At the end of each day, my limbs were shaky and hurting from labor my body was not used. I had dreamed of a day when I could have my own store, but now watching the LA riots, I wondered whether we ever would be welcome here. After that day, it was difficult to heal my wounded soul. I decided it was best to avoid African Americans. A year after the LA violence, a neighbor came to me and asked whether I would be interested in taking over a dry-cleaning business that was about to close.
Nobody wants to be in a black neighborhood.
But as days passed, my thoughts about African Americans kept bothering me. Black skin doesn't mean bad. Buying the store might be God's challenge to my faith, I thought. When I shared my plans with my family and friends, everyone was against it, but I trusted that life belongs to God. I opened the dry cleaners on Chicago s Southside with prayer, and I read my Bible daily.