend the interests and dignity of people in the abstract. How much legislative policy is enacted with no human contact with the people whom it affects? Most of it, I’m sure.
But this made it all real, interacting with the people who have to endure the worst of this evil.
I said to myself, “I’ll be back.” It felt very good.
From stranger to customer
And I did come back. Only this time, I wasn’t such a stranger anymore. They made me feel like I belonged.
This time, I knew where everything was. I noticed merchandise that I didn’t see the first time. Their credit card reader was out of order. Thankfully, my inner voice told me to bring cash, because I ended up needing it.
I like the little market. I am going to keep shopping there.