My Name is Jade

You’d be amazed at the things you may be over looking. Home purchase, car rental, haircuts and car purchases are or can be nothing more than a legitimizing face to something that is truly far different from what it looks like on the outside. I mean come on, we (black people) know that most (if not all) barber shops is the place you go to get a hook up on anything you want or need. You need music, you hit the shop. You need clothes, you hit the shop. You need movies, you hit the shop. You need purses, hair, jewelry, weed or whatever, you hit the shop. Sorry shop owners but yawl know and yawl also know that that is not a secret. I mean the shop is life line to what’s going on. You have to be able to walk in a shop and it feel like “cheers”, where everyone knows your face and not your “real” name lol. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some legit businesses out there but huh, well you know. Ok, so what’s my point to all this? Well my first big “break” came from the barber shop and from that break came others. Out of all the breaks I’ve come across, there was one that crossed boarders and it came in the form of a used car lot. Now we’ve all seen the buy here pay here spots with the luxury cars that will give you financing even with no proof of income. You bring cash, you ride! Man you gotta love America. I mean where else can you walk into a dealership with nothing but cash and drive out with a Benz, Jag or whatever else you’d like? Heck, in some cases you don’t even need a driver’s license; you just need a name and a “pass”. Now people please don’t walk into a dealership and say you gotta a pass and want a car, cause your feelings might get hurt. For those of you that know what I mean when I say a “pass”, you know what I mean, but for those that don’t, it is basically credit by name alone but that name is understood to be good for it. So there I was in need or more in want of something new to drive around in and found myself sitting in Mr. Mohammad’s office being given the choice of whatever I wanted. Mr. Mohammad was a very successful “dealer” (cars) with ties to “dealers” that could get pretty much anything he wanted. I remember him so well because he didn’t say much, he just nodded his head or gave a look and people knew what he meant. There wasn’t a sense of power or ownership, it was more an understanding. For some reason he took to me and embraced me and with that my name was truly born and even today it still is. My name is Jade……. While I obviously change the names of people and businesses I will give a little hint to today’s story…… This business shares the name of the greatest one of all time and I was next door to it today (5-25-11).