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RACE

Why Fani Willis Pays with Cash

Spoiler alert: It’s a Black thing.

Marlon Weems
The Journeyman.
Published in
7 min readMar 8, 2024
Fulton County, Georgia Fani Willis. Photo credit: Alex Slitz/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Design via Canva

Back when I worked in Arkansas, I dropped by the home of an aunt and uncle for lunch. The pair lived across the Arkansas River in a town once called Argenta, now known as North Little Rock.

The trip was a five-minute drive from my job, and the ham sandwich and syrupy-sweet glass of tea that awaited me was well worth the trip. As I chatted with my uncle, my aunt entered the room, with a request. “I need you to help me move some things in the bedroom,” she said.

Upon entering the bedroom, my aunt motioned to a chest of drawers against a wall. I assumed she needed a strong back to rearrange the item of furniture. Instead, she opened one drawer, then another, revealing their contents. The dresser drawers were stuffed with draw-stringed bags of coins, each labeled with the denomination of its contents.

Some contained nickels, others dimes or quarters. Several were stuffed with Kennedy half-dollars. “Would you carry these bags to the car?” my aunt asked. “They’re too heavy for me and your uncle.” They planned to exchange the coins for dollars at a nearby bank.

Once I lugged the cache of coins to the trunk of their Lincoln Town Car, I cautioned my aunt on the wisdom of keeping more than a thousand dollars…

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The Journeyman.
The Journeyman.

Published in The Journeyman.

The Journeyman. is published by Marlon Weems, a former Wall Street trader, capital markets subject matter expert. His writing covers themes at the intersection of politics, the economy, and racial inequality.c

Marlon Weems
Marlon Weems

Written by Marlon Weems

Storyteller. I write about American culture and growing up Black in the South.

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