An 'agent for change' who has made her name as a community activist/organizer/advocate in the South Bronx, then parlays it into a pricey consulting business, now finds herself on the receiving end of comments she herself once hurled at an adversary. In 1999, she shouted at members of another community group, South Bronx Clean Air Coalition, for supporting the proposal: “You are accepting money from them and playing their community partner.” That is exactly what some in the community are saying to Majora Carter now, as she is under contract with Fresh Direct to help bring their operation to the Bronx. By the way, until this flap hit the local media, Fresh Direct did not even do business in the Bronx, bringing a sense of elitism to the affair. From the Times article: Class implications idled near the surface: FreshDirect had become a hit with Manhattan residents who paid a premium to have their groceries dropped off at their doors, but it did not serve most of the Bronx, including the very streets where the government-subsidized headquarters were planned.
It is a sad reality of American business that impoverished and stressed communities are always considered as sources of labor, but not considered as potential markets.
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