Chalkboard Blues

The fact that Paula Deen is a racist should come as a surprise to no one. Just last year during a televised interview with the New York Times the Food Network host and self-described Belle of the South pulled the “some of my best friends are black” card stating there was a young man she considered “just like family”…wow look at me I’m White and accepting, ain’t I magnanimous. According to her the young man was “black as a chalkboard” but she didn’t see color at all. She had him come out to be introduced and asked him to move from in front of the chalkboard so people could see him…crickets chirping. Now some may find this funny, I don’t, but if she’s comfortable making these jokes on TV why wouldn’t she feel comfortable making the same racist comments she’s accused of in the lawsuit filed against her and her brother. The lawsuit alleges sexual harassment and a workplace environment where racial slurs were allegedly tolerated and described as quite common.

In an ill-conceived attempt to defend herself, Ms. Deen stated that of course she has used racial slurs as she was raised in the South over 60 years ago when such language was not only accepted but was the norm for the times…apparently she and her family were unaware of that pesky old civil rights movement taking place at the same time. So this woman who was born in 1946 and went through her teenage and formative adult years during the 1960s and early 70s, felt it was ok to use racial slurs because of where she was from even though there were huge changes happening all around her. Perhaps her family simply felt all that freedom riding Martin Luther King, Jr. bus boycotting nonsense just didn’t apply to them. Look if she wants to use the N word and other racial slurs fine, but own it. Don’t use the, everybody else was doing it excuse. And to be clear, she’s not being sued for using racist terms in the past she is accused of creating and tolerating them currently in her business. Also of note, the woman suing her is White. Apparently Paula felt comfortable thinking she was with one of her own and could speak freely. Unfortunately for Paula the woman who filed the suit has African-American in-laws and felt extremely uncomfortable.

What I find even more disturbing than her need to place a pound of butter or lard in every single one of her recipes, no matter what she’s cooking, is that this old broad nostalgically refers to slavery as the good ole days. She wanted to have an old “Plantation Style Wedding” for her equally racist brother, replete with Black men serving the guest dressed up in their finest colonial slavery clothing. She said she wanted it to be like the Shirley Temple days when they used to tap dance around. She also tearfully tells the story of how her great grandfather committed suicide because the south had changed and he was going to lose the 30 workers he had on the books. Uh Gramps, those weren’t workers, they were slaves and what changed the south was the Civil War buddy. Wouldn’t it have been easier to simply make them sharecroppers and then bleed them dry for rent, supplies, food & clothing like all the other racist former slave holding plantation owners were doing?...just saying. Is it scarier that she tells black chalkboard longing for the days of slavery stories or that the idiot has no idea how offensive they are? Paula says she doesn’t tell “racial” jokes herself, although she’s sure members of her family have told jokes that contained the N word and her husband “is constantly telling me jokes.” When asked whether she was offended by her husband’s jokes she replied, “No, because it’s my husband”. So to be clear she stated in her deposition that she doesn’t tolerate racist jokes and degrading slurs but if it’s her husband and family its ok…my head hurts. Paula says the last time she can remember using the N word was when she was mugged by a Black man and related the story and his description to her husband. You know the same husband who’s so fond of those hilarious racist jokes. To be honest, I’m not sure if she thought it was ok to use the word because she had been mugged and was upset or because she really felt that was a valid feature of the man’s description.

Thankfully the Food Network acted swiftly and canned her fat grey haired old ass before she could continue her ignorant racist crusade further. Of course the “we’ve all made mistakes” and First Amendments Rights zealots were quick to defend her and to condemn the Food Network but here’s the deal. There’s no mistaking about anything she’s said and as I stated before I don’t think she’s even smart enough to know how offensive some of her statements were. A person who claims to not be racist yet acts otherwise is probably more dangerous than one who is blatant. Ms. Deen has the right to her opinions, racial slurs and offensive jokes and she has the right to make them public if she wants. But if the Food Network decides her exercising those rights could negatively affect the brand they’ve created, then they’ve got the right to terminate her employment…y’all.

Welfare Queens

It was recently reported that the CEO of Darden, the corporation that owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster is actively working to fight a bill in California that would thwart attempts by large corporations to cut employee hours to avoid the health insurance requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This bill would make it unlawful for a large employer to, among other things, designate an employee as an independent contractor or temporary employee, reduce an employee’s hours or work, or terminate an employee if the purpose is to avoid the obligation of the ACA requirements. This is in direct response to the so called Wal-Mart Loophole…you remember Wal-Mart that wonderful company which chooses to hire only part-time workers to avoid required healthcare costs for full-time workers.

Now I’m not an idiot, I know that companies are in the business of making money and I know that added healthcare cost hurt the bottom line but give me a minute. Most of the arguments I read against the ACA state that it hinders economic growth in that it burdens employers with the cost of providing health care to workers. Wrong! It doesn’t hinder growth it hinders profit. There are those who argue the added cost of required healthcare coverage would increase prices however, there isn't a company yet that has shown that giving their employees health care would make their products too expensive. None of these corporations complained publicly when their fuel costs increased or when their food costs increased or when their building costs increased. Costs fluctuate, businesses adjust it’s been going on since the dawn of commerce. These arguments usually come from conservative Republicans, the same conservatives that insist on lower taxes and oppose all forms of social welfare, the same conservatives that insists government stay out of their lives. The problem with companies like Wal-Mart and Darden hiring only temporary workers is that these workers end up dependent on Medi-Cal and other government sponsored social programs to make ends meet. As the costs for these social programs increase so does the cost to the taxpayer. In an effort by these corporations to avoid additional costs and increase their bottom line, the taxpayer actually ends up supporting their means to profitability…it’s the ultimate outsourcing program. When corporations put their workers' on government programs for food aid, housing subsidies, and Medicaid and the taxpayer picks up the bill it is they, the corporations, who are the moochers and the new version of the 1980s Reagan "welfare queens". They pay minimum wage (sometimes below for tipped workers) and expect the government poverty programs to subsidize benefits. So the argument from the conservative right becomes invalid as it runs counter to their party platform and these corporations become part of that whole Mitt Romney 47% who don’t pay taxes and live off the government thing.

So far most of the outspoken corporate resistance to the ACA requirements has largely come from fast food and restaurant chains, which I find a bit unsettling and I’m beginning to wonder in what reality these CEOs exist. These greedy people will do anything immoral or unethical to make a buck, including denying the people that work their butts off for them healthcare. Really folks, they’re saying they don’t want to be responsible for assuring that the people preparing and serving your food are healthy and disease free…does penicillin come with that shake? It’s real simple, people who are covered by health insurance and receive continuous, managed, preventive medical care are more likely to be disease free and provide constant dependable workers. What CEO in his right mind would actively seek to obstruct such a workforce?

The bottom line is that any business that requires government social program subsidies for its employees in order to remain profitable probably shouldn't be in business to begin with. Who knew that a great side benefit of Obamacare (ok, just this once) would be shedding light on these self-entitled corporate moochers dependent on taxpayer dollars to run their business model?

Choke Hold

I was a big fan of the Dave Chappelle Show when it originally aired on Comedy Central. His humor was often topical and usually spot-on. There were quite a few sketches which became instant classics, “I’m Rick James Bitch!” I remember one sketch in particular involving the comedian Wayne Brady. For quite a few years Wayne Brady had been the poster child for sell-out, Uncle Tom, white ass kissing Black folk. This dude was considered so white-washed he was once called the whitest Black man in America. In a hilarious effort to combat this image Wayne Brady appeared on the show as himself and pretty much kidnapped Dave Chappelle taking him for a terrifying car ride. With Dave as the passenger, he performed a drive-by shooting, broke a cops neck and forced Dave to smoke a crack pipe telling him, “this is not an option nigga, if you not smoking we have a problem.” Finally with Dave Chappelle literally shaking with fear they stopped so Wayne Brady could collect money from one of his Hoes who came up short resulting in what has become an infamous line. In a clam, direct and chilling voiced he asked “Now is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?”…in a hilarious aside Dave Chappelle screamed to her from the passenger’s side “Run bitch, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, GET SOME HELP!”

Well apparently here on my job some people think I’m Wayne Brady. It’s not that I present the white-washed Uncle Tom image but I am the sole black bean in a sea of brown and white rice and I stand out. I don’t speak Spanish and there have been many instances where I have no idea what conversations are going on around me or if in fact I may be the topic of derogatory discussions. I mean why else start a conversation in English and switch to Spanish mid conversation…just saying. So far I’ve given them professional, educated confident Black man. I don’t make waves but nobody runs over me either. However, apparently there are those who perceive my non-confrontational attitude as a Wayne Brady weakness. Currently I chair a committee which is working to update and streamline business procedures and processes for the company. Included on the committee are several supervisors who report to me either directly or indirectly. One in particular, a Latino man, seems to have a problem with me being his supervisor. He clearly believes he’s smarter than me and that I should in fact be his subordinate. We’ve had several minor run-ins and up until now I’ve pretty much written them off as him just having a bad attitude but this week he crossed the line. He sent an email to my boss complaining that the committee was ineffectual and a waste of time.  He also critiqued other areas of my work and pretty much made a bid for my job implying indirectly that he could do a better job. Now I don’t know what type of response he expected from my boss or if he thought he would be in his corner but what he didn’t know is we had already been in discussion about this guy’s behavior and job performance and my boss had suggested placing him on probation in preparation for termination.

So my boss receives the email forwards a copy to me and calls me to discuss. I won’t go into the details but he pretty much told me to handle the situation as I saw fit. This guy is universally disliked within the company and nobody would be sorry to see his ass leave.  I called him in and told him I was placing him on probation for insubordination and he was not happy about it. I attempted to remain calm as I detailed his rebellious, undermining attitude.  When I finished he says to me with a thick angry Spanish accent “That’s just jor opinion” so I told him, “Well in this case my opinion is the one that counts and in my opinion your arrogance is negatively affecting your job performance and if you keep heading down this road you’ll find yourself pounding pavement seeking employment elsewhere.” He mumbled something in Spanish under his breath so I told him if there was something he wanted to say he should do so in English to which he replied, “It’s not my fault joo don’t speak Spanish”…really, he said that. Remarkably I maintained my cool and I told him that English is not a second language at our company and if he insisted on addressing me in Spanish rather than English it would place a barrier on our working relationship and my ability to communicate with him, which could lead to termination. He had nothing else to say, in either English or Spanish. I had him sign the probation form and sent him on his way. Now I have no doubt that this guy is going to make it easy for me to terminate him just based on his attitude alone.  He’s got 90 days to screw up and I’m sure he will but I’m not sure how much longer I can maintain this calm demeanor. So I gotta ask a question, is Warren Barber gonna have to choke a bitch?