TROUBL

True corner store connoisseurs know where Lemonheads stand in the Hoodsnacks™ hall of fame. On my all-time list they rank somewhere between “Now Laters” and licorice. Developed in 1962 from the same formula that brought us Red Hots, Lemonheads have become one of the most successful candies of its time. Ferrara Pan, the company the produces Lemonheads, says it makes approximately 500 million per year.

When I was young, It seemed like we ate somewhere near that total. Not only were Lemonheads cheap, they were the good. And not only that, but when you finished, you could turn the box into your own homemade kazoo. Still, the most important feature about Lemonsheads is the amount of candy packed into one small box. With a single box you could suck on one and ration the rest for later. You could crunch your way through a box. Or, you could share them with your friends and not be left unsatisfied. I recently had an experience that shed light on this key feature of Lemonheads and power of Hoodsnacks™ in general.

While driving though Birmingham Alabama for a friends wedding, we stopped at roadside gas station. My homie pumped the gas, while I dipped inside for a snack. I selectively weeded through the assortment of candies until I came upon the store’s selection of Hoodsnacks™. I grabbed one pack of 25 cent Boston Baked Beans and one pack of Lemonheads and proceeded to the counter. When I approached the counter, I was surprised at the suggestion offered by the cashier, a white dude, who was as country as they come. “You should the new Chewy Lemonhead,” he said in his thick, “Bama “drawl.

“Did you say Chewy Lemon Heads,” I responded.

“Yeah,” he said before escorting me down the candy aisle. Never wanting to pass on a new Hoodsnack, I replaced my box of “regular” Lemonheads with the new chewy joints.

I paid 50 cent, and jokingly thinking that the cashier wouldn’t understand me, thanked him by saying, “Good looking. You just put me on to a new official Hoodsnack.”

To my surprise, he understood, laughed and responded, “Most certainly.”

I left the store happy, but not because I had two boxes of my favorite candy. I was happy because my brief interaction with the cashier helped changed a long existing view that I held of the south. Being from the west coast, I imagined Birmingham, AL to be stuck in the civil rights days of black versus white. I not only expected a big separation in culture, but I also expected conflict. In an instant, I peered into the progress that has been made regarding race in this country.

I sat back, chewing on my Lemonheads and thinking about the struggle for freedom that took place decades before. I imagined the pain from the dog bites and the sting from the force of water being spayed at protestors 35 years prior. I thought about the four little girls whose lives were taken when a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church. And, I reflected on the words of Dr. Martin Luther King in his letter from Birmingham jail.

“…Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so…”

My first trip to Alabama, not only made me feel the of the civil right struggle it made me realize the large power in something as small and seemingly trivial as Hoodsnacks™. My thought raced to my memories of the many friend I made, sharing Hoodsnacks™ and working together to steal candy from the corner store. Just like S’mores and a campfire, or a blunt and some drank, Hoodsnacks™ provide that means to bond and reflect on the many candies, cookies, chips, cakes, sodas, memories, struggles and victories that make life in the hood just a little sweeter.