2/6/2002 06:45 HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)
A supermarket advertised a sale on fried chicken in honor of Black History Month, prompting the company to issue an apology after a customer complained.
Giant Food Stores customer Lance Sellers brought the ad to the attention of the manager of the store in Union Deposit east of Harrisburg. The sign read: "In honor of Black History Month, we at Giant are offering a special savings on fried chicken."
"I showed it to a few of the other customers ... and they all were stunned," Sellers said. "When I approached the store manager about the problem he had the nerve to ask me why it offended me so much."
Giant Food Stores apologized on Wednesday and said the sign was not meant to be offensive.
"It did happen. It was at that one store only," said Denny Hopkins, Giant's vice president of advertising. "We had a customer bring the sign to us and complain and we immediately took it down."
Paula Diane Harris, president of the Greater Harrisburg Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the sign reinforces racist stereotypes.
"Not all African-Americans eat fried chicken, greens and chitlins. We like salad, roast beef, low-fat chicken, just like everybody else," she said.
Giant is sponsoring several programs for Black History Month, including having jazz bands and soul food samples at its Kline Village Plaza and Union Deposit stores, Hopkins said.
Sellers said the sign wouldn't keep him from shopping at the store.
"We laugh about it," he said. "How could they put something like that out there?"
Emphasis added.
I think you should take a minute and reread it.
So, children. What did we learn? We learned that it is the position of the NAACP that black people like salad.
Sometimes we get too close to the issue and we forget to look for the simple truths in a situation. If that manager had just taken the time to understand that black people like salad, we could have avoided a very tense, racially frought incident at the supermarket.
I firmly believe that "African Americans Like Salad!" should be the new battle cry in the struggle for racial equality. It communicates so much, and the best part is that it's a slogan that even the Republicans can get behind.
I can totally hear the President at a press confrence. "Well," he would begin as he wipes his nose on his sleve, "I recently learned the blacks like salad. Now, I promise to fight for a world that embraces this ideal. Everyone can come behind a big crunchy salad. I bet black people even like nasty salads like Jell-o salads. Just as much as white people.
"So when I tell you we're cutting funding to building initiatives in urban areas, you can rest assured, that we are NOT cutting funding to white farmers who grow salads!" He would pound the podium with every syllable. "NOT ONE DOLLAR LESS TO WHITES, THAT IS MAH PROMISE HERE TODAY!"
He'd finish up with "Los ensaladas viven en las casas!" as a throw back to the campaign.
This black people and salad thing is going to blow the roof off of race relations. I bet the Klan just doesn't realize. We need a PR person to tell them about this. Maybe Ricki Lake.
"Don't you like a big 'ol salad?" She'd say, "Well, black people like salads too!" The audience would erupt. "Why don't you guys head out to Salad Alley, the show will pay for it, and see if you can work this out." Then there would be footage shot by a camera man on stimulants of the two of them sharing leafs and then back in the studio there would be a hug. An awkward hug, but a hug none the less.
I really think we're onto something here.
Thanks to Dolly for bringing this issue to my attention.
Posted at 7:06 p.m.
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