As the world waits to see what President-elect Barack Obama will do to address the global economic crisis, the election of the first African American president has already had an immediate fiscal impact on one street vendor in Brooklyn.
Lateef Jawara sells hand-made decorative light switch plates, including several versions that feature President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters.
Jawara recently moved his business to the corner of Court and Joralemon Streets in downtown Brooklyn after finding that he could not earn enough money from his longtime location on Utica Avenue, not far from his home in Crown Heights. Business improved and then boomed right after Election Day.
"On the night he was declared winner, I screamed," Jawara said. "The next day my throat was hoarse I wanted the whole world to hear me."
He said that dozens of people stopped by his table to look at his Obama light switch plates on the day after the election despite rain falling from the sky. "I am selling because there is an Obamamania going on in this country. Before, I was selling three to four Obama pieces, now I am selling over 10 per day."
Jawara estimates that he will sell on a daily basis around 30 of his decorative light switch plates priced between eight and twelve dollars apiece. The $350 in daily sales at Court Street is a significant improvement compared to the $150 he brought home from his previous spot at Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.
"Coming here to Borough Hall represents moving on and making progress, in my business and in my life," says Jawara on a recent warm October afternoon as he stood behind his table, sandwiched between a vendor selling used religious books and another man selling Swiss potato peelers from a suitcase.
Born in Jamaica, Jawara, 48, arrived in the United States when he was just twelve, settling in Flatbush with his parents. He now lives in Crown Heights with his wife, Elizabeth Atkins, who works for the New York City Administration for Children's Services as a family counselor. The couple has one child together. Jawara has six other children ranging in age from 10 years to 30 years old from previous marriages.
Jawara started out as silversmith, creating original pieces of jewelry and selling them at shows around the country as well as in New York. Three years ago, he began crafting custom light switch covers. Selling his products on the street, Jawara would roll a hand truck loaded with his table and merchandise to Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway, just a few blocks from his home on the other side of Lincoln Terrace Park. He quickly became friends with other vendors in his neighborhood such as Yvonne Bascom, who continues to sell umbrellas on this corner after 17 years, the last ten of which she shared with Jawara.
