1001 Black Men–#669

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Outside Nasan Market, 34th and Adeline, Oakland, CA.

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The corner outside the Nasan market is all the way live, especially mid-morning, when the folks selling scrap metal, glass, and plastic at Alliance Recycling are stopping in for food and beverages on their way back out to San Pablo. On some corners in West Oakland, outside some corner stores, men tend to gather in the early evening, after a long day of work or a long day of looking for work. At these intersections, hanging out is an end-of-day, time-to-relax kind of thing. Outside Nasan market, though, a lively street corner means the work day has just begun. The nights there are relatively quiet, but daytime is when the block is alive with the men and women–mostly men, though, and mostly Black–who eke out a living from the things that Oakland throws away.

Ajuan Mance

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