Kelton's Message to America

NUSRAT ON THE ROAD IN AMERICA.
Starting April 7, 2019 Nusrat is on the road in the American heartland visiting small towns, meeting ordinary people to bring their stories to the rest of country and the world.

Greensboro, Alabama

A particularly scenic stretch of Highway 61 North, title of a one of Bob Dylan’s best records (Highway 61 Revisited) leads to Greensboro, county seat of Hale County, a sweet, sleepy little town of 2,500 people, almost 25% of whom live below the poverty line. I don’t know why I am here except to meet Toyvian, the owner of God’s Gift Barbershop and his many clients who walk in- regular, hardworking black folks who want a haircut and some loving talk with the recovered-drug-addict-and-ex-convict-turned-pastor-and-community worker. One of his regulars is the reticent Kelton C, who I photograph as he got his hair trimmed by Toyvian and then taped a quick interview with him in the backroom with my iPhone.

The handsome and shy Kelton was born and brought up in Greensboro, is married and has a five-year-old daughter. His extended family of over a hundred members and their ancestors have lived in the city for over a century. Kelton owns a car detail shop a few blacks away and business is alright. He charges $20 for an inside/outside detailing but in a small town like this it’s not enough to sustain a business. He supplements his income by working in construction, repairing bridges in far-away towns for $14 an hour with no insurance. The work is extremely dangerous, he says and he has seen colleagues get injured and killed, with no compensation. But economic hardship and disparity a more bearable than the naked racism and humiliation Kelton has faced since childhood, even in this little town of 60% African-American families. When he was sixteen a group of white men threw a full can of beer in Kelton’s face, simply for being black. Apart from racism though, he loves Greensboro and is proud of being part of its community.

But Kelton’s not so sure about America. Not about the way the country is treating its immigrants and minorities, or about its minimum wage. What is his message to the country, I ask? “Keep God first, start working things out with words and keep the guns down, because too many people have died, he says and pauses. “And stop all these wars and get along with other countries.” He puts on his trucker hat and flashes me his big gangster smile and is gone.