Are Africans-American invisible within the Weakley County community?

In my opinion, African-Americans are very much invisible in this county.

This is not an issue I take lightly. I am a senior who has spent all my college experience here in Weakley County, and I have felt invisible my entire stay here.

Being from a larger area could be part of the problem, but I think it’s much more than that.

The very first thing I noticed about the county is the movie theater Cine.

It may just be my opinion, but African-American movies don’t make it to the big screen too often here in Martin nor do they make it to Union City.

So, I decided to take it upon myself and see why this was the case. I made a call to the manager of Cine just to ask a few questions about African-American films being played at their theatre.

The answer I received was well-rehearsed, as if they knew one day someone would want to know this very thing. The manager replied to me, “We do play movies that have African-Americans within them. It doesn’t matter to us who’s in them, we are only concerned about how much money that movie will bring in.”

I replied back and said “I have seen a few movies with African-Americans, but they only play for a weekend and something else replaces it.”

I also went on by letting the manager know there have been many movies with African-Americans that have been ranked number one or two in the box office and for some reason still don't make it here.

Another thing that has come to my attention that neither Wal-Mart nor Super Wal-mart sells Ebony, Essence or JET magazines. However, they do sell quite a few Black Hair magazines. Is that all we are about, how our hair looks? I guess we don’t want to know what’s going on in the world around us, as far as politics and other issues of the world that African-Americans are facing.

However, I will hand it to E.W. James I can rely on them to have Essence and Ebony in stock each month.

And for that, I give them the majority of my business. These are a few things that I have noticed around Weakley County area.

However, there are others I have picked upon.

I mean this is my opinion and I am not asking anyone to agree. But I have another incident for you!

Have you ever walked in Wal-Mart behind someone of another race and that person who greets at the door says to them, “HELLO.”

You, however, are just a couple of steps back and as you walk in, there is not a single word.

There is just a look, it’s not a mean look, but it is not one of a welcome. This is not every time I walk into Wal-Mart, but I have had this occur to my friends and I several times.

UTM is the reason I am here in Weakley County. And my goal here is to receive the best education I possibly can.

However, it rattles my cage to know that I pay taxes here in Weakley county, and I support the local businesses here, as many of us do.

The Wal-Mart, theatre, fast food places and gas stations all get my business.

And yet we as African-Americans are sometimes treated like outcasts or strangers in a new land at some of these local places. Not all of the places in Weakley County, but there are many!

Most of my article has been very negative about Weakley County, but it is all true in my eyes.

However, I would like to take my hat off to SAC and the reason is they show a variety of movies.

And I feel they do this because they know that there are a variety of people on campus.

I only wish in time, Weakley County will realize that there are a variety of people who live within the community, who happen to have different cultures and views.

A community is an environment that is grouped with many different cultures and races.

And I believe that the community should make each person of a different culture and race feel as if they are part of the community, in which they live and not visitors from a far exotic land.

Or in my case just plain old invisible.

Valerie Pruitt is a senior communications major from Memphis.