New Yorkers in predominantly black neighborhoods are crying foul over two restaurants in what they consider racist connotations between President Barack Obama and fried chicken.

According to My Way News, demonstrations are being organized against Obama Fried Chicken in Harlem and Obama Fried Chicken in Brooklyn:

City Councilman Charles Barron said Friday that he will organize a demonstration next week outside Obama Fried Chicken in his Brooklyn district. Organizers said they also may target Obama Fried Chicken & Pizza in Harlem.

“”People from the community were calling me and saying they were outraged by this racist connection to Barack Obama and fried chicken,” Barron said. “If you think that free speech gives you the right to insult and degrade us and stereotype us, then you’ve got a battle on your hands.”

At Obama Fried Chicken & Pizza in Harlem on Friday, the “O” and the “A” had been filled in so that the awning sign read “Bam” instead of the president’s name.”

While the article stated that people had called to complain, what wasn’t mentioned was “how many”. What’s also interesting to note is that both of the restaurants were located in predominantly black neighborhoods which would seem to imply that “racist” restaurant owners had unwisely chosen the wrong area to “diss” the President and black consumers.

Another view might have been that the owners were simply unaware of the racist connotation between black people and fried chicken and were merely trying to cash in on Obama’s popularity. Then there’s this view, one of common sense, that a racist, using the Obama name, would sell more fried chicken if he opened up a shop in the “white” part of town.

The site, Gothmist, found where one resident claimed that the Obama name “showed respect:

“I liked it even better…It is showing respect (to have) Obama’s name in the community.”

Gothamist also made a very succinct point, was the Obama Fried Chicken blowup about pride, or was it about prejudice within the black community?

I found another instance of “racism” where Northwestern University was called “intentionally racist” by having fried chicken on the menu on Martin Luther King Day:

From North by Northwestern – Dining hall choices show racism at NU?:

“Northwestern University took an important step forward in embracing diversity by canceling class on Martin Luther King Day for the first time in school history.

Unfortunately, the dining halls took a step backward on MLK Day, showing NU just how much work remains in achieving King’s dream.

The food service at 1835 Hinman and, according to the nuCuisine Web site, every other NU dining hall made a careless error in choosing their menu for MLK Day. Alongside quesadillas, couscous and pasta, nuCuisine served a heaping pile of steaming stereotype for supper: fried chicken.”

This gave me pause: I had no idea that serving fried chicken on Martin Luther King Day was racist. In fact, I had no idea that placing Obama’s name on a restaurant that sold fried chicken as its specialty was “racist”.

“Another blog, Red, Black, and Green Love, written by an African American woman, opined about the “demonizing” of fried chicken in the black community in “Is there something wrong with loving fried chicken”, in February of last year:

In creating this blog, I’ve come to a crossroads. A list of things that black people like or love is an invitation to controversy. I knew this at the beginning. One of the things that keeps getting mentioned to me is that if I post things like Fried Chicken, Chitterlings, or Rap Music…it’s going to be perceived as racist.

I’m an African American Woman and racism is nothing new to me.

What I don’t understand is why Black people would say that the concept that we love fried chicken is simply negative? We do LOVE Fried Chicken!!! What is racist about that? What is so wrong with Chitterlings? These foods are part of our history, our entire history. When did they become demonized? Does your grandmother feel bad that she can make some delicious fried chicken? Was your great grandfather ashamed at all of the pork in his family’s diet? Are we now ashamed??? Do we think that our love of fried food is a secret? I don’t see a whole lot of Vegan or Thai resturants in Black communities. Do you?”

Located in a predominantly black neighborhood in one of the smaller “big” cities of Ohio, sits an older Church’s Fried Chicken. I was surprised to see the Church’s, as I had figured that the widespread black rumor, that Church’s was “owned by the KKK”, and that they had added a “special ingredient”, one that made black men sterile, would have caused Church’s to reevaluate where to locate its fast food joints. I was told that the business was a long time favorite of local residents. Just across the street sat an empty KFC, whose doors and drive-up window were shuttered. You could see that KFC had been built after the Church’s, but in the end, Church’s had kept its clientele and forced the KFC to close. Both Church’s and KFC have a past related to black “rumors” which affected their sales.

While Church’s was rumored to be owned by the KKK with a secret ingredient that sterilized black men, Kentucky Fried Chicken was rumored to have “intentionally” served Kentucky Fried rat meat to black customers. I learned this from Peter Knight’s “Conspiracy Theories in American History” and Patricia A. Turner’s, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Rumor in African-American Culture“.

There seems to be some confusion, both within the black and white communities, about fried chicken and the rules of racism regarding African Americans. Such as, when is it appropriate to serve fried chicken and where it’s appropriate, and what name you can associate with fried chicken when selling it. These rules seemed to have been in place before the arrival of President Obama, whose name and image have popped on numerous items for sale.

I don’t seek to excuse racism but merely ask, that in order to not offend, I would like to know the “rules” beforehand. The African-American blogger at Red, Black and Green Love, has a separate problem, of dealing with the rules of “demonizing” of fried chicken within her own black community. She doesn’t like the rule, while I don’t “know” the rules. So perhaps, the incident of the Obama Fried Chicken restaurants will, if anything, open up an honest dialogue and debate over this issue.

By LGB

Hat tip: Rides a Pale Horse

Source – My Way News – New York Fried Chicken Joints under fire for Obama Name
Image: Rides a Pale Horse