October 24th - Gene Parks

The entryway to Stewart’s Home Furnishings in Dothan, Alabama looks like most other craft and furniture stores in the American South. Ornate lighting fixtures and streak free mirrors take up space on the walls and the floor is covered with seasonal decorations; red Christmas like ornaments, orange and yellow leaves and baskets full of home decor accessories.

Gene Parks at Stewarts Home Furnishings in Dothan on October 24th, 2008

Gene Parks, a 47-year-old father of four, has worked 35 hours a week at Stewart’s for the last five months and drives over 50 miles everyday to earn $7.50 an hour prepping furniture and making deliveries. According to Parks, it’s a tough gig and simply not enough money to make a living.

“How am I suppose to get by? How are poor people expected to improve if they get paid 250 dollars a week?” Parks said. “I got the gas bill, rent, light bill, cable and I ain’t even been to the grocery store yet, never mind the price of gas.”

Parks, who was enlisted in the National Guard for 13 years, says that he doesn’t drift from job to job, and that he’s a dependable worker, “Oh, I can work a job,” he said. But he does value his labor at 10-15 dollars an hour, or as he described it a “living wage.”

Parks thinks that there needs to be protections built in for the poor of the country, but says that they have to be willing to work to make a living, like he was taught at an early age.

“I’ve never been willing to sit down and get wealthy,” Parks said. “My mama always taught me to work till the day I die or until the day I cry.”

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