America loves community organizers so much, we put one in the White House and we’re keeping him there for at least eight years. And now, here’s another reason organizers of communities are so great!
You’d think Trader Joe’s and Portland would go together like TJ’s fair-trade peanut butter and TJ’s organic, cruelty-free jelly. Not so, according to Jon Gabriel at Ricochet.com:
Trader Joe’s wanted to build a new store in Portland, Oregon. Instead of heading to a tony neighborhood downtown or towards the suburbs, the popular West Coast grocer chose a struggling area of Northeast Portland…
Then some community organizers caught wind of it.
The fact that most members of the Portland African-American Leadership Forum didn’t live in the neighborhood was beside the point…
After a few months of racially tinged accusations and angry demands, Trader Joe’s decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. “We run neighborhood stores and our approach is simple,” a corporate statement said. “If a neighborhood does not want a Trader Joe’s, we understand, and we won’t open the store in question.”
Hours after Trader Joe’s pulled out, PAALF leaders arrived at a previously scheduled press conference trying to process what just happened. The group re-issued demands that the now-cancelled development include affordable housing, mandated jobs based on race, and a small-business slush fund. Instead, the only demand being met is two fallow acres and a lot of anger from the people who actually live nearby.
Portland. Out of all the places in the U.S. where Trader Joe’s wants to expand, they got chased out of Portland.
A successful business and its customers are punished for daring to practice capitalism unfettered by a bunch of left-wing demands. The people who would’ve built and operated the business in that neighborhood now won’t have those jobs. Job creation, hello? People living nearby will have one less place to buy affordable food. (Remember this story the next time some lefty complains about “food deserts.”) Inevitably, the victims of this stupidity are the ones who’ll be blamed for it somehow.
And all they get in return is a stupid press conference from a bunch of pompous, corrupt, racebaiting morons who have no idea what they’re talking about, complaining about something they destroyed.
It’s 2014 America in microcosm. Congratulations. Welcome to the future!
