The only shock I feel in regard to Arthur Blank’s fried chicken comment on Monday Night Football is to the reaction of the media. It is the most overblown, non-story in recent memory, which is saying alot between the internet and ESPN.
I’ve been incredibly disappointed in the reactions of the talking heads on the WWL and even some bloggers on the issue. Their reaction is much closer to offensive than anything Blank said. The pundits and bloggers were the ones that made the connection that fried chicken is automatically associated with black people. That’s their individual preconceptions on display, not any indication of racial insensitivity by Arthur Blank. Fried chicken is a Southern delicacy more than anything else. Seeing as his team hails from Atlanta, I can see how that food was one of the first to come to mind. Not to mention that it’s a legitimately unhealthy dietary option that could cause a man to gain 40+ lbs quite easily.
There are so many more issues to deal with in regards to race, that stirring up controversy for a non-story like this undermines the entire possibility of progress in race relations. The PC Movement, motivated by its white liberal guilt, has done more to maintain the prejudicial status quo than fire hoses, dogs and redneck sheriffs ever could. It’s like the Cold War between black people (or minorities in general) and white people. Bloggers and ESPN only perpetuate this passive erosion of progress with overreactions like this to the Arthur Blank story. Either react appropriately to real issues or leave race out of it altogether.
I agree that’s it not really an issue, but when he said it, I was immediately worried that it would be.
Guess I know the media too well.