. . . "niggas and Black people", to quote from one of comedian Chris Rock's more popular and controversial stand-up routines, when an employee of this restaurant chain allegedly chose to discriminate against Rock's mother and sister recently.
According the Associated Press, . . .
The mother of black comedian Chris Rock said Tuesday she will sue a restaurant chain after she was seated but ignored for more than a half hour at one of the chain's restaurants along the South Carolina coast.
Rose Rock said she and her 21-year-old daughter were the only blacks at the Cracker Barrel chain's Murrells Inlet restaurant in April. Rock said she asked the manager about the delay and was told she and her daughter could have a free meal.
"He never called over the waitresses and asked why did these people sit here for an hour without service?" she said. "The only thing he said was we could have a free meal and neither of us wanted to eat."
To ensure that this matter will be handled delicatedly in the press, Mrs. Rock will be joined by Rev. Al Sharpton (he says sardonically).
Founded in 1969, Cracker Barrel operates 547 restaurants in 41 states, and has been embattled by a series of racial discrimination lawsuits.
No, Cracker Barrel can't tell the difference.
The sooner black people learn this and stop trying to distinguish ourselves from each other in an effort to be accepted, the better off we will be.
Chris Rock needs to revisit his flawed theory on "niggas and Black people".
Posted by: Gail Scott | Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 12:11 AM
hmmmmm that's news to me (about CrackerBarrel, that is)..
I have been there plenty of times, and yes a few times I have had to sit and wait for awhile, but was able to look around and see how busy they were...
I never felt like it was purposeful..
Posted by: SistaPastah | Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 11:40 PM
As a black man who's worked in the restaurant business for 4 years, I have to say I'm embarassed from what Ms. Rocks doing. We have customers who come in ALL the time that get overlooked an end up having to wait for a long period of time. If anyone is ignored for more than 5 minutes, they usually have the common sense to walk up to the cashier and ask for a server. She should have done the same thing. As a people, we need to stop pointing the finger everytime something don't go our way, otherwise, the word "racist" won't have its meaning any more.
Posted by: Mike | Sunday, October 22, 2006 at 10:27 PM
Not to make light of racism by any means - how are we to know this wasn't just lousy service? It's amongst one of the reasons we don't frequent Cracker Barrel.
We're way out west and the CB here is awful service-wise. We've sat at our table for 10-30 minutes without acknowledgement from any wait staff until we do something. So - we frequent our neighborhood 'Red Robin' instead.
Posted by: Kitt | Sunday, October 22, 2006 at 03:14 PM