A classic case of racism going too far from a liberal – Shockaaaaah!

office_space_cakeIn case you live under a rock, in Corporate America we typically have to deal with these monthly celebrations of “This Month’s Diversity Awareness Event to Put on the Face that We’re All the Same Yet Different Because if We Don’t Do This Some Lazy Idiot Could Sue our HR Dept on Baseless Grounds of Discrimination/Diversity Insensitivity and We’d All Be Up Shit Creek Without a Job”

During February it’s Black History Month, a celebration of American historical figures/events of those who are from the black (oh, how racist of me), er, African-American ethnicity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about honoring ancestry and acknowledging our differences in culture. I’m just irked when we see an entire month devoted to “you better celebrate our unique cultural attributes” but the other 11 months of the year if you point them out then you’re a direct target for the racist label.

Case in point – the latest “scandal” in racism over at NBC (via HotAir).  Apparently at NBC, the company chef (WHO IS BLACK, btw) decided to fix the following menu in honor of this diversity month celebration.

nbc_menu

Well I guess soul food is now racist in the eyes of some notable black figures like Questlove – drummer for the band The Roots. His current gig is as a drummer on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon (at NBC) and I guess he felt the need to call out HR for their “racially insensitive” menu planning.

questlove_twitter_hr

Keep in mind he throws this out despite the fact that HR probably had NOTHING to do with the menu planning (or that he had any evidence of it) AND that soul food like collard greens and fried chicken is typically a staple of cuisine in BOTH southern and northern black family households. There was even a f@#$ing movie (and following TV series) about it, called…..wait.for.it – SOUL FOOD and the entire family at the movie’s story was African-American.  Here’s the tagline for the movie:

A story of the people who make us strong and the recipe that makes us a family.

Gee, sure sounds racist to me. Also, I think this is real rich considering QuestLove performed several times on Chappelle’s Show, one skit which focused on mocking racial stereotypes. Here’s the episode description:

Dave doesn’t believe the stereotype that white people can’t dance – so he brings in musical guests John Mayer, QuestLove and Ahmir-Khalib Thompson to play with this stereotype. One of the funnier sketches of the second season.

Oh, so let me get this straight. It’s okay for someone to mock racial stereotypes – especially those outside of his own culture/race – when it’s convenient for him, but nobody else, even someone who at worst is acknowledging THEIR OWN culture’s characteristics, is allowed to do so for the culture he is a part of.  Mindless hypocrite say wha-wha-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

And just to add one more nail in the coffin of this baseless accusation of racial insensitivity, here are the menus from the last three Black History Month luncheons we’ve had at my company. Oh, and the committee who plans these luncheons has nobody from HR on it and is 99% comprised of black employees at the company.

2009 – Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, Green Beans, Yams, Sweet Potatoes, Cornbread, Mac & Cheese, Black-eyed Peas and Rice

2008 – Fried chicken, collard greens with smoked turkey, yams, corn bread muffins, corn, macaroni and cheese, banana pudding and peach cobbler (Also, a black employee played the jazz saxophone at the luncheon.)

2007 – Fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese. (Also, music by famous African-American artists played while employees enjoyed the festivities.)

Share