#1 The Layaway Plan

Ok, Black people, please do not get mad at me for this because I am telling the honest-to-God truth. You know this. I know this. If you are a black person from the U.S., an African-American, chances are you or someone you know has and/or will put something on lawaway. And it's no coincidence that I put the layaway plan as the first entry on my list because when I think of a list of things that Black people like, putting things on layaway is one of the first things that comes to mind. That's just how it is.

Don't get me wrong, there are many well-to-do African Americans who can afford to pay for all their clothes and other layawayable (yes, I said layawayable) items upfront, but let me tell you, a large majority of Black people in the U.S. have or will, at some point in their life, put something on layaway or will have known someone who has put something on layaway.

Why am I claiming that this trait is characteristic of so African-Americans?  Because I know what I'm talking about.  How do I know what I'm talking about?  Because I'm Black and I've met many other Black people who have put stuff on layaway.  Hell . . . even I've put stuff on layaway. It took place a long, long time ago when I was a teenager. I was still in high school and I wanted this really nice Nautica Challenger© coat. It was yellow and it had Nautica Challenger© written across one of the sleeves. This type of jacket was extremely popular among young people in the 90s. For some odd reason, I felt that I just had to buy it. I didn't have all the money to pay for it up front, but I wanted it so very badly, so I put it on layaway and decided to pay the rest of what I owed later when I got the money to do so. I think I was working at one of those hamburger joints at the time.

Now, for all those non-Black people who are out there reading this post, don't go asking all of your "real" or "trophy" black friend(s) it they've ever put anything on layaway. You may run the risk of losing your friendship(s) by seeming racist, ignorant and/or insensitive. If you want to talk about Black people in reference to the layaway plan, it's better to bring it up in a more roundabout, more indirect fashion. Like bringing up the fact that someone else besides the Black person(s) you're hanging with put something on layaway. This will almost always make the black person you're with talk about how Black people love to put stuff on layaway.

Why do so many Black people put stuff on layaway? It's very simple. It's so simple to the point that it almost seems like the layaway plan was invented by some ingenious Black woman who sold the rights to this idea to some large conglomerate retail company just like how many medical researchers give up the rights to their inventions to pharmaceutical companies.

Black people love the layaway plan because many of them (just like most Americans) live from pay check to pay check and they have to make ends meet and, like the infamous Tupac Shakur used to say in one of his rap songs, many of them have to "make a dollar out of fifteen cents." In other words, they have to make their dollar stretch as much as it can so that they can buy more using less money.

The layaway plan is also popular because it allows Black people to feel that they can technically have what they want right now. In reality, it simply allows many Black people to afford to pay for things that they could not pay for up front. It makes the Black person feel like the item they put on layaway is kinda sorta theirs even though they know that they still have to make the payments on the item.

When Black people put something on layaway, it's usually clothes or some large very expensive product like a big screen TV. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that Black people love clothes and love to dress and look sharp or real hip. The whole philosophy behind this idea is that people have to where clothes and if you have to wear clothes, you might as well look good with what you have on. It is important for a Black person to look and dress sharp because he or she will also think very highly of his or herself, especially with regard to how they look. In this case, the clothes make the man or, in other cases, the man makes the clothes.

Also, Black people (and some white people too) . . . have you ever gone to a high-end store with one of your Black friends or relatives only to discover that your friend or family member wants to try to put something on layaway at that store? Many Black people will actually go to high-end stores and actually expect to be able to put something on layaway there if they believe it is possible that the store might have a layaway plan. Like I said, it is very likely that you may have gone through the agonizing experience of watching your friend, cousin, or aunt at a Nordstrom's, a Filene's, or a Neiman Marcus asking if he or she could put something on layaway.  Okay, I am finishing talking now . . .