Disclaimer: I am not trolling, I am an autistic person who doesn’t understand so many social nuances. Also I am from New Hampshire (97% white), so I just don’t have any close African-American friends that I am willing to risk asking such a loaded question.

  • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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    11 days ago

    Probably a lot of black families actually do have fried chicken, barbeque and cookouts are apparently a big part of the festivities traditionally.

    If you find yourself becoming such good friends with a black person that they actually invite you to one of these cookouts, don’t bring fried chicken, or watermelons, or most of the stereotypical “black” foods, they’re considered black people food because the post civil war south fostered an environment of chronic black poverty on purpose that led to black families tending towards raising cheaper animals and growing cheaper crops for their own consumption.

    So a white guy cracking watermelon or fried chicken jokes or bringing that kind of stuff to a black celebration comes across less as trying to share in the culture and more as rubbing salt in a, in many ways still open, wound.

    As for what you should bring, bro just ask. Just making it known ya want to bring something for folks to enjoy will be good and appreciated, and if they decide they’d like to take you up on that, they’ll either give you a recipe off their list of stuff they’ve decided they want or ask what you think you can handle making and take your word on that if anything you feel confident making sounds good. Who knows, maybe that year will go down as the year that corned beef ya mentioned becomes a staple of the annual cookout!

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    That’s not the comparison you need to use here. The comparison should be Irish car bombs. And the answer is there’s not a difference that’s super, will not racist but jingoist maybe, too.

  • Kevin@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    I’d argue it depends on who is serving it and what their intentions are. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. I went to a local Juneteenth celebration and the food stands were serving some fried chicken, collard greens, jollof rice, etc.

      • memfree@lemmy.ml
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        11 days ago

        Both tburkhol and I posted about Coon Chicken Inn – a place for white people BY white people with a denigrating caricature of a black man as their logo (on their delivery vehicles, menu, and even entrances).

        spujb links to the chicken stereotype.

        It is one thing for a group of people to choose what food to serve themselves, and something else when an oppressed group is mocked, denied rights, and then illustrated as liking foods that EVERYONE likes as if those foods are somehow a hilarious thing for them to eat. Side note: Sooo many places serve fried chicken that the only reason it is racist is associations like Coon Chicken Inn (and the racism leading to its creation). Lots of BBQ places in particular serve collards as well as Caribbean spots. Jollof is specifically African (not American). If I see Jollof or Fufu on the menu, I’m hoping for cassava leaves instead of collards, but I understand it isn’t as available in the U.S.

  • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    11 days ago

    Historically fried chicken and watermelon are stereotypical foods associated with black Americans as part of minstrel shows, which were usually performed in blackface, and other racist portrayals of black people. Watermelon in particular was turned into a negative racial stereotype because growing watermelon was one way that emancipated slaves could be financially independent.

    Fried chicken has been associated with enslaved black people since before the Civil War, because chickens were the only livestock they were allowed to keep. Well into the 20th century there were also white-owned restaurants and brands that drew on these stereotypical images over the protests of black people.

    At best it is very ignorant of the history of racism in the US to have a fried chicken and watermelon special on Juneteenth, because the thought process is just black people holiday = fried chicken and watermelon. At worst it’s just signaling to other racists, which is definitely not an unviable business strategy in some parts of the US.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      stereotypical foods associated with black Americans

      It was a money thing. Poor people ate chicken, rich people ate beef or pork. It didn’t just start with slaves, the frying method is literally Scottish in origin, which is why hillbillies were doing it too.

      The insulting part was in ministrel shows, it was portrayed as “a taste of the highlife”.

      That they were excited for something hillbillies considered normal food. And most people looked down on hillbillies.

      There’s nothing wrong with fried chicken and watermelon. It’s that for a serious event, they’re having fried chicken and watermelon.

      Like, imagine you have a big event, and that’s what there is. Regardless of how much you like it, there’s gonna be a pause.

      That being said, I’m white, and fried chicken was literally the main course at every family event including weddings growing up. But that’s because my family is all hillbillies. That’s just what we do. We sure as shit didn’t have someone cook it for us that didn’t know how, it’s one thing when the recipe is 200 years old and the same that your family has always been eating.

      Not to mention the most important part of a chicken fry is everyone getting together. My family bitched and fought all the time. But if chicken was being fried it was like an elite military operation.

      So getting a plate of bland fried chicken and unsalted watermelon just strips every good part of the tradition away, while reminding you that you could be celebrating.

      And leaves the racist connotation.

      • just_ducky_in_NH@lemmy.worldOP
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        11 days ago

        THANK YOU for your input! My dad was born and raised in Missouri, and I was taught at an early age how to make “real” fried chicken, which is amazing. I couldn’t understand why it would be denigrated, but your reply explains it so well. And TIL watermelon should be salted!

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Watermelon and chicken were two of the ways that black people started supporting themselves after being freed from slavery. They were agricultural products they could raise with very little investment and start building wealth from essentially nothing. Racists, not wanting them to prosper, mocked them for their preference for these things, but it’s important to note that the mockery didn’t stop them from supporting themselves with the foods they were able to produce. To this day black people enjoy these foods, and there’s nothing wrong with them enjoying the foods. If you’re with your black family, and you want to celebrate your own heritage, this isn’t actually a bad way to do it.

    However.

    When a corporation, particularly a corporation run and staffed by white people, makes a choice to celebrate a significant black cultural date by presenting people with foods that white people used to mock black people, it reads as mockery. (This is especially true in North Carolina, a place where racism is rampant and open.) At best, this is tone deaf; someone along the way should have said “hey, do you think any black people will feel like you’re doing this as a racist attack?” And if any one of them had answered “yes” to that question, they wouldn’t have done it. It made it through the pipeline to being something they actually did because nobody in the decision chain cares about the racist overtones of what they were doing.

    If you’re going to do anything to celebrate black history or black culture, failing to ask any black people what they think about it is racism. Cultural sensitivity would have meant getting some input from a few black folks about how they think it should be celebrated–and, had they done that, they would have avoided this mess.

    And, just in case anyone was wondering, the VP in charge of this situation is white.

    • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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      11 days ago

      If I recall correctly, some states even had laws against black people raising animals like cows (and maybe pigs too?), so chickens were their only option.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Ok, everything you just said is true, and a great answer if the question is “Why is chicken and watermellon a bad food to be assosiated with February/Juneteenth?”.

      However, the question is “Why is it different from corned beef on St. Patricks day?” And everything you just said is ALSO true about how Americans treated the Irish upon their mass immigration to America during the 1800s. They were mocked for corned beef, potatoes, and alcohol. The Irish were assosiated with those items in Ireland for the same reasons black people were assosiated with chicken, and watermellons. It was cheap, and it fed a poor mans family. The non-poor (whites) mocked them for being poor.

      So…you gave a great answer, but not for this exact question. And yes, I know the original question didn’t mention potatoes or alcohol, but it also applies for the same reasons.

      I’m not saying what the company did was right, I’m saying those same racist stigmas for the holiday it was compared to is equally wrong.

      I think a better answer is “It’s not so different. Both are wrong.”

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        I mean, OP replied to my answer and apparently liked it, so I think I got him squared. But here’s a real response:

        When the concept of whiteness was invented (yes, invented) it didn’t originally include Irish people, and they did endure abuse and marginalization comparable to what black people have endured and continued to endure. Irish people were worked as near slaves, so they even have a lot of that in common. As you say, I think that if you were Irish in America in the early 19th century, people who already belonged to the White club would have mocked you for your corned beef. We still make fun of Irish people for these things.

        But there is a difference. Irish people in modern times got access to whiteness. They were accepted as part of the in-group and no longer marginalized. When this happened, and it took decades to gradually go this direction, the mockery didn’t disappear but, if you were Irish (and, in fact, I am) it would have started to feel less like someone who means you harm, and more as friendly teasing, precisely because you have access to the same power as the Germans and the British and so on who already belonged to the club.

        Black people don’t have that. Black people are still very much marginalized, still the victims of racism and violence and institutional exclusion. So piling the food-based racism on top of that, is going to feel a lot more painful.

        It’s one thing to be mocked; but to be mocked by someone else who is punching down is much worse.

        • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          An interesting aside that you probably know: corned beef and cabbage is a distinctly Irish-American tradition. The Irish were economically forced to raise cattle for corned beef for British folks. Despite raising and curing the beef, they could not afford it and subsisted on potatoes. Britain’s wealth and insatiable appetite for corned beef was so immense that those who made it could not afford the price. On the other hand, the reliance on potatoes as well as its outcome is well known.

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Spectrum. I think they’re mainly an ISP, cable TV, stuff like that. We don’t have them around here but I understand them to be a fairly big company.

        This one doesn’t fall on the whole company, mainly just this one call center, but still, Spectrum corporate should get interested in how this happened.

    • just_ducky_in_NH@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 days ago

      Thank you! TIL Black people were mocked for liking those foods. They are the best, racists are only hurting themselves if they don’t eat it!

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Ah, but here’s the real hypocrisy: they absolutely do eat those foods. Southerners of any color love fried chicken and watermelon. That doesn’t stop them from being racist about it. Racism doesn’t have to make sense.

        • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          I dont know a single person who has said they hated fried chicken or watermelon. Watermelon isn’t my favorite because it’s never as sweet as I think it is going to be but I will never turn a cold slice down.

          • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz
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            11 days ago

            I hate watermelon. Even the best, most ripe watermelon sucks. But usually they’re mealy and watery in flavor. They also remind me of the taste of cucumbers, which I hate more, unless they’re pickled.

        • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Every time this comes up I gotta say, who the fuck doesn’t like fried chicken and watermelon?! It’s like making fun of someone for liking sunshine and the ability to breathe. Not that I needed another reason to point at racists and call them a bunch of fucked up morons, but goddamn they are bunch of fucked up morons.

          • memfree@lemmy.ml
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            11 days ago

            Came here to say that. Barring a few contrarians, EVERYONE likes both watermelon and fried chicken. I know vegetarians who will admit that fried chicken tastes fantastic, even if they no longer eat it.

            I also wanted to link to some info about the “Coon Chicken Inn” chain – founded by a white guy, of course.

            pic

            off topic piece on collectors’ racist items

          • edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            I like watermelon for the first 1.2 seconds where it actually has flavor. Though I did see a picture floating around Lemmy here that made me think the watermelons I’ve had that gave me that opinion were probably a quantity vs quality issue.

            • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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              11 days ago

              My mom eats it with salt. It’s actually not bad, I enjoy it either way. The salt does give it an interesting flavor, so maybe try that if it might enable you to like it more.

              • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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                11 days ago

                Melon with something savory is a widely popular choice. See: honeydew with prosciutto/parma ham and cantaloupe/honeydew with tajin (Mexican mix of savory spices.)

            • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.world
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              11 days ago

              Thats why you just gotta keep eating more. More flavor! Also yes some definitely have more flavor than others, I’m no good at picking them but if you cut it open and it’s deep red you’re probably in for a good tome.

          • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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            11 days ago

            Dave Chapelle had a whole bit about this before he decided to double (and triple, and quadruple) down on transphobia. He makes the very salient point that these things are delicious.

          • Asafum@feddit.nl
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            11 days ago

            Not that I needed another reason to point at racists and call them a bunch of fucked up morons, but goddamn they are bunch of fucked up morons.

            People are literally killing people who’s ancestors adapted to more exposure to direct sunlight than theirs did. I can’t not see it in just that simple way and think “what the actual fuck is wrong with people?” You can’t even say it’s a culture thing they don’t like, because they don’t actually know the people they cast hate at other than the color of their skin. It’s absolute insanity.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            It’s like making fun of someone for liking sunshine

            At the risk of completely derailing the conversation, I’ve met a lot of people in the PNW who don’t like warm weather or sunshine. When summer rolls around they start complaining about it being too sunny and want the grey skies back. Frickin weirdos!

            • Soggy@lemmy.world
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              10 days ago

              PNW weirdo here. I like things to be green and alive, I like my skin unburned, and I like being able to poke around tide pools on a lonely beach. Clouds and rain help all of that.

              It’s currently sunny and about 77°F, which is about as warm as I want it unless I’m going swimming. Late summer when it approaches 100° is miserable, but for now the bright weather is fine and good for the plants.

            • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              11 days ago

              The sun is actively trying to kill me, you’re the weirdo in this situation! I have freckles in places that have never seen sunshine by just EXISTING for a few days in Oklahoma!!

            • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.world
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              11 days ago

              I really tried to pick two things that couldn’t be argued with so now I’m just waiting for someone to tell me they don’t like breathing either.

            • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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              11 days ago

              I’m too pale AF to have a loving relationship with the sun. I’ve been burned too many times. I always use protection, but last weekend the sunscreen failed me :(

            • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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              11 days ago

              I mean, climate change being what it is, I’m literally brainstorming ways to inject artificial rain clouds into the sky.

              My current idea is giant poles all over the city. They have blades at the top. They start rotating like a helicopter, but not designed to takeoff. Instead, it sprays cool mist above the blades so the cool mist gets swirled around in the hot air, that makes the whole city artificially humid. Eventually this should all rise up, and create rain clouds! Which then cool down the entire city.

              Edit: Also, I have zero idea if this conceptually is even feasible.

              • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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                11 days ago

                Haha. Dubai had success with cloud seeding recently. But they forgot that they’re a desert without adequate drainage or runoff, and flooded their whole city.

                • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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                  11 days ago

                  Well, shit! Pass that technology over here! We could test it in Nevada, on a daily basis for 10 years. Maybe raining over a section of desert that has literally zero life can turn it into a livable habitat. It could be a test. With the added benefit of cooling a portion of the earth as they do it.

          • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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            11 days ago

            Bullies don’t make sense.

            Actively working against your own species is fucking brain dead. Especially a species you share the fucking planet with.

            The nice part about tolerance is it’s a contract. If you don’t agree to it, nobody who does agree to it has to be tolerant with you. It’s simple

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        I heard white racists make fun of black people for that a lot when I was younger. But we ate it when I was a kid because we were poor and that was cheap and delicious.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          looks at username

          Well…yeah. You’re going to run into racists in TEXAS!!! Jesus! That’s the same place that seceded from Mexico to defend their ability to have slaves. Then seceded from the usa to defend their ability to have slaves. Then they complain about building a wall to keep Mexicans out.

          If Florida didn’t exist, Texas would be the king of racism in America.

          • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            Texas is racist, Florida is racist, but ain’t neither of them got shit on Alabama and Mississippi. Texas and Florida are just louder.

      • snooggums@midwest.social
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        11 days ago

        Fried chicken and watermelon is still used to mock black people as well. There were racist memes about Obama eating fried chicken and watermelon.

        • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          I was a child of the 90s when I feel this humor was more prevalent. Until now, I always thought of it as a common stereotype, like white guys in khakis, old white women and wine, or country folk and cheap beer. Something that does poke fun of a group, but generally in a light way. Now I know there’s a more significant back story. I figured it was just culturally something that developed in black communities.

    • Coasting0942@reddthat.com
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      11 days ago

      It’s a real tell that they had no black person high enough in management to raise this concern.

      In this day and age, either diversify or sign a contract with a “cultural awareness” agency to run your ideas by first.

      • 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Yeah you know except the whole part where it was brought to the US by the Irish potatoes famine refugees. But yeah nothing to do with ireland just the thousands of Irish people from Ireland that fled the famine.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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          11 days ago

          There’s about the same number of foods that are actually from Europe, as there are foods that immigrants made theirs once they got here.

    • gramie@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      Corned beef seems to have originated in Ireland and Scotland, but was commonly used throughout the British Empire for the past 400 years. I assume the cooking and salting process makes it last much longer without going bad, which would make sense for long voyages.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    I gotta say, I genuinely love this issue.

    Like I’m a left leaning generic progressive white guy with a degree that includes a Sociology minor. This shit is so fascinating to me.

    I don’t know many black people. Two are vegan, but the rest do indeed love fried chicken. So do I. What meat eater doesn’t? It’s such a bizarre stereotype from the start. I believe I’ve heard it has to do with slaves being given the wings and appendages of chicken? But I don’t know the veracity of that. Seems plausible?

    Anyways, this.

    • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Dated a lovely black woman back in my late 20s, she took me to meet her family like a month in, they were all super sweet. Dinner was fried chicken, hominy, mustard and collard greens, slaw and Mac n cheese, her grandmas fried chicken made me forget I ever cared about my grandmas fried chicken. Who the fuck doesn’t love fried chicken? Okay sure, vegans, but other than that?

      And seriously I get the whole stereotype being a deep seated bunch of white people fuckery, but like, fuck that, let’s eat.

      • dhork@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        My guess is that if they had got a local Soul Food place to cater a whole spread, and the fried chicken and watermelon was part of the rest of the stuff you just mentioned, it would have gone over better. (I bet Charlotte has a bunch of places that would have done that for them). Maybe they could even have done some research and provided the context I am just learning now, in this thread.

        But I think this was planned by committee, and that committee planned it all in a half hour so they could break for lunch earlier. So they got a bunch of buckets of chicken (I hope they weren’t from KFC), and someone went to Publix and bought a bunch of watermelon to cut up, and they called it all good. And that committee had nobody on it that pointed out how bad this would look without better planning. (In other words, no black folks…)

    • downpunxx@fedia.io
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      11 days ago

      well, no, the reason is commercial, chicken is one of the cheapest and easiest proteins to raise in the smallest amount of space, which works out better for those of lesser means. everybody loves fried chicken, sure, but it’s not the reason it’s always been a stereotypical hallmark of the American Black population

  • rez_doggie@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Tbh. I’ve been craving chicken and waffles for months. I was like hell yeah hopefully there’s a event or some shit that might have some for sale…

    Well no… only one place had it on the menu and it was a gentrified restraunt that was charging 25 bucks for chicken strips and a waffle for 28 bucks.

    I was disappointed to say yhe least.

    • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
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      11 days ago

      Is it not common just to make something when you want it?

      Maybe I’m too Canadian to understand but do you usually go out for meals?

      • hightrix@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Millennial Americans will cook, if it isnt too complicated.

        GenZ Americans won’t cook unless it is putting something in the microwave.

        • Baguette@lemm.ee
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          10 days ago

          Cooking is not so much of a generational thing and more of a time/convenience thing. Some people just don’t have time to cook. They could be working double jobs, working late hours, etc. And some people just don’t want to cook or like the convenience of take out food. Nothing wrong with that

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Fried chicken is difficult to make at home due to the cookware and temperatures involved. It’s also a LOT of cooking oil, so it doesn’t really make sense unless you’re frying a LOT of chicken.

  • ID411@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 days ago

    It’s not a “social nuance”

    It’s up to black people how they want to celebrate it.

    Why do you suggest fried chicken ?

  • gardylou@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    The history of forcing slaves into limited food choices, and then caricaturing an entire race based on people adapting to those arbitrary forced limits…there are alot of layers of historical racism in play that could make doing this in a way that highlights those foods would probably play into that racism. Chicken and watermelon aren’t “black” foods, they were common staples of Southern slaves that had limited choices.

    That said, those stereotypes are stupid, those foods are delicious to people of all races, so if those foods are served as a broader celebration or feast and its just part of the day without any emphasis or indicators of meeting (i.e., chicken and fruit are common foods for celebration so why not have them), I don’t think anyone would care.

  • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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    11 days ago

    About a century ago, blackface was a form of comedy where white people would make their faces black and put on comedic shows. They would take some elements of black culture, like mimicking accents or saying they love fried chicken and watermelon, and make fun of black people for being idiots.

    Giving out fried chicken to an event like this feels like you don’t really care about the event. Instead, it is a token gesture at best where the decision makers thought “well, black people like fried chicken, so give them that.”

    Watermelon and other red food is served on Juneteenth. But, if watermelon is the only red food there, they likely didn’t pick it because of cultural sensitivity to the holiday.

    • WelcomeBear@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      I agree with everything you said but I’d also like to point out that it wasn’t just a form of comedy, it was an entire entertainment industry all on its own, like movie theaters or concerts today. It was called the Minstrel Show

      It eventually got replaced by/morphed into Vaudeville which was then replaced by cinema.

      For a good 50-100 years, a major form of entertainment (not just in the South btw) was pretty much just: “haha black people are such stupid clowns! Look, that one thinks he’s fancy! That one’s a no-good drunk! Oh look, that one’s trying to give a speech!” It was pretty formulaic with standard props, just like you’d expect to see at a clown show. So fried chicken and watermelon were standard props like “tiny car full of clowns”, oversized shoes, a flower pot for a hat, a flower that squirts water, etc. For that reason they carry a very unpleasant legacy that reminds people of an insult to injury that still hasn’t been made right, in my opinion.

      The format was pretty similar to the show Hee-Haw actually, kind of a fun variety show, just wildly racist and it’s obviously pretty fucked up to pick on literal slaves. Real bitch move there.

      So people who know something about history are pretty salty about that and forms of the Minstrel Show were still happening here and there recently enough that people alive today remember seeing them.

      Irish people caught some shit, but not like that. I’m not sure if Irish-American racism like that happened recently enough that living people remember it, or that it was ever to the extent that it formed an entire entertainment industry.

      • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Interestingly, if you look at the menu for Juneteenth, it doesn’t include fried chicken. The only chicken is a dry rub chicken that wouldn’t be fried. So your evidence confirms they believe fried chicken is in fact not appropriate for Junteenth. That’s a good reference point if we all accept that the national museum of African American history is an authority on such matters.

      • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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        10 days ago

        Your point reflects a lot of other points. You are arguing if fried chicken in general is bad, which isn’t what is being discussed.

        The point of discussion is if fried chicken is appropriate for a specific holiday.

    • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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      10 days ago

      They would take some elements of black culture, like (…) saying they love fried chicken and watermelon

      How did this become a stereotype? Doesn’t everyone love fried chicken and watermelon regardless of skin color? They are both delicious.

      • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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        10 days ago

        How did this become a stereotype?

        It became associated with black people as the food was relatively cheap and therefore commonly eaten by black people. Then it became integrated to comedic shows of people doing blackface as a way to deride black people.

        Doesn’t everyone love fried chicken and watermelon regardless of skin color? They are both delicious.

        Everyone loves fried chicken and watermelon. The problem isn’t the food, but cultural stigma attached to it in certain cases.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        It became associated with black culture because black people tended to have larger backyard gatherings, which means feeding a lot of people. They are also historically marginalized, and had lower incomes as a result. So not only were they feeding more people when they had parties; They were doing it for cheaper. Watermelon is a cheap and easy way to feed a dozen people, and fried chicken is cheaper than other forms of protein like steaks. Yes, both are delicious, but the stereotype happened because it was both cheap and could be served in large quantities for larger backyard parties.

      • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        That’s part of the cruelty. Almost everybody loves fried chicken. But growing up in the deep south, they were mocked for it in nasty ways I witnessed (but don’t feel comfortable describing).

        • Drusas@kbin.run
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          11 days ago

          I think part of the disconnect is that you don’t see that same mockery in the north.

          • arefx@lemmy.ml
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            10 days ago

            Yes absolutely. I went to high school in the north from 02-06 and took an elective class that was African American history for the first half of the school year and Vietnam War history the second half. My teacher for both was a black woman and the first day of class she asked the class what some stereotypes they have heard of black people were, and of course people mentioned all of them. Whe fried chicken was mentioned she said, and I quote, “No we actually don’t like fried chicken, WE LOVE IT!”. So yeah I mean in the north there’s a lot less hate behind it and it’s more seen as just a “funny observation”. And not to take away from any true hate or racism but the idea of liking fried chicken being a bad thing is so ridiculous to me because fried chicke is fucking amazing.

            • Drusas@kbin.run
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              10 days ago

              This really does nail it. In the north, we do have the stereotype that black people like fried chicken. However, that is seen as neutral or positive. Fried chicken is delicious and black people tend to make great fried chicken. What’s not to like?

              • arefx@lemmy.ml
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                8 days ago

                Yeah I don’t think anyone I’m friends with or close to that is white views it as a negative stereotype at all up here in NY. However if you drive out to small towns in NY there still uneducated racists flying confederate flags on their front porch, unfortunately.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        11 days ago

        Everyone ate it too. The mockery was because

        • they were messy to eat
        • they were staples commonly eaten
        • they were made and sold by black people early in their steps of economic independence following slavery.
        • racism doesn’t have to make sense.

        If you hate someone, anything they do can be something you use to express your hate, even if you do it to.

        • jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works
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          11 days ago

          If you hate someone, anything they do can be something you use to express your hate, even if you do it to.

          Yeah I think this is the big kicker right here.