Shoplifters Among Us

 The bodega across the street shuts down every day when school ends. As groups of teens walk down the street to the subway the bodega doors lock up. A bodega further up the block allows people to order, but only from a window. 

When I was in middle school I took a private bus home from school. Occasionally, the bus would stop at a 7-11 for snacks. I became aware that some of the students were using the moment of chaos -when 20 teens bursts through the door of a shop- to shoplift. Most of us did not. We purchased our snacks. But we became unwitting accomplishes and a cover for a few. Some of the shoplifting students came from poor families, but most did not. I didn't understand the logic. Maybe it was the thrill of not paying. Maybe it was the racial disparity of the students being mostly Black and the shop owners usually being Asian and South Asian. 

One time when we got out of a 7-11 and back into the bus there was a moment when the bus driver was still inside the store, and an argument ensued. I don't know who started it (pretty sure it was the moral compass of the group who was a fearless Black girl) but they asked 'why are you taking that shit?' And the majority of the bus responded 'yeah, it's annoying...it's embarrassing...I hate it.' The shoplifters would call us punks and sell-outs and losers. They cursed the shop owners for being rich or Asian or white or whatever. There was no apology but always a pivot. We were race traitors, the shop owners were rich, we have to stick together. And the majority would grumble and fall silent. 

One day I didn't go into 7-11 when the bus stopped. I said that I wasn't hungry but I just didn't want to be apart of the shoplifter's cover. Then another person declined going inside. Soon, half the bus wasn't going into the bodega. The bus driver started to wonder what was going on but we would just sit silently and sulk. Finally, the driver figured it out or the shopkeeper complained. The bus driver was an older Black woman. She yelled at us...all of us. "You going do this shit to me?!? No...we fought too hard and long for our rights and..." she went on and on. The shoplifters blended back into the crowd who were mostly innocent but also unwilling to snitch. 

We lost our 7-11 privileges. No more stops. We all got punished. Most of us were innocent. Most of us were upset. The bus driver cursed us out. But we stayed silent. I always think of that as a political allegory. When I think about murdering cops hiding amongst the silent majority of colleagues that know better, or the vast majority of Republicans who hate the radical right but just grumble under their breath, or any identity-based system in which the most radical element bullies the majority into being a cover for their bad behavior. It only takes a few.

And now I stare out my window every day as shopkeepers close up shop. Most of the teens probably want to buy something, but the store is closed to everyone.