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Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
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acrobatic rabbit
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I know it's called the Cracker Barrel, which is pretty self-explanatory, but aside from the blatant name of the restaurant, do these workers have to go through some sort of racist training before being employed? It seems there are more racist incidents here than any other chain restaurant. And yes, as mentioned, I understand that is called the Cracker Barrel. But really.
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Maritsa
09/17/09

@acrobatic rabbit: [www.usatoday.com]

They've exhibited a pattern of discrimination. So maybe certain stripes of racist feel more comfortable going to a restaurant where white people got served first and where white staff could refused to wait on black customers.
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c'est fou mec
09/17/09

@Maritsa: didn't chris rock's mom sue cracker barrel a while back because they discriminated against her?

[abcnews.go.com]

that place needs to be shut down forever
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BowlingForDollars
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
It's not just black folk - Cracker Barrel also hates gays. I haven't eaten there since and never will. This incident just reinforces that stance.

From Wikipedia:

In 1991, Cracker Barrel instituted a policy requiring employees to display "normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society." The company refused to change their policy in the face of protest demonstrations by gay rights groups. After 10 years of proposals by the New York City Employees Retirement System, a major shareholder, the company's shareholders voted 58% in 2002 in favor of rescinding the policy. The board of directors added sexual orientation to the company's nondiscrimination policy.
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chersolly
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
Last year, we were on our way to Bonnaroo and stopped at Cracker Barrel somewhere along the TN/KY border. While my boyfriend was paying for our meals as the register, I was in the candy section, which is next to the greeter's station. One waitress came up to the greeter and told her the next table was ready. The greeter then turned to the waitress and told her that it was just a bunch of "n____s" on the list and that they can wait a little while longer. I was within earshot and horrified. Sadly, I didn't have the courage to say anything to the women. The event didn't full process for me until we were back on the highway. When we got home, I wrote a complaint letter to both that restraint and the corporate address, but never received a reply outside of the automated response. God, I wish I had said something to those women. One of my few regrets.
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Peebers says what?
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
From what I’ve witnessed, racism like this comes from profound self-hatred. If his entire identity and sense of worth comes from the color of his own skin then he is to be pitied – and separated from society.
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smoakes
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I honestly don't understand how a man with a fuse this short--to fly into a rage and beat up a woman, in a public place--was able to function in society up until now? How do you BECOME a man who thinks it's okay to repeatedly punch a woman, and not already be in jail? What a disgusting person.
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MizJenkins
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
One of these days that little girl is going to grow up and have a conversation about racism on an internet blog and someone is going to tell her she is overreacting and to stop playing the race card.
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ZemarSea Urchin
09/17/09

@MizJenkins: Hahaha. Funny but all to true Mz.Jenkins.
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Ninja Robot Pirate
09/17/09

@MizJenkins: If she would just watch her tone...
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thesciencegirl
09/17/09

@MizJenkins: and she's gonna ask herself, "why do I even try anymore?"

Anyway, that's how I feel today.
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morninggloria
09/17/09

@MizJenkins: Lady, you have been on fire for the last few days.

I'll have a big helping of whatever you're having.
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NellMood
09/17/09

@MizJenkins: Comment of the day for sure.
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BreeDMN
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I heard about this yesterday and I was alternately sickened and infuriated. That poor woman and her child. Somebody should tell that piece of shit Troy West that it is 2009 not 1959. But his picture speaks volumes. He is the embodiment of an uneducated, angry and disaffected white male who was just waiting for the right target to vent his frustration on. People like this are the reason I go to bed every night praying for the safety of the President and his family.
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Ginmar Rienne
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
God, what a scumbag.

What worries me is that these stories comfort racists: the ones who don't beat down a mother and her seven-year-old daughter. They just don't want a black man in the White House, they don't want black neighbors, and they lock their doors when they see a black person waiting at the stop light to cross the street. They tell racist jokes in private to other whites. They believe 'all that' ended in the Sixties. And so forth.

I bet this guy has a 'support the troops' ribbon on his no-doubt huge truck, too.

It's important not to 'other' this guy but remind ourselves that he comes from ordinary society, and that racists don't have to resort to violence to be racists. I've read elsewhere that the little girl is traumatized because she thinks it's her fault. Well, that tells you everything you need to know about racists. Even a little girl isn't human to them.
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AndIAmTellingYou
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I got called the N-word by cashier at a Cracker Barrel outside of Orlando once. I've only been back once -- to pee on a roadtrip.

Cracker Barrel has and still attracts a clientele that likes its "country kitsch" and "Americana" image. I think they're all buzzwords for racists. Despite the lawsuits, the company and its clientele haven't changed. Sad to say in the year 2009, but people of color should steer clear. Spend your dollars somewhere else where you'll be respected.
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nyc-caribbean-ragazza
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou:

I refuse to eat there. Too many complaints have been lodged against them. Same goes for Dennys.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: cracker barrel is for white people.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: What the hell is up with Cracker Barrel? Every time I hear about one, it's in relation to some kind of racist incident.
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dj_chick
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: You must be kidding?! Why would an employee do that? Ridiculous. I've only ever been a Cracker Barrel once... and this doesn't make me want to go back.
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MizJenkins
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: Yeah, I posted this yesterday but the last time I was in a Cracker Barrel I had a waitress chase me to the bathroom and yell out, "We don't just give food away here, you have to pay!" I hadn't ordered yet.
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ZemarSea Urchin
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: Nuh-uh. You go and you bring some black friends and you look at the merchandise and make small talk with the people in the store and then you leave. And you keep on doing it. They want you to go away they don't care if you never spend your money there. What they don't want is to see you there well behaved and all smiles. Thats how you stick it to 'em. Though I am biased. Whenever I go to a store and they track me around 'cause I'm black I stay extra long, pick everything up and then keep returning to the store and never buy a thing. I'm a bit asshole-ish that way.
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thesciencegirl
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: My parents (1 black, 1 white) always made us stop at Cracker Barrel on long road trips when I was a kid. There were several instances, especially once we got as far south as Georgie, when other patrons and even the hostesses made us very uncomfortable with rude words and stares. I remember meals when I was shaking with anger by the end because old white people were staring at me with such animosity just because my family was of mixed race. I never go there anymore.
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Maritsa
09/17/09

@dj_chick: An employee would do that if she was a racist and she felt comfortable openly declaring that at her job without fear of reprisal. Cracker Barrel has systemic racism problem.
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ZemarSea Urchin
09/17/09

@AndIAmTellingYou: @all I come from a pretty racially messed up environment and I was raised that you fight fire with fire. If the good 'ol boys don't want you in their establishments then you walk right in the front door. They cannot stop you from patronizing their establishment. What you don't do though is pay them. Now in the case of this Denny's you go in and you order a cheap cup of coffee and you stay for a half hour and you leave. Then you bring some friends and do the same periodically. You show them that they don't have the power to stop you and their bad attitude certainly won't hold you back. And by God pray one of them suckers tries to get you. Then you'll have them by the short and curlies. I don't know that I should have even said that but by gum I still got the fight left in me after all these years. Sad isn't.
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nyc-caribbean-ragazza
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I heard about this and it broke my heart. This should not be going down anywhere in 2009. Even if she spit at him (doubtful) that he immediately went there says it all.

Her poor daughter.

I will never forget the first time someone called me that (6th grade). I really can't describe how awful it feels. It's the reason I don't use the word, because to me there is no way to "reclaim" it. I hate it when I hear it all the time in hip/hop or in public.

I wonder if the folks saying the word all the time as a word of "endearment" have ever had someone say it to them with nothing but pure hatred and venom.
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MizJenkins
09/17/09

@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: I don't use the word much (mostly because I lack the accent required to keep it from sounding derogatory) but I'm ok with its continued usage by Black people. I have had it used against me by White people and I think the endearing part of hearing other Black people use it comes from the implied acknowledgement that the speaker and the listner have both been victims of the same hatred. It's a word that expresses solidarity and for me to hear it is comforting, although I do recognize that sometimes it is overused and that there are downsides to identifying too much with ones own victimization.
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nyc-caribbean-ragazza
09/17/09

@MizJenkins:

I get an occasional "n...please" but hearing it every other word bothers me.

I don't find it comforting at all but that's probably because I grew up in the 'burbs and any time I heard the word it was direct at me without love. ha
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dreamypisces
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
Reading the headline - I was afraid that I'd have to ban Cracker Barrel (b/c of racist employees) and really, I don't know if I could be that strong. I love me some country fried steak and gravy.
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colormeroutine
09/17/09

@dreamypisces: A friend said something similar about this. I suggested a dine&dash, You get fed, they lose money.
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johnny_carsick
09/17/09

@dreamypisces: oh please. both the steak and gravy come out of a can. go to a fucking shoney's or whatever.
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debo matar la zombi goldberry83
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get something treated as a hate crime, if the US is anything like Canada anyway. A couple of weeks ago somebody torched the car of a couple of my colleagues (a lesbian couple), and spray-painted homophobic slurs all over their garage. There's evidence that whoever it was tried to burn their house, too. They've got a beautiful five-year-old boy, and they are completely terrified, staying in hotels and trying to figure out what the hell they're going to do. The police are refusing to treat it as a hate crime.

Edit: Of course, that could in part have to do with the fact that, as previously stated, I'm living in Canada's answer to the Bible Belt.
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Edited by debo matar la zombi goldberry83 at 09/17/09 11:15 AM

KATE!
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I wish that criminals would be more explicit as to whether their motivations are hate-based or not. It would really help us regular folk identify them.

"THIS IS A HATE CRIME, YOU (insert slur)"
vs.
"YOU (insert slur)"

I can see how the FBI needs to investigate this matter further. ITS SO AMBIGUOUS!
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whoneedslight
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
I have never been to a Cracker Barrel that wasn't packed... please tell me there are witnesses.
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Shotrock
09/17/09

@whoneedslight: IIRC, there are, and to a person they are backing Hill in this matter.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
09/17/09

@Shotrock: that's a pleasant surprise
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RollsRoyceRevenge
09/17/09

In reply to Racist May Face Hate Crime Charges After Cracker Barrel Beating
There is a joke about this incident and the name of the restaurant that I refuse to make.

Um...so there.
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Edited by RollsRoyceRevenge at 09/17/09 10:46 AM RollsRoyceRevenge was starred

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