Fair Trade: The Inner City Flea Market as an United Nations

This was originally dropped at Originalthoughtmag.com. Check the mag out and check this out.

What the history books call the Age of Exploration, Original Indigenous People call the Ages of Colonization and Imperialism. What the history books call the Age of Discovery, Original Indigenous People call the Eras of chattel slavery and genocide. Those eras, for a moment in time, were put on pause (or rather transformed into something else) when World War I happened. The countries in Europe, which had been playing chess with the rest of the world, all of the sudden started fighting amongst each other. As a result of this tribal infighting in Europe they came up with the League of Nations which later morphed into the United Nations. Nowadays we tend to see it as an organization working to keep world peace yet in reality it was an attempt by falling empires to keep the pieces of the pie amongst them selves.

When politics and religion (yeah I said it) are kept out of the mix often times Original Indigenous people get along just fine. The multi-culturalistic diversity ploys that are put in place by governments many times have already been enacted by the people. Government doesn't want you to see that because that would mean that, dammit, you can do it on your own. In fact we do it on our own all of the time.

In New Haven we have our own Asiatic United Nations of Black, Brown and Yellow people right up in the hood. It's been there for years, months, and days. It's called the Flea Market. It's on Ella T. Grasso Blvd as you go out to the highway every Sunday and Saturday.

See, one of the secrets of peace is to find common ground. Merchants have always known this. Supply and demand. Find your niche. Build a repertoire with the people. Civilized commerce is the cornerstone of any civilization. When you add on the dimension of Original people elevation through cooperative economics is a must. That is why my dollar rotates amongst Original People at the Flea Market.

The first thing that you will find are the flags waving everywhere just like at the United Nations. I see various Caribbean flags, South American Flags, and West Indian Flags. I hear a multitude of languages from Spanish to Arabic to Chinese to Woloof. I see people getting along. Let me say that again. I see people getting along.

The other thing that is great is that usage of the commerce system of the United States yet the non dependence on it. For example everyone is using the dollar yet ain't no one charging tax. You can BARTER. You can buy in bulk. All of these elements give buyer and seller more latitude for the exchange to happen. Notice that having latitude to move is key in the art of peace.

With the amount of people in this one spot without ANY official security (cameras, policemen, security guards, etc) you would expect there to be HUGE problems. Nope. In fact the only time that I can recall there being anything out of order is when the policemen come.

I can spend all day at the Flea market (and I often do). It is the only place that I can get everything that I am looking for. I get that Black soap and Frankincense from the Rastas. I get some clean socks from the Indonesian Muslims. I can stock up on old kung fu flicks and get the latest mix cds of New Haven's finest. I can find the ILLEST wooden chess sets from the brothers from Senegal. Pants, shirts, jackets? I get those from the my people from Peru, Mexico, or China. THIS is the land of coconut milk and tupelo honey. Stock up now. Also take a dose of how to keep the peace amongst Original People with you on your way out.