Controversy Surrounds Lunch Menu at Concord High School

[Union Label]

Administrators at a Northern California private school are facing tough questions and offering a big apology after a menu controversy.

Students at Carondelet High School for Girls in Concord wanted to come up with ways to celebrate Black History Month in a lunchtime celebration. But when the school announced a lunch of fried chicken, cornbread and watermelon, students and parents were outraged and offended.

The principal and dean of the school refused to talk to NBC Bay Area on Wednesday, but school officials held an assembly on campus to discuss the issue and sent an apology letter to parents.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Controversy-Surrounds-Lunch-Menu-at-Concord-High-School-243851091.html

Extremely poor taste and a slap in the face to all people regardless of race. I am so disappointed that this could happen in California, I could see it in a red State but not here.

[KamaAina]

1. We are not as pristine as you might think

or as we like to think. San Jose State was just rocked by an incident in which an African American student was taunted by his white suitemates, who hung a Confederate flag in the common area and even barricaded him in his room.

Back in the '80s, a young African American man was basically lynched in Concord, where this school is, while walking home from BART across the city plaza.

[jsr]

5. California university students charged in racist bullying of roommate:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-usa-college-hatecrime-idUSBRE9AL16K20131122

California university students charged in racist bullying of roommate
By Dan Whitcomb
Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:42pm EST

(Reuters) - Three California university students accused of taunting their black roommate with racial slurs and references to slavery, once trying to clamp a bicycle lock on his neck, have been charged with hate crimes in an incident that has roiled the campus.

The three freshmen have also been suspended from San Jose State University, in Northern California east of the tech hub of Silicon Valley, where student protests erupted this week after the accusations came to light.

Logan Beaschler and Colin Warren, both 18, and Joseph Bomgardner, 19, have been charged with misdemeanor hate crime and battery, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Erin West said.

Beaschler has surrendered to authorities and Warren and Bomgardner were expected to do so this week, West said. Each could face a year in jail if convicted at trial.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. Here's an honest question.

If you were asked to develop a menu to celebrate Black History Month, what would you choose?

[Sylvarose]

4. I'll play

One day I'd feature something with peanut butter (cookies, sandwich or a soup with it, etc). I was taught in grade school about George Washington Carver. He was a scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. He got poor farmers in the south to grow alternative crops to cotton (which often depleted the soil of nutrients) and then came up with with recipes and other uses for those crops. Peanuts were one of those crops.

Oh..and he was African American. He was born into slavery so his exact birthday is unknown but they think he was born in Missouri in January 1864. He died January 5th, 1943. He was an amazing man! Seriously, check out his achievements!

SR

[jmowreader]

11. Can't do peanut butter. That kills people.

How about tomatoes? George Washington Carver was the one who discovered they weren't poisonous.

[Union Label]

7. Sorry but trying to relate a menu to race is just so beyond anything I can comprehend

I find this very insulting and just the idea very racist.

[msanthrope]

9. Not race--culture. We do a potluck every year at my child's school that celebrates BHM, and there

are lots of dishes from many different cultures--"Black History" is not a monolith. We have dishes from Africa, Creole culture, Island cultures....

[SMC22307]

37. That sounds reasonable. I'd bring my killer jerk chicken...

and Jamaican sweet potatoes.

[msanthrope]

39. OMG...that's what I made..jerk chicken! nt

[SMC22307]

40. Perfect. Trinidadian Mac & Cheese would have been a good choice, too.

So many choices, that is, if folks didn't have a "watermelon" agenda.

[msanthrope]

41. You have to post the recipe for that, you know! nt

[SMC22307]

44. Check these out...

http://www.cookingwithria.com/2013/08/cheesy-and-creamy-trinidad-macaroni-pie.html

http://www.modernmami.com/recipes/trinidadian-macaroni-pie/

I like Jamaican mac & cheese, too -- nutmeg!

http://www.cooklikeajamaican.com/macaroni-and-cheese/

[msanthrope]

8. Catfish, okra with tomatoes, red beans and rice, collard greens. Corn bread.

banana pudding and peanut butter cookies for dessert.

These were the most popular dishes at my child's school when we held a potluck last year celebrating Black History Month.

[B2G]

12. So fried catfish is OK, but fried chicken is off limits?

I don't get it.

[msanthrope]

13. Um...it was baked. nt

[B2G]

23. So baked is OK, but fried is not?

Baked catfish is horrible. Fried is to die for. I'm white and I'd take fried chicken or fish over baked any day of the week.

This is ridiculous.

[msanthrope]

24. I'm sure fried would have been great, but the baked was very, very good. We served

fried chicken, too, but mostly the kids are it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. I grew up in almost exclusively white towns.

I'm as completely ignorant about what constitutes African American cuisine as I suspect many of the bay area parents who can afford private school are.

If asked, I'd guess that it might be like the food my dad was raised on in Arkansas; beans, "greens", cornbread and (occasionally) fried chicken.

Not all ignorance is malicious.

[msanthrope]

20. Chicken--before it became so mass produced--was considered a delicacy, and something well-off

people ate. My grandfather ate fried chicken with reverence, because he remembered a time when it was only for Sunday Dinner, and you only got a small piece because it was split among 8 kids. Fried chicken, done right, is something I now make once a year--at Fourth of July.

That being said, I think African American food is like Italian, or Chinese--it's diverse, and it really depends on your culture, and what your family made for the holidays. I think your guess is right...beans and greens, poor people's food, done right.

And damn, I love a good cornbread!

[leftynyc]

36. Why would anyone be afraid to say Black?

What an unusual question for your very first post. Welcome to DU.

[Crunchy Frog]

45. They have this thing nowadays called "the internet".

Among other things, it enables one to quicky gather lots of information about pretty much anything. A quick Google search for "African American cuisine" yields tons of info.

I'm betting that they could have done just a tiny bit of research, or had the students do research and find recipes, and they could have come up with something that wasn't just a crude racial stereotype.

The ignorance may not have been malicious, but it was pretty damned stupid and incompetent.

[DreamGypsy]

17. Coffee

I'd set up a lunch counter. The students could sit at the counter, ask for coffee, and be refused service.

MONDAY, FEB. 1, 1960

Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. and David Richmond (The Greensboro Four) entered the F.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, N.C., around 4:30 p.m. and purchased merchandise at several counters. They sat down at the store's "whites only" lunch counter and ordered coffee, and were denied service, ignored and then asked to leave. They remained seated at the counter until the store closed early at 5 p.m. The four friends immediately returned to campus and recruited others for the cause.

Then, after all of the young women in turn had sat for, oh ten minutes, contemplating the experience of being demeaned by the denial a simple public service, I would have served

Crab and Tri-Tip or Tri-Tip only
Cesar Salad
Complimentary Cup of Coffee
Penne Rigatti with Bolognese Sauce
Garlic Bread
Dessert

Which is the menu of the Carondelet High School for Girls' Annual Crab Feed (with coffee substituted for the glass of wine).

[LanternWaste]

18. Traditional American food...

Traditional American food... (which is what's served at the Junteenth Celebration every year in Fort Worth)

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. When I think of traditional american food... I think fried chicken, potatoes and cornbread.

Maybe apple pie for dessert.

[wickerwoman]

26. I wouldn't choose.

I'd find someone who knew something about African American cuisine and then ask them to develop a menu. Otherwise I might worry that, in my total ignorance, I'd be falling back on offensive stereotypes like, you know, watermelon and fried chicken.

[JHB]

43. I think I'd start by researching numerous cookbooks of old family recipies...

...and avoid watermelon like the plague.

[KamaAina]

3. How about gumbo and potato chips instead?

Gumbo, especially the kind that uses okra as a thickener, derives from African cuisine. Potato chips were invented by an upstate New York chef who was half African American and half Native American.

[dionysus]

6. i never understood the origin of that racist joke... who DOESN'T like fried chicken and cornbread?

it never made any sense to me...

[B2G]

10. Me either

Maybe they just should have hired Minny from The Help, who made legendary fried chicken, btw.

[wickerwoman]

27. Yep, move along. Nothing to see here...

Everyone likes watermelon, so no harm, no foul.

[dionysus]

28. woooosh....... i understand that it's using a dumbass stereotype in a hateful way.

which is why I don't find the "joke" funny.

what I don't understand about the "joke", is that fried chicken, cornbread, and watermelon aren't exclusive to any particular race.

in other words, I don't get why racists based a stereotype on said foods.

[wickerwoman]

35. Because it's what slaves ate on the plantation.

They didn't pipe water out into the fields. They fed slaves watermelons at noon to keep them hydrated. And then created dozens of cartoons showing slaves eating enormous slices of watermelon to say "look how happy they are and how much they have to eat".

They fed them corn because it was considered cheap and coarse. Before slavery, corn was fed to pigs.

And fried chicken was a special treat, usually for Christmas dinner, just about the only time of year plantation slaves had meat. It was a kind of Saturnalian festival where slaves got to sit at tables and eat as much as they liked.

So of course then you get depictions of black people with huge piles of fried chicken to show their animal-like gluttony.

And that's all been carried over into modern discourse about food stamps. Why should we feed these people when they're just going to go to KFC and pig out?

[Boom Sound 416]

14. File that under: Damn

[hedgehog]

15. It may be perceived by some as a simple expression of culture, but

it'd be like serving nothing but boiled potatoes on St. Patrick's Day - something that would bring up dozens of jokes denigrating the culture.

[msanthrope]

21. I'm not Irish...but I make a mean pot roast with Guinness. nt

[Dr. Strange]

22. Seems like this happens every year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/04/nbc-serves-fried-chicken_n_449821.html

[B2G]

25. Foods aren't racially based, they are regionally based

This whole topic is ridiculous.

[dionysus]

29. maybe at some point in the past, but fried chicken is ubiquitous in US culture at this point.

I'm in NY, and Popeye's and KFC do a tremendous amount of business.

So is BBQ...

who doesn't like that stuff?

[B2G]

32. Fried chicken used to be a southern dish

not a black dish. Same for collard greens, cornbread, sweet tea, etc. It's not BLACK, it's SOUTHERN. And were was the greatest concentration of blacks back then? The south.

That was my point. I don't know why this is so hard for some people to grasp. (Not directing this post at you).

[clarice]

30. Ok...just for laughs...

What would you serve if there was a White History Month ?...I'll start
1. White bread and mayonnaise sandwiches
2. Baked potatoes with nuthin on em'
3. Crystal lite drinks

[B2G]

31. I'll pass and show up for the Black History lunch

Maybe they just should have served McDonalds and called it a day.

[clarice]

33. agreed, nt

[Crunchy Frog]

46. I'd add baloney and American cheese to the sandwiches. n/t

[Vashta Nerada]

38. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[johnp3907]

42. We do this every year where I work.

I work in the dining hall at a small college in south-western Pennsylvania. Every February the Student Minority Coalition does a special dinner for Black History Month. They pick the menu and help prepare the food: Fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, sweet potato pie.

[SoCalDem]

47. Here's an idea for future "celebrations"

Have a meal that's catered by a local "soul-food" restaurant...invite parents who will make a generous donation, and include clips from Skip Gates' documentary to play ..

Ask the cooks/servers to feel free to share their expertise/experiences.

[dembotoz]

48. if they had left out the watermelon.....

i kind of applaud the concept of tying the school lunch menu into the calender--perhaps this was just ham fisted.

i remember heart shaped cookies on valentines day....

corned beef on st pattys day

maybe taco on cinco de mayo

the cafeteria staff tried
they failed but at least they tried

i would cut them some slack

[Humanist_Activist]

49. To be honest, I wasn't even aware of these stereotypes until I was well past being a teenager...

Hell, at our school, that meal would be on the Wednesday menu, and not remarked upon(my school was 90% white).

Wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I even became aware of these food stereotypes, and just now I told my fiancee about this article, and she didn't get it either, as in she wasn't aware of the stereotype either.

Maybe its because we grew up in an area that's Midwestern with a lot of southern influences, or an area that always has a significant black population, so having a meal of fried chicken with cornbread, or watermelon was just a good tasting, if unhealthy meal. Even though I can't stand watermelon with salt, my dad eats it like that, disgusting.

I'm not saying this as an excuse for this school, what they did was stupid, and THEY should know better, I just wonder if there's some type of regionalism going on as well. Kinda like I have to remind myself that "Hoosier" means something different in the rest of the country(resident of Indiana), while here it means white trash.