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Ajuan Mance, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Fruitvale, Oakland

1001 Black Men–#618

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Bay Area Rapid Transit (or BART) brings me in contact with a broader cross-section of the Bay Area population than just about any other place or public service. In some regions, the public bus system and the public schools serve as that great aggregator of all humanity; but, due to the dramatic class segregation in Oakland and San Francisco, public buses and public schools tend–in both cases–to bring together those who cannot afford a private alternative. BART is one of the few entities that brings together not only a wide range of races, but a wide range of classes, as well. The appeal of quick and convenient travel between the East Bay and San Francisco attracts travelers of all stripes, and the range of ages, classes, subcultures and genders I encounter on the trains between Oakland and San Francisco feels like a truly representative sampling of the region’s much-touted diversity.

The next several drawings reflect the range of men I encountered on a recent trip from Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland to 24th and Mission St. in San Francisco.

Ajuan Mance

Ajuan Mance, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Fruitvale, Oakland

1001 Black Men–#617

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On Thursday evening, I took the bus to the Fruitvale BART station, and then I took BART to the Mission district in San Francisco. The man in this drawing got on at the West Oakland stop. I was fascinated by his puffy little pom-pom of a beard. That and his sideburns seemed to be the only hair he could grow on his face, and yet he had a quiet confidence that transcended the particulars of his grooming. You know a brother is cool if he makes a pom-pom beard look fly.

Ajuan Mance

Ajuan Mance, Alameda, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Black Men, Old Black Men

1001 Black Men–#616

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This is the face of a not-so-happy older guy who apparently agreed to accompany his wife on a trip to the craft store. I remain quite amused by the fact that craft stores are so very gendered. Like their male-associated counterpart, the hardware store, the products that craft stores sell are essentially gender neutral; and yet their clientele is anything but. And, to be perfectly honest, hardware stores are not the bastions of maleness and masculinity that they used to be. Take a trip to Home Depot or Ace some time. If you’re there on a weekday, you’ll probably notice that, while most of the contractors who shop at the hardware store are men, the amateurs–the shoppers who are preparing for a do-it-yourself home improvement project or repair–are pretty much all over the gender spectrum. The gender of craft store shoppers, on the other hand, seems to have changed very little since the mid-70s, when craft mega-stores like Michael’s first appeared. No matter where I go, from the Bible belt to the Bay Area, the craft stores are filled with women and girls; but men (and even masculine women) are conspicuously absent. One hypothesis is, of course, that femininity is less fragile than masculinity and, thus, women feel freer to cross gender lines into traditionally male activities like carpentry and plumbing than men feel about crossing into traditionally female activities like quilting and scrapbooking.

Whether or not this is the entirely true, I can say that the man in this drawing, seemed almost comically uncomfortable in his craft store surroundings. While his wife browsed rather leisurely through the Halloween-themed fabric squares, he stood frowning, with his hands awkwardly hanging at his sides, seemingly afraid to even touch anything in the store.

Ajuan Mance

Ajuan Mance, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Black Men, Oakland

1001 Black Men–#615

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If the number of unemployed and underemployed men asking for food or money outside my local grocery is any measure of the economy, then times are pretty tough. There are more than twice as many people asking for money outside the store than there were even a year ago. And, despite the news of an impending recovery, the number of these men has increased dramatically in just the last two to three months.

As the number of homeless men seeking donations from shoppers has increased, the patience of the customers appears to be wearing thin. When asked for money, most people just keep walking. The number of people who react with anger or frustration, however, seems to be increasing. When approached by a gentleman asking to wash his car windows for spare change, the man in this drawing said nothing, but the curl in his lip made his annoyance quite clear.

The tension between the shoppers and the mostly homeless, mostly African American men who ask them for donations is almost inevitable. I certainly understand the need of Oakland’s most marginalized residents to be able to feed themselves, and when the social safety net has failed you, you really have little recourse but to ask for money from strangers. At the same time, I also understand the frustration of those who are confronted with requests for donations, but who may themselves be struggling financially. Shared financial woes can end up being more divisive than unifying, at least in this case.

Ajuan Mance

Ajuan Mance, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Cafe, Oakland

1001 Black Men–#610

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Peet’s Coffee and Tea, Fruitvale Ave., Oakland, CA.

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Saturday morning at Peet’s on Fruitvale Avenue is so absolutely, positively Oakland! The use of Oakland as an adjective is intentional, because there’s really no better better way to describe the atmosphere of this place (at this time and on this day). If there is a single language, ethnicity, age, religious group, or subculture that is not represented in this crowd, I can’t imagine what it might be. And the diversity is present on both sides of the counter, among the patrons as well as the employees. There are almost as many dads with strollers or baby wraps as there are moms equipped with the same; and, for a small space in which accidentally elbowing someone else is almost inevitable, the mood is surprisingly light and forgiving. People’s smiles seem to say, “It’s Saturday morning at Peet’s, and it’s all good.”

Ajuan Mance

Ajuan Mance, Art, Black Men, African American, Artist, Oakland

1001 Black Men–#609

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The Walgreens on the corner of High and Redding has got to be one of the busiest stores of its kind. There is always a long line, and the line always moves slowly. On those days when I have no more emails to read and no more iPhone games that need tending, I pass the time in that line just looking around and absorbing the particular brand of diversity that reveals itself in this little corner of Oakland.

The man in this drawing is one of those folks who comes to Walgreens to buy his groceries. I don’t mean that he drops into the store to pick up a couple of items that he forgot to grab at the local supermarket. For a lot of complicated and not-so-complicated reasons, a number of folks in the neighborhood find Walgreens to be the best place to purchase not only their snacks and soft drinks, but also their staples. This says a lot about the poor selection of foods available at so many of the corner stores in our city. If Walgreens has a better food selection than your corner grocery store, then your local grocer is probably not prioritizing the selling of food … but I’ll bet he sure stocks a wide array of liquors.

Ajuan Mance