Paula Deen Allegedly Asked Black Staffers to Dress Like Aunt Jemima

ChezC3 said:

and Hooters and Tilted Kilt and a dozen others ask women to dress like whores...so if so what of it? It's called theme... Unless of course people have pushed to have AJ rebranded, I don't recall any such efforts...

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So just so I'm understanding you correctly...

Having a theme of "Sexy" (albeit in hooters case, sleezy sexy) Women is equivilent and worthy of similar societal outcry as having a theme of "Slave Operated Resturant" and "Planation Diner"?

That having women dress sexily.....and having black men and women purposefully basically cosplaying Slaves...are pretty much rigth there even with each other?

Let's see...what does society generally have more of an issue with. Women dressing scantilly and sexy? Slavery?

Maybe she just really liked Aunt Jemina syrup.... I mean, I can kinda understand, that is really good stuff.

Fisher said:

I know both blacks and whites who collect that Aunt Jemima type kitchen stuff. It is more a southern thing than a race thing, but yankees don't seem to get that.

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I'm a Black man, born and raised in Gary, IN but I now live in the south. You're right in one regard - that Aunt Jemima syrup bottles have become collectors items due to the fact that they have changed over the years, but it's not simply a "southern culture thing" as much as you'd like to believe so. I know people, Blacks and Whites, who have collected the syrup bottles for years and most of them are from up north. Sure, culture plays into it, but collectors know a investment when they see one and race - Black and White - has nothing to do with it. Green(backs), however, does.

As for this entire Paula Dean issue, it's too easy to use "cultural slang/behavior" to defend yourself (or anyone else for that matter) for bigoted/racist behavior. But no matter how you wish to slice it, bigotry and racism is what it is - bigotry and racism. I like Paula Dean, the TV cooking personality. But the more I learn of Paula Dean, the "cultural bigot/cultural racist", the more I realize that she's a person who really needs sensitivity training. I don't think Paula Dean is hateful or hate-filled person. She likely grow up seeing racist behavior believing that as long as she wasn't overtly racist her actions were okay. I believe her problem stems from her celebrity. It's clear that she's gotten away with doing things like calling grown Black men "boy" or grown Black women "girl" for so long that now that she's famous she believed she could continue doing it and nobody would call her out on it. Asking a Black woman to dress up as Aunt Jemima outside her restaurant ringing a dinner bell indeed! That's a step too far in my book. Someone called her out on her racist behavior and now she's paying for it.

You can try to hide behind your cultural upbringing all you want where subtle racism is concerned, but sooner or later it's bound to catch up with you. Of course, folks will continue to claim that if you don't like what she's done you don't have to patron her restaurant(s), buy her products or watch her TV shows and you'd be right. But as I said, she's now paying a heavy price for her racial insensitivity.

Zyphlin said:

So just so I'm understanding you correctly...

Having a theme of "Sexy" (albeit in hooters case, sleezy sexy) Women is equivilent and worthy of similar societal outcry as having a theme of "Slave Operated Resturant" and "Planation Diner"?

That having women dress sexily.....and having black men and women purposefully basically cosplaying Slaves...are pretty much rigth there even with each other?

Let's see...what does society generally have more of an issue with. Women dressing scantilly and sexy? Slavery?

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Exploitation is exploitation, no?

Zyphlin said:

See, I kind of disagree with you on Aaron Hernandez, for the same reason I don't have an issue with the media reporting on Paul Deen. When you're a public figure who profitted largely based off the national populations interest in you and what you're doing (in Hernandez's case, as part of the larger "NFL entity) I don't necessarily have an issue with media covering you on a national level.

Whether or not the AMOUNT of coverage is needed, that's a whole differen tstory and I think could be applied to most news issues. But I don't actually fault the national media for grabbing ahold of an Aaron Hernandez or Paula Deen type story. Is it still being done because it'll create conversatoin and profits? Absolutely.But I think part of WHY it'll do that is because they're a national figure with national recognition and people across the nation will be interested to hear about it singularly because the person is well known.

The Hernandez situation is really weird all over. It's only a national story because of sports, so you'd think it should just be covered heavily on a national level by sports news. However, it's a freaking MURDER, which almosts feels weird for Sports writers to be writing about as you go there generally wanting the latest break down of the games last sunday and not legal expertise. The whole story situation is such a mess that I think it's a bad example concerning the mediaa in general.

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I'm speaking more to the amount of coverage and how it's covered, rather than the simple fact that it's covered.

ThePlayDrive said:

I think your definition of "inconsequential" is far too narrow. It looks like your defining the "national import" of a story primarily in terms of whether or not people are directly involved in it.

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Not involved in it, but affected in some way.

It's not really meaningful, it's a distraction from trulymeaningful informmation which does have a direct affect on people, but is also kind of boring. Real news doesn't get ratings most of the time.

Is this case really about a uniform?

ChezC3 said:

Exploitation is exploitation, no?

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No. No more than "A Punch is a Punch" or a "Joke is a Joke" or an "Insult is an Insult".

Things are not absolutes, we do not live in a purely black and white world. There are degrees and context to everything.

Zyphlin said:

No. No more than "A Punch is a Punch" or a "Joke is a Joke" or an "Insult is an Insult".

Things are not absolutes, we do not live in a purely black and white world. There are degrees and context to everything.

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Right it is ok to exploit women to make a buck right now, this is an accepted norm while a hyper-sensitized populace wants to sensationalize and demonize someone for wanting to make a buck off of the exploitation of traditional dress during a specific time period in Southern Culture.


If we are going to quantify and relative-ize exploitation than realistically you can't get up in arms about any of it. What you might find reprehensible others might find enjoyable and vice versa.

ChezC3 said:

Right it is ok to exploit women to make a buck right now, this is an accepted norm while a hyper-sensitized populace wants to sensationalize and demonize someone for wanting to make a buck off of the exploitation of traditional dress during a specific time period in Southern Culture.


If we are going to quantify and relative-ize exploitation than realistically you can't get up in arms about any of it. What you might find reprehensible others might find enjoyable and vice versa.

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Are you effing kidding me??? Are you actually equalizing a restaurant with skantily clad women and trying to capitalize on antebellum "traditions" and "attitudes?" Are you really saying that people can be hyper-sensitized to the systematic, kidnapping, enforced slavery of an their entire race with a fashion statement like a mini-skirt????? Who exactly is "relative-izing" (if such a word even exists in this argument). Paula Deen is not just guilty of using the "N" word. She fostered a culture in her business establishment that fostered racism and racist ideals. The only ones hyper sensitive to that are the neo-confederates.

Hatuey said:

Paula Deen Allegedly Asked Black Staffers to Dress Like Aunt Jemima - Yahoo! TV



Conservatives: She isn't racist.
Liberals: Of course she's racist.
Libertarians: You don't have to work for her if she's racist.
Independents (with Conservative lean): This isn't racist because she asked nicely.
Independents (with Liberal lean): You guys kidding right?
Other & Unknown: Unintelligible post.
Zyphlin: 6,300 word essay.

I did enjoy Fox News' take on this.



I genuinely did. They basically hammer out what is so wrong with this entire situation. The problem isn't so much her use of racial epitaphs. It's the entire culture which she allowed to exist in her place. Porn at the work place? Racial attacks? Homophobic remarks? If your boss is willing to use racial epitaphs, have plantation styled weddings, dress her workers as Aunt Jemima, that's not something which stops 20 years ago unless a person can show a track record of having changed. Paula Deen just seems to have been doing the same **** for 20 years and hoping nobody caught on.

The Food Network did what any business would and should do with people like this. Let them cater to racists if they want on their own platform, works for Glenn Beck.

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I honestly am not offended. She was just thinking she was having a little fun playing with theatrics. I'm sure it was all couched in what she thought was humor. Nobody got whipped, branded, got their foot chopped off, had their children taken away for life never to be seen or heard from again, raped and held as sex slaves, prohibited from learning how to read or forced to pick cotton often in summer heatwaves so somebody else could live a life of abundance. And she has apologized. Poor lady!

I do like this part though:

Conservatives: She isn't racist.
Liberals: Of course she's racist.
Libertarians: You don't have to work for her if she's racist.
Independents (with Conservative lean): This isn't racist because she asked nicely.
Independents (with Liberal lean): You guys kidding right?
Other & Unknown: Unintelligible post.
Zyphlin: 6,300 word essay.


:lamo

Smeagol said:

I honestly am not offended. She was just thinking she was having a little fun playing with theatrics. I'm sure it was all couched in what she thought was humor. Nobody got whipped, branded, got their foot chopped off, had their children taken away for life never to be seen or heard from again, raped and held as sex slaves, prohibited from learning how to read or forced to pick cotton often in summer heatwaves so somebody else could live a life of abundance. And she has apologized. Poor lady!

I do like this part though:

Conservatives: She isn't racist.
Liberals: Of course she's racist.
Libertarians: You don't have to work for her if she's racist.
Independents (with Conservative lean): This isn't racist because she asked nicely.
Independents (with Liberal lean): You guys kidding right?
Other & Unknown: Unintelligible post.
Zyphlin: 6,300 word essay.


:lamo

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Oh Yeah because nothing says funny like recreating slavery. Is her next restaurant going to be a Holocaust themed restaurant???? Let's see, she payed her black employees less then the white employees. She used racial epithets. She had and antebellum themed wedding for her son. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck you guys want me to believe it is daffy duck???? There is a pattern here folks...a pretty obvious one.

smb said:

Oh Yeah because nothing says funny like recreating slavery. Is her next restaurant going to be a Holocaust themed restaurant???? Let's see, she payed her black employees less then the white employees. She used racial epithets. She had and antebellum themed wedding for her son. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck you guys want me to believe it is daffy duck???? There is a pattern here folks...a pretty obvious one.

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... Daffy Duck is... a duck....

smb said:

There is a pattern here folks...a pretty obvious one.

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He's african american and largely centrist in his political views.

But have these allegations been corroborated yet? Last I heard, the only person making the accusation is the one filing suit

Hatuey said:

... Daffy Duck is... a duck....

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Dude it is a cartoon not a duck...really?

Dr. Chuckles said:

He's african american and largely centrist in his political views.

But have these allegations been corroborated yet? Last I heard, the only person making the accusation is the one filing suit

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Most of the racist allegations have been corroborated by more than just the person making the accusation. The sexual stuff has not. The embelzzement of over 30K by her brother is a proven fact. There is nothing to indicate that the accuser is embelishing or outright lying.

smb said:

Are you effing kidding me??? Are you actually equalizing a restaurant with skantily clad women and trying to capitalize on antebellum "traditions" and "attitudes?" Are you really saying that people can be hyper-sensitized to the systematic, kidnapping, enforced slavery of an their entire race with a fashion statement like a mini-skirt????? Who exactly is "relative-izing" (if such a word even exists in this argument). Paula Deen is not just guilty of using the "N" word. She fostered a culture in her business establishment that fostered racism and racist ideals. The only ones hyper sensitive to that are the neo-confederates.

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Whoa, whoa, whoa...turn that Self Righteous bus over to the side of the Pretentious Turnpike, would ya? Are you going to bald face lie and say you've NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (never?) NEVER used as racial slur in your life? If the answer to that question is anything but "YES I HAVE used a racial slur before", than this conversation is over. Because your lack of intellectual honesty would be so appalling I'd have to turn off my computer, shout "The Flemish Caps!!" and dive off my terrace, head first into my neighbor's pool to clean myself of such filth...

1. The man makes the clothes the clothes don't make the man.
2. Exploitation is exploitation. Your opinion is what makes the value, the outrage, astonishment, or acceptance -- relative.
3. Even if what you say is true, which I doubt it is, but let's just say it's true, as ugly as it is, a person has a right to be as racist as they want to be in a private capacity i.e. non governmental. So sayeth FREEDOM.

(I'm also glad to see you minimizing and thereby quasi-supporting the insulting way we objectify women in today's society, good to know...)

smb said:

Dude it is a cartoon not a duck...really?

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It's a cartoon duck though... essentially, I just wanted to say - it was the worst kind of butchered saying.

Dr. Chuckles said:

He's african american and largely centrist in his political views.

But have these allegations been corroborated yet? Last I heard, the only person making the accusation is the one filing suit

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Me? Or smb?

Hatuey said:

Me? Or smb?

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Smeogal. I thought his last line was about white conservatives disagreeing with him, but looking back, I'm pretty sure I misinterpreted it

The more I read and hear about the Paula Deen scandal the more I think that, while she may not be racist, she certainly has no qualms about crossing the line into racial insensitivity. Dressing black people up as Aunt Jemima or slaves and nostalgic racially segregated entrances and bathrooms for black employees? Normally I would credit such things to ignorance of the symbolism of such things to black people but, having spent her formative years in both the segregated era and civil rights era South, she should know better. If she isn't racist then she sure doesn't mind creating a very convincing illusion of racism.

Dr. Chuckles said:

He's african american and largely centrist in his political views.

But have these allegations been corroborated yet? Last I heard, the only person making the accusation is the one filing suit

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Not all of the allegations have been corroborated but most of them (at least the ones I know of) have been

smb said:

Most of the racist allegations have been corroborated by more than just the person making the accusation. The sexual stuff has not. The embelzzement of over 30K by her brother is a proven fact. There is nothing to indicate that the accuser is embelishing or outright lying.

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Actually, some of the sexual stuff has been corroborated...by Paula Deens' brother, who is the one who is at the center of many of the accusations.

instructions unclear: poured syrup all over myself

Napoleon said:

The more I read and hear about the Paula Deen scandal the more I think that, while she may not be racist, she certainly has no qualms about crossing the line into racial insensitivity. Dressing black people up as Aunt Jemima or slaves and nostalgic racially segregated entrances and bathrooms for black employees? Normally I would credit such things to ignorance of the symbolism of such things to black people but, having spent her formative years in both the segregated era and civil rights era South, she should know better. If she isn't racist then she sure doesn't mind creating a very convincing illusion of racism.

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Pretty much.