I was a huge supporter of Paula Deen’s. I have visited her
restaurant in Tunica, Ms and use to visit her restaurant in Joilet ,
IL several times a year. I live in Chicago
and it is a nice little drive to get to Joilet but I really liked the food and
loved Paula Deen’s personality.
This is until I found out that Paula has referred to
African-Americans as “N-Words” and that she thinks that a slave theme wedding
is a wonderful idea. From the deposition I read, she also welcomes offensive
jokes about racism, gays, and Jewish people in her home because according to
her she can’t determine what offends people. It’s very easy to find out what
offends people. Just about anything negative towards a particular group would
offend people.
I feel that her supporters don’t even understand why
African-Americans are upset but I also noticed that not just African-Americans
are upset. The N-word is bad but I like to think that most African-Americans
can forgive someone for uttering those hateful words 30 years ago. However,
what is hard to forgive is someone that doesn’t think they did wrong. Someone
who doesn’t realize that slavery is an extremely hurtful period in the history
of African-Americans. That’s not a period where we think about the glory days!
We don’t say let’s go back to pre-civil war days where we worked in the fields
from sun up to sun down, where we did not earn a penny, where our women was
forced to sleep with the Master’s, where we didn’t have the right to vote and
we were considered as property. Nobody of African-American descent says that.
We don’t say that because it was not a glorious time but it was a painful time!
I applaud Harrah’s Casino for stripping her name off their
restaurants, Wal-Mart for discontinuing her products, Smithfield Hams for no
longer doing business with her, and the Food Network for not renewing a
contract with her.
I’m calling on Target, QVC, and any other business that is
associated with Paula Deen to disassociate with her.
In her words: “I is what I is and I’m not changing” – Paula Deen
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