I was exhausted by the assault and battery of this past political election.  Battered and bruised by political tomfoolery, I had vowed to watch HGTV for the rest of my days carefully plotting my escape to a simpler life.

Let me say up front, I am no expert on poverty. By that I mean that I am not a statistician or a sociologist, nor do I belong to any related group considered fluent in the language of poverty. I am, however, a business owner in Harlem, which led me to my Gandhi moment of discovery and enlightenment.

This past spring, before protesters occupying the financial capital of the world captured all our imaginations, the Village of Hempstead made a decision to stand with the 99 percent in our community when we voted to close our account with JP Morgan Chase.