*This sounds like a pay no attention to the man behind the curtain move. Y’all say what the phuck you want. We’re suppose to ignore the message behind it.
The restaurant, called Cook’s Garage, located in Lubbock, Texas, does recognize one truth though: they say the sign hanging on their establishment featuring a man in Blackface grinning, with the words “Coon Chicken Inn” on his teeth is “a part of history.”
It is.
The same history Donald Trump just said on live TV, “we should be proud of.”
You are.
The sign has made the rounds on social media with many calling it ?racist? and ?infuriating.? And its doubtful everyone claiming this is Black.
I doubt everyone who lacks melanin is “proud” of this history.
The Root reports that the message behind the sign states, ?Aunt Jemima, mammies, and lots of other black collectibles are highly sought after, as is Americana collectibles with white characters.”
Such as?
The message continues, “The Coon Chicken Inn was an actual restaurant started in the 20?s. Again, we want to stress we do not intend to offend anyone, and are only preserving a part of history that should remind us all of the senselessness of racial prejudice.?
It’s the “preservation” part that is troublesome. Why not just hang a sign saying ALL ARE WELCOME. RACISM IS SENSELESS.
The sign was brought to the attention of the news site Everything Lubbock by Jasmine Abdullah. She had seen the picture on the page of a friend’s social media friend.
?I was reading the comments, I saw the sign, and I immediately got infuriated,? Abdullah said. ?Because I was thinking, ?In this day and age, we are still having to deal with things like this? ? If we want to be remembered as a group of people, that is not how we want to be remembered. If you want to put a piece of American history or African-American history up, there are tons of people you can have hanging up in your restaurant. Not something derogatory.?
Exactly.
Abdullah says she did reach out to the restaurant to ask if the sign is still up, but got no response.
?It was a piece of history in the 20s. This is not the 1920s,? Abdullah said, regarding the original 1920s Coon Chicken Inn restaurant. ?If they did their history before responding, they would know that restaurant was closed down for that particular reason, for the racial epithets it basically stood on.?
…and as for the white Americana collectibles? No doubt, moving forward, history will not be complete without a new caricature of a white man with orange hair and a red face.
