Daily Archives: June 25, 2012

Rising animosity toward African migrants in Israel has reached a boiling point. People were beaten on the streets, and their businesses were looted amid calls for the banning and deportations of Africans. Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians have likened migrant workers and small businesspeople from Africa to a “cancer” on society. Outside a fire-bombed building where 18 people live, racists had painted, “Get out of the neighborhood.”

I was dumb enough to quit a lifetime-guaranteed job with the government to start my own business. I was dumb enough to think, as an African American woman, I could compete with huge corporations for government contracts. Turns out I was smart enough after all. Smart enough to get contracts and smart enough to find people who knew what I did not know.