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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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Broadcasting live from Lilโ€™ Ray-Rayโ€™s rigged satellite dish television network studio and home entertainment center, itโ€™s the Brotha Hustle TV Moment.

Brotha Hustle: โ€œWhile G.W. makes the world go โ€™round, V.P. Cheney stays out of sight and mind after that hunting accident, and Super Sista Condi travels the world in the name of peace, justice and the American way. Poor folk just wait. Drive through poor neighborhoods and see huddled masses of financially challenged individuals standing in long lines inside cramped, musty and filthy convenience stores. Working poor, jobless poor, โ€˜I need some money to surviveโ€™ poor wait to cash FEMA checks, pay high utility bills and purchase pork rinds, cigarettes and beer. It reminds me of Langston Hughesโ€™ poem โ€˜A Dream Deferred.โ€™

โ€œOn a more positive note, I used my pre-paid savings Visa card to purchase a used laptopโ€”with a WiFi cardโ€”and a refurbished Mr. Chi-Town hotdog bicycle cart, complete with credit card, check and bar-code scanners.

โ€œVery soon, I will incorporate my newly acquired devices into my mobile street-corner business to provide poor folk with an alternative to those long lines at the U-Tote-Em store. So please look for Brotha Hustleโ€™s Mobile Bill Payment Center and Convenience Store. Listen for my bicycle โ€˜honky hornโ€™ at a nearby WiFi hot spot somewhere around town and have your paperwork ready. Also, check out my โ€˜on-the-go-on-the-streetโ€™ electronic tax-filing service.

โ€œAnd I have plenty of ice cold juicy juice.โ€

Ken Stiggers is a TV producer and filmmaker in Jackson.

Previous Comments

Yes, our people do believe in multitasking!


My references for this column are the Barbershops in the black community. I remember growing up in Pittsburgh,Pa, when Mr. Scotts barbershop on Frankstown Ave. provided many services ranging from clothing items to collard greens, and he also owned the bar-be-que joint across from the State Store (ie Liquor Store…It’s a State of Pennsylvania thing)

MFP Solutions Lab logo

The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippiโ€™s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.