Brian Choi owns a grocery shop on the tough streets of Atlanta's West End. Along with other Korean business owners, he has often been assailed for allegedly overcharging blacks and not giving enough back to the community. He has been cursed at and boycotted by customers, and in 1992 he was even shot at close range by a black assailant who was robbing his store.

Choi decided to give two poor black kids in the neighborhood a break by offering them after-school jobs bagging groceries and carrying them for customers in exchange for tips. The two had been idling around the store for some time offering to help in various ways, and Choi made sure it okay with the boys' parents. But when the Labor Department got wind of the informal arrangement, which violated child labor and minimum wage laws, they fined Choi $1,500 and required him to pay over $5,000 in back wages. Choi then had to let the kids go, and now says he is out of the business of trying to help people.

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