News-Record.com

They could write that headline every day about Golden Corral. Yes, they actually had fried chicken on the buffet, along with about 15 other meats. And part of the fruit salad has chunks of watermelon in it.
So...racist ol' Golden Corral served fried chicken and watermelon on MLK Day. Where's the outrage??
The lengths some "journalists" will go to in sensationalizing otherwise innocuous occurences boggles the mind.

While attending UNC-CH in the 70's, the Black Student Movement actually sponsored a Fried Chicken and Watermellon day in the PIT. Why? Because in the words of one of the leaders, everybody likes fried chicken and watermellon - not just blacks.

It's a stereotype that has long since passed. It seems that older folks tend to hang on to the old stereotypes longer than the youth.

John,
Shouldn't be too surprising that you would choose to run such a story, but what possible justification could you give for it other than to keep the racial pot boiling?

It just seems that some never learn that if you keep stirin the pot, it's bound to splash out and get on you. Sometimes it burns, and sometimes it just stinks.

Could be compared to pokin at a skunk too. We all know what happens in that deal.

Being a student at UNC-G, I often eat in the cafe. You are correct in assuming other dishes were served as they are every meal. As for the watermelon, that too is among many fruits and vegetables on the buffet .. Just saying thanks for not going with a story having no substance!

I'd like to think you would've waited until all the facts were in, and judging from what Glenn says here, it was indeed a non-story. Nothing to see here.

Funny thing is that I couldn't find the story in a quick perusal at the Peacemaker site. I did a search for "watermelon" and came up empty. Did they take it down, or is their search engine not so good?

This is one of those "non-stories" that I hesitated in commenting on till the facts were in and, in fact, John wrote that the facts were not in. (Had it gone one way, it would have been "a story." Now that it appears to have gone "that way," where it appears the food was part of a normal menu, it's a non-story.)

Either way, it's OK to blog it with disclaimers (the post is about what the Peacemaker wrote and not an accusation) but it shows how more info tends to fall out of the sky when it's discussed in the open.

Nice to know there's no one to skewer tonight. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

I agree with Jerry. The N&R shouldn't be suprised that a story like this has any legs. They have done such a good job of making everything racial. Seems like JR's post is there for the sole reason of getting it on the record that the N&R is aware of the story to avoid any criticism from whoever it is they are trying to impress.

JR writes: "I think if we had it back on MLK Day, we'd have run with it. But based on how much we don't know about the story, I'm not sure that that would have been the right call."

1) Why would you have run it, JR? Probably because it would be yet another great opportunity to create/exploit a racial issue (white against black, of course) to show the N&R "cares".

2) Since when has not knowing enough about the story (i.e., "facts") stopped the N&R from crying racism before? They have already hung Wray even though there is still so much "we don't know about the story." In the end, they may be right on Wray, but right now it is speculation.

3) Is this an admission that the N&R looks before they leap on racial issues? Is JR saying that they would have run it, but probably regretted it? Why then would you run it in the first place?

I swear, this place is just such a cauldron of racism. It's a wonder why anyone would want to live here. I feel sorry for Dell and Fedex when they discover they moved right into Alabama circa 1954. Continue the great PR for our area, N&R. No wonder Charlotte and Raleigh continue to kick our butts.

And to think that UNCG- that hotbed of hatred and intolerance- would do such a thing. Maybe they were upset because they couldn't get Ann Coulter...

Here's a little science experiment for the kiddies: Go back through the archives of JR's postings, Allen Johnsons postings, and the N&R itself for the past few months and calculate percentage-wise how many posts/stories had a race angle to them. Report back with results.

This is sooooo not a story. I don't think Gboro is a cauldron of racism. I think it's a cauldron of people ready to have their feelings hurt seasoned with people ready to point out harmless stuff for people to get their feelings hurt by.

"I think it's a cauldron of people ready to have their feelings hurt seasoned with people ready to point out harmless stuff for people to get their feelings hurt by."

Exactly the point. If you build it, they will come.

I ate in the UNCG cafeteria nearly every day for two years...and I don't remember a day when there wasn't fried chicken as one of a number of options. It's cheap and people (read: college students who eat pizza, chicken and burgers for a staggering number of consecutive meals) like it.

Watermelon - depends on the season, but there's always fresh fruit of some sort.

But I think the Peacemaker should be embarassed to have run this and I'm glad to N&R didn't make the same mistake.

Uuuuhhh, Sam, are you implying that Charlotte and Raleigh don't have race relation issues? I can't speak for Raleigh, but as a Charlotte native, I'm here to tell you that the same story might have run in the Charlotte Post (that city's equivalent of the Carolina Peacemaker) if UNCC had done the same thing, not that I think this is a story, mind you, but some things, even as simple as that, touches a nerve for many people. Bottomline: the South has a history and some of it is ugly and shameful. Many of the people affected by that ugliness (my mother, father, grandmothers, aunts, uncles etc.) are not dead and have not forgotten their mistreatment and status as second citizens (I'm referencing Jim Crow, lynchings etc) and are offended when they are told they should just forget about it and move on. If someone raped your mother, or hung your son or brother from a tree would you want someone to tell you to forget about it, that was in the past, move on? Prolly not, though you might find some way to make peace with it. Now, how do we get to a point in this country where we can collectively make peace with our ugly history? I don't know. I wish I did, but I don't. I do know that my view of race relations differs from that of my parents and their parents, and I suspect my children will have a more expansive view than I do. So, maybe in time things will be different. But please don't make it the N&R's fault. They write about racial tensions because it exists , even if it's not real for YOU.

I agree with that. But this sort of story just provides an excuse for people who don't want to take a hard look at race to say that any discussion of it is just sensationalized paranoia.

write4food,

Finally someone writes on these blogs who sees things the way they really are! God Bless you!

As far as the chicken and watermelon, I do feel it's rather sensitive of the Peacemaker to make issue with whats on the menu. If they were the only items on the menu, then you have a mockery being made, but if it's on the menu daily, I love the brothers and sisters at the Peacemaker, but I cannot co-sign on this issue. However, in fairness to the Peacemaker, that brother was actually out there fighting for the cause, so he is familiar with beatings, lynchings and propbably imprisonment for "looking" at a white woman. So from the editors (Dr. Kilimanjaro) perspective, I could see him being offended.

write4food hit the nail on the head.

Why not cry racism, when you feel racism has affected you? It appears that the majority believes that the mere mentioning of anything concerning race is like, Martin Luther King, what they said about him. Just coming around stirring up trouble...

Well said, Mr. Bledsoe. Well said.

You don't cry racism just because you feel racism has affected you. If you do, you lose all credibility and then you can do nothing, because nobody takes you seriously. Look at Skip Alston. He marginalizes himself every time he makes that charge. Reporting on the police chief and his black notebook isn't "stirring up trouble." Reporting that UNCG had fried chicken and watermelon (among at least 20 other menu items) on MLK day is.

Maybe spooge,

But one thing is certain, you people will never change. You will always view any topic of racism as race-baiting. But yet you overlook all the racism around, for what reason, who knows? You seem to forget about the racism the is perpetuated by Bill Yow and those types, you know " a black person must be twicw as qualified to get the job." Is that not racism to you? That is one of the most powerful forms of racism there is. If a man has no good job, he does no good deeds. The police targeting black males, giving them bigus records and locking them up, for what? Some, just for being black. This seems to go right over you pepoles heads, then you act like blacks are causing problems, if u have a degree act like it...!

I have never said that racism does not exist. Rather, I am merely pointing out that the N&R has an unhealthy obsession race. Anytime they can find a racial angle (only white on black racism of course) they use it regardless of whether it is supported by facts. They simply have no objectivity on the issue. Ask yourself what purpose would the N&R running the UNCG story serve? By JR's own admission they would probably have ran the story if they knew about it.

Try the little assignment I metioned above and you'll see what I mean.

Also, the Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer do not have nearly the number of race related articles as the N&R. That was my point about that statement.

With regard to Billy Yow, I am not a supporter of his and I think his comments you mentioned from some months ago were stupid. However, the flip side to that is how many times have you heard a minority claim that they had to work "twice as hard" to get a job? How does anyone possibly know such a thing? That's the problem with this line of thought which the N&R subscribes too- that is to say that they seem to believe racism is a subjective thing. If someone believes they are a victim, they must be- or at least that will be the first assumption that is made. This really turns people off to caring about real racism.

After the boy cried wolf too many times, people stopped listening. Every time a minority does not get a job, or is investigated by the police department, or is served chicken and watermelon on MLK day, these are not necessarily caused by the wolf. But if you assume they are, and your friends in the N&R agree with you, you may never look beyond the wolf to find the real reason.

Sometimes it is the wolf, but a lot of times it is not. Not so in the N&R, where anything that happens in the Triad must be filtered in terms of race first.

Really, some of you are so maddening predictable.

First, I am not "you people." Don't lump me in with Billy Yow, I didn't vote for the man and wouldn't go out of my way to avoid running him over with my car.
Second, when I said reporting on the Wray affair was not "stirring up trouble," what I meant and thought I made clear is that "stirring up trouble" equals creating trouble that wasn't there before. Reporting on valid stories is expected.
Don't tar me with your broad brush of generalizations, mitchell. If you have specific facts, present them. If not, then you're a member of the Gboro chapter of the hurt-feelings club. Sure, racism might be a reason that you do or say something. But don't make it an excuse.

Mitchell and other Blacks I do hope that you are finally getting the message that I, a white female civil rights activist from the early 1960’s, have been trying to tell you is happening because you are indiscriminately yelling the word RACISM. There is a grassroots BACKLASH building and the Blacks will be the losers! If a black person believes he/she has been discriminated against because of race then USE THE LAWS. It cost all of $25 to file a law suit and the chances of winning a pot of money are a very good in this current climate of seeing racism where none exists.

Ms. Bowers,

In your post's I do detect an heir of sincerity, for what it's worth. I don't think "indiscriminatley yelling racism" is actually a problem. If you look at it, if we didn't say anything, I don't see anyone in your race taking the initiative to correct a wrong until the spotlight is put on you and yours. If you try to deny that some of your people aren't in the same mold as Jim Crow and the likes, then you yourself have some serious awareness issues. In actuality, you sound similar to the rest of them, because you seem to know when and where a black person should speak and how or how much should be said. I don't doubt your sincerity that all people should be treated equally, and if you were in the protests back in the day, then you are somone I would feel comfortable being around. But as you say "there is a grassroots backlash buildin and blacks will be the losers," it is obvious that you are listing to the side of your people. That's fine, as well as expected. Individually there a mass of winners on the black side, however collectively you are right we will be the losers, or we already are the losers. My thing is this, I am comfortable in my life, however, if the only feelings I feel are derived from my well-being then I am of no use to my race, so I cry when a black person is wronged, as well as I rejoice when one of us succeeds. But I am in it to fight the struggle that is on-going. And it is OH so real.

Greensboro, North Carolina...how can we grow and advance? We have redneck like activities going on in the police department, then we are put on national TV (American Idol) and look like Jed Clampetts and Jethro Bodines. Personally, I wished we had a better picture painted of this town for the national audience.

Mitch, Brenda, the backlash is already here. You know the funding problem the civil rights museum is having? Well, it's because af-ams are always pushing (white) people away by yelling at them that they are all racists. Would you give your money to someone who so obviously dislikes you? You're not going to build a better gboro until you stop yelling racism and start asking what you can do to get people working together.
Sure, there are racists in this world. You gotta choose. Do you focus on them or do you work with someone who is willing to work with you. All white people are not racist just as all black people do not live on welfare. Sheeesh!

I am not in a position to say that an individual who claims they are the victim of discrimination is not actually a victim of discrimination. Every case is different.

However, I believe much of the disconnect is that there seems to be an attitude that is fostered by the N&R that when bad things happen to minorities, it is automatically because of race. I also understand how it may be easy for a minority to believe that the bad thing that happened to them was because of race, even if in reality it is not.

This is where an honest discussion of race would be most helpful. Bad things happen to non-minorities all the time. They lose their jobs. They don't get the big promotion. They get turned down for loans. They get arrested and convicted of crimes. They get beat up. They get picked on and called names. It's called LIFE and it happens to everyone. That is why so many white people get turned off every time a bad break is labeled racism, or when they see race exploited or used as an excuse. At some point, they throw their hands up and say "enough is enough".

I don't believe that most white people are racist any more than I do that most blacks are. There are general, and I stress the word "general" cultural differences that I think make whites a little uncomfortable in some situations just as they do blacks. But this is not racism, and we make progress towards elimintating that level of discomfort every day. But it does not help when race is exploited in the media because all that does is reinforce the alienation between the races. I believe it makes blacks suspicious that white people will never change and will never accept them, and I think it makes whites feel like their efforts to bridge racial gaps are futile because no matter what they do, someone will always be out there crying racism.

When James Byrd was dragged to death by a group of rednecks, that was racism. It was an act of hatred that was condemned by everyone with half a brain and a conscience. But serving watermelon and chicken along with a host of other items on MLK day is not racism. The mere fact that Lt. Hinson was placed on leave is not racism. It may come out that it was racial, but it should not be assumed as such.

I deal with criminal defendants every day. Many of them are black. In my 8 years of practicing law, I have never had a black defendant tell me he was innocent AND the only reason he was charged was because he was black. Never. I have never had a client tell me that race was a factor in their arrest. I have never had a black client tell me that they wouldn't have arrested a white person for the same act. Never. Instead, the defenses I get are usually the same from defendants regardless of race. E.g., "I didn't do it" or "I did it but..." or plainly "I did it, now how can you help me out".

These examples are exactly what I mean by digging into facts rather than making assumptions. Instead of looking at statistics and crying racism (or not looking at them at all and crying racism), it would be beneficial if those making such charges looked at each matter and reviewed the facts.

I think the N&R is guilty too often of not only fanning the flames by what they choose to print and choose not to print, but also of allowing the people making accusations a public forum without examining the facts behind the accusation to determine if there is any merit behind it. A soundbite and a quote is not a fact.

I think it would be a great idea for the N&R to sponsor a forum on race relations with some of the people on this blog invited as panelists so that these issues could be out in the open, warts and all. Of course, such a forum would have to have as a ground rule that there will be no assumptions going in, no name calling, and it must be balanced. I also think the N&R should commit to fact checking every assertion that is made and report on that as well. Perhaps such a forum would enlighten the N&R as to why there are so many critics of their coverage, and maybe force them to be more careful and constructive with race issues in the future.

"All white people are not racist, just as all black people do not live on welfare."

Let the church say amen.