N.J. Man Goes Out of Business Over 'White History Month'

[Robert not Bobby]

Apr 18, 2015 11:09:09 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Apr 18, 2015 9:09:58 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Ok, why should there not be a "White History month"?

Seriously?

Because EVERY month is White History Month.

Do you not understand the concept of minority and majority?

In less than 30 years Caucasians will be the minority in this country...I have no problem with that.

So, maybe he's thinking ahead...every minority deserves some sort of day or month to celebrate their heritage...seems fair to me.

But we should all get over this race thing. I saw the most beautiful baby in the lobby of where I work, the other day: White dad, Asian mom. Let's mix it up.

[taz157]

A few years ago, my MIL, my niece and myself were followed around a shoe store.  All of us are white.  I would have been mid 20s, my niece was a teenager and my MIL would have been mid 60s.  It was very weird and we ended leaving the store without buying anything. 

[Robert not Bobby]

Apr 18, 2015 13:54:52 GMT -5 @patstab said:

And my daughter is not that different, she has good manners, I keep her clean and well dressed, she is a nice person, but she looks different. Even family excludes us, so I pretty much lve a life alone. You have no idea.

She has had behavioral issues but that has just been the last 4 years, so this was not a factor.

I so immensely respect you.

You must be an incredible mom.

[andi9899]

There has to be more to the story. I find it hard to believe that a single sign that wasn't derogatory in any way did so much damage that it took a successful business down in one month.

[Robert not Bobby]

Apr 18, 2015 14:01:45 GMT -5 @patstab said:

No, I just never give up on something, I'm a dogged individual.

So take a compliment with grace, you deserve it.

If you have you sights set on something and you have the strength an tenacity to see it though...then what, if the end result is not what you were hoping for?

You have to be strong for that eventuality as well.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 13:48:30 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

When were you followed around a sore for being "white"?

I'm white and I've been followed around a store by an employee multiple times. Are the black people this happens to sure it happens because they're black, and not for some other reason, like being a teenager, dressing different, or having a weird haistyle? It used to happen to me as a teen, when I had long hair that was dyed.

The last incident I recall having in a store was with a customer. He didn't think my "ghetto ass" had any business in that part of town. Uhhhh, I have a nose ring that's so tiny it took my Mom almost a year to notice it. I had on some jeans and a t-shirt because I'd been working in my yard when my weedeater died. Maybe I was frowning because I was irritated that I had to stop and go buy another trimmer so I could finish my yard, and that's why I was ghetto. I hadn't even said anything when he said that, so it wasn't my speech that made me ghetto. I assume "ghetto" and  "black" are the same thing to him.

Whatever it was about me that made him say "ghetto", should have told him I wasn't going to scurry away and pretend he didn't say that.

[Robert not Bobby]

Apr 18, 2015 15:27:03 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Apr 18, 2015 13:48:30 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

I'm white and I've been followed around a store by an employee multiple times. Are the black people this happens to sure it happens because they're black, and not for some other reason, like being a teenager, dressing different, or having a weird haistyle? It used to happen to me as a teen, when I had long hair that was dyed.

The last incident I recall having in a store was with a customer. He didn't think my "ghetto ass" had any business in that part of town. Uhhhh, I have a nose ring that's so tiny it took my Mom almost a year to notice it. I had on some jeans and a t-shirt because I'd been working in my yard when my weedeater died. Maybe I was frowning because I was irritated that I had to stop and go buy another trimmer so I could finish my yard, and that's why I was ghetto. I hadn't even said anything when he said that, so it wasn't my speech that made me ghetto. I assume "ghetto" and  "black" are the same thing to him.

Whatever it was about me that made him say "ghetto", should have told him I wasn't going to scurry away and pretend he didn't say that.

I'm not sure I got that...are you a
Negro, are you colored..what is this all about? (yes, I know those words are not politically correct, but so what)

Relax...ghetto is a state of mind, and you are so above
that.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 15:41:05 GMT -5 Robert not Bobby said:

Apr 18, 2015 15:27:03 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

The last incident I recall having in a store was with a customer. He didn't think my "ghetto ass" had any business in that part of town. Uhhhh, I have a nose ring that's so tiny it took my Mom almost a year to notice it. I had on some jeans and a t-shirt because I'd been working in my yard when my weedeater died. Maybe I was frowning because I was irritated that I had to stop and go buy another trimmer so I could finish my yard, and that's why I was ghetto. I hadn't even said anything when he said that, so it wasn't my speech that made me ghetto. I assume "ghetto" and  "black" are the same thing to him.

Whatever it was about me that made him say "ghetto", should have told him I wasn't going to scurry away and pretend he didn't say that.

I'm not sure I got that...are you a
Negro, are you colored..what is this all about? (yes, I know those words are not politically correct, but so what)

Relax...ghetto is a state of mind, and you are so above
that.

In the grand scheme of things, sometimes it does work for me to pretend people didn't say what they said or write what they wrote.

*pats self on back*

[TheHaitian]

Apr 18, 2015 15:41:05 GMT -5 Robert not Bobby said:

Apr 18, 2015 15:27:03 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

The last incident I recall having in a store was with a customer. He didn't think my "ghetto ass" had any business in that part of town. Uhhhh, I have a nose ring that's so tiny it took my Mom almost a year to notice it. I had on some jeans and a t-shirt because I'd been working in my yard when my weedeater died. Maybe I was frowning because I was irritated that I had to stop and go buy another trimmer so I could finish my yard, and that's why I was ghetto. I hadn't even said anything when he said that, so it wasn't my speech that made me ghetto. I assume "ghetto" and  "black" are the same thing to him.

Whatever it was about me that made him say "ghetto", should have told him I wasn't going to scurry away and pretend he didn't say that.

I'm not sure I got that...are you a
Negro, are you colored..what is this all about? (yes, I know those words are not politically correct, but so what)

Relax...ghetto is a state of mind, and you are so above
that.

I guess that is my cue to just drop this thread...

[Tennesseer]

Apr 18, 2015 14:09:26 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

There has to be more to the story. I find it hard to believe that a single sign that wasn't derogatory in any way did so much damage that it took a successful business down in one month.

From my post, reply#21:

"Critics immediately pounced, questioning whether the sign was really to blame, prompting Boggess to post an update.

“Yes, you guys are right, the store wasn’t doing good before the sign was posted,” he wrote.

“But it was doing good enough to keep the store open.”He said after the sign was posted, business dried up.""

If the deli owner's only customers were black, his business would have dried up immediately. So chances are good he had white customers too and it appears they found the sign derogatory. What we don't know are comments, possibly negative and derogatory toward blacks, he may have made to his customers too.

[EVT1]

Basically it was a racist hail Mary ala go fund me.  What an idiot.

Not near as big of a douchebag as the shop owner not working on a vehicle owned by a gay person though- that takes the wedding cake   He's probably OK- not to many gay people drive diesel trucks with truck nuts swinging, and openly carry guns to make sure everyone knows how manly and not gay they are.  

[mroped]

Granted, I don't realy care about the idea of having a "black history month" and a " white history month" and what have you but if I'm about to walk in a store that has a big sign saying "celebrate....history month" and is for a race or nationality, I'd be inclined to go elsewhere and do my shopping.
Thats for the fact that to me that's plain insulting to those that don't belong to the race or nationality or what else.

why can't we as people just get along and behave like humans? What happened to respect for one another?
This melting pot called US was supposed to be the place where all is equal. Apparently some parts of the country or individuals didn't get the memo.

[Tennesseer]

Apr 18, 2015 16:55:37 GMT -5 mroped said:

Granted, I don't realy care about the idea of having a "black history month" and a " white history month" and what have you but if I'm about to walk in a store that has a big sign saying "celebrate....history month" and is for a race or nationality, I'd be inclined to go elsewhere and do my shopping.
Thats for the fact that to me that's plain insulting to those that don't belong to the race or nationality or what else.

why can't we as people just get along and behave like humans? What happened to respect for one another?
This melting pot called US was supposed to be the place where all is equal. Apparently some parts of the country or individuals didn't get the memo.

The slavery of black people was legal (1619-1865) far longer than it has been illegal (1865-2015) in colonial America and then the U.S. For much of U.S. the infrastructure and economy was built on the backs and the sweat of black slaves. That is not something that is easily to dismiss with a 'Oh Well, Forgive and Forget'.

The enslavement of blacks in the United States will always be one of our legacies. Some legacies are good-some bad. Slavery is one of the bad.

[zibazinski]

I get that but no one living has ever been a slave. Or their parents. Or their grandparents.
As far as the Holocaust survivors, the Germans are tired of it being brought up again and again, and a fair amount of them that perpetuated the crime are still alive and kicking. But at a certain point the survivors and the criminals will all be dead. But I don't blame the Jews for Never Again. If slavery was within the last 75 years, I'd think differently.

[Tennesseer]

Apr 18, 2015 17:25:59 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I get that but no one living has ever been a slave. Or their parents. Or their grandparents.
As far as the Holocaust survivors, the Germans are tired of it being brought up again and again, and a fair amount of them that perpetuated the crime are still alive and kicking. But at a certain point the survivors and the criminals will all be dead. But I don't blame the Jews for Never Again. If slavery was within the last 75 years, I'd think differently.

You may or may not have been alive when segration was legal in the U.S. I was.

While it may have not been slavery, blacks were still treated as second class citizens for another 100 years after slavery ended. That is well within the lifetimes of many of us.

[zibazinski]

Okay

[Tennesseer]

Apr 18, 2015 17:39:15 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

It's not just slavery. Somebody posted a link to an article in the last couple days that talked about a county in Georgia that just had their first integrated prom last year. In 2013 and prior they were still having segregated white and black proms. In two thousand fucking thirteen! Let that sink in for a minute. I was born three decades ago and thought segregation was something you only read about in history classes because it died before I was born. Way to keep it backwards Georgia!

A suburban county of ours in Mississippi had its first mixed race senior prom just three years ago. 'It has always been that way to have separate proms' they said.

[Robert not Bobby]

Apr 18, 2015 16:01:16 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Apr 18, 2015 15:41:05 GMT -5 Robert not Bobby said:

I'm not sure I got that...are you a
Negro, are you colored..what is this all about? (yes, I know those words are not politically correct, but so what)

Relax...ghetto is a state of mind, and you are so above
that.

I guess that is my cue to just drop this thread...

Why?

If you think something I said is offensive...confront me, don't run away.

Besides, you may be smarter than me.

[zibazinski]

Yup, I'm out, too. This has bad news written all over it.

[Virgil Showlion]

Apr 18, 2015 17:39:15 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

It's not just slavery. Somebody posted a link to an article in the last couple days that talked about a county in Georgia that just had their first integrated prom last year. In 2013 and prior they were still having segregated white and black proms. In two thousand fucking thirteen! Let that sink in for a minute. I was born three decades ago and thought segregation was something you only read about in history classes because it died before I was born. Way to keep it backwards Georgia!

It's 2015 and we're still segregating black history from white history, apparently.

[mroped]

I read somewhere that the great state of Mississippi didn't legaly abolish slavery until recently. What in the world is wrong with people?

I own my own business. I couldn't possibly think of a reason why I should refuse service to somebody based on race, gender, sexual orientation or any reason you can think of .
I will however refuse to work for somebody that has/is offending me or anybody working for me for any reason. 

As Robert pointed out, just because the discussion gets a bit heated that doesn't mean anybody should bow out. That's when things get interesting. A healthy debate is always good.  

[zibazinski]

Thanks but no thanks.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 17:11:13 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Apr 18, 2015 16:55:37 GMT -5 mroped said:

Granted, I don't realy care about the idea of having a "black history month" and a " white history month" and what have you but if I'm about to walk in a store that has a big sign saying "celebrate....history month" and is for a race or nationality, I'd be inclined to go elsewhere and do my shopping.
Thats for the fact that to me that's plain insulting to those that don't belong to the race or nationality or what else.

why can't we as people just get along and behave like humans? What happened to respect for one another?
This melting pot called US was supposed to be the place where all is equal. Apparently some parts of the country or individuals didn't get the memo.

The slavery of black people was legal (1619-1865) far longer than it has been illegal (1865-2015) in colonial America and then the U.S. For much of U.S. the infrastructure and economy was built on the backs and the sweat of black slaves. That is not something that is easily to dismiss with a 'Oh Well, Forgive and Forget'.

The enslavement of blacks in the United States will always be one of our legacies. Some legacies are good-some bad. Slavery is one of the bad.

I typed a post earlier that mentioned that there are people still alive that grew up before and during the Civil Rights Movement. When you still have people in your family and community that lived in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas during those times, it's a little more real to you than something you read about in a book. But still, I wasn't taught that I should dislike or hate white people. The sins belong only to the people that committed them, not to everybody that looks like them. Clearly everyone wasn't taught the same lessons about moving forward.

It is the past, but it wasn't so long ago that it's ancient history.

[tallguy]

As far as the deli owner, it could be either a closeted racist sign, a sincere (though unthinking) desire to celebrate his own culture, or a desperate attempt to cash in on a GoFundMe thing.  (I say unthinking only because a more aware person would realize that every month in our entire history has effectively been White History Month.  I'm not going to comment on his motivation one way or the other without more information.

As far as race relations in this country:  We had a Civil Rights Act of 1866, we had a Civil Rights Act of 1964, and I would not be at all surprised if we end up with a Civil Rights Act of 2062.  Many of us in this country are open and accepting of a great many things, but many are not.  And unfortunately, the ones who are not keep procreating.       

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 11:24:18 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

I guess the moral of the story is that it's risky to advertise your personal ideas and opinions through your business.

Unless you have the "privilege" afforded to minorities... of course.


If you are a minority owned business... go ahead.

[Robert not Bobby]

I'm so sick of everyone playing the race card.

[Opti]

I wonder if he would have gone down in flames less if he hadn't used the phrase

"celebrate your white heritage". That makes it more exclusionary than the typical

Black History month posters I see at the library. They aren't directed to just blacks,

they simply state things like February is Black history month.

I think he would have done better if he was actually sincere, to simply post some

blurbs about white historic figures during March with no fanfare.

[Robert not Bobby]

White History Month, would be kind of strange...we basically control everything, in one way or another.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 18:55:34 GMT -5 Opti said:

I wonder if he would have gone down in flames less if he hadn't used the phrase

"celebrate your white heritage". That makes it more exclusionary than the typical

Black History month posters I see at the library. They aren't directed to just blacks,

they simply state things like February is Black history month.

I think he would have done better if he was actually sincere, to simply post some

blurbs about white historic figures during March with no fanfare.

I've seen many "Black History Month" messages with some sort of "celebrate your heritage" verbiage included on/in on them.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2015 18:54:17 GMT -5 Robert not Bobby said:

I'm so sick of everyone playing the race card.

What I think is interesting is that the threads that have an OP about race or turn into discussions about race, are rarely started or turned in that direction by posters that have acknowledged that they are black.

I have some random thoughts about it, but I haven't figured out exactly what I think that says. I'm pretty sure it does say something though.