Kentucky Fried Fools?

File this under: The Politics of chicken. Or better yet, chicken-crazed black folks. The fact of the matter is Americans of all races became copying experts this week as the free chicken coupons were printed on home and office printers/copying machines across America. KFC should have known in the economy there would be millions of people printing free chicken coupons for everyone in the family, and then some. Fact is, many folks started selling the coupons in front of KFC, in this hard economic times. DON'T HATE!





As reported by BNET Advertising Blog Oprah Winfrey’s offer of a free KFC grilled chicken meal for anyone downloading a coupon has created two interesting things:

1. A 1960s-style sit-in at a Manhattan KFC when management refused to continue honoring the offer.
2. Yet another opportunity to debate whether using black people to advertise a fried chicken chain is racist.

You can read about the mini-riot over on Gothamist. More HERE



News outlets such as the Huffington Post, NY Times, and bloggers like TheLoop21.com
and Carmen D at Black Voices Blog are covering the story. Many bloggers are asking is Oprah wrong for feeding us with KFC?

There is one thing for sure, Oprah's KFC free-for-all has sparked a number of civil rights era-style protest.

Blogger AverageBro.com is on point when he wrote: "There are soo many things wrong with this story. Although I can’t help but laugh at the fact that those who actually wanted to pay faced beatdowns from angry coupon holders.

But the fact remains that people staged a sit-in for chicken. Chicken! These weren’t starving people begging for a meal, but crazy Americans angry that KFC wouldn’t honor a coupon. And I just know that after the whole Popeyes debacle, black people were involved. Probably spearheaded the revolt. The special runs until May 10. So these angry customers could have just come back to get their free chicken on another day.

And KFC and Oprah hold the responsibility for this foolishness. Oprah, I never thought you’d make the Do Better list, but alas, the day has come." More HERE

AAPP says: Candidly, I like many bloggers wonder why Kentucky Fried Chicken has black folks dancing around buckets of chicken?

It's all about the money! Now they (Kentucky Fried Chicken) are willing to spend money to make more money from.... guess who?

Check it out - The KFC President Apologizes For Oprah Fiasco




Feel better now?

Customers wait in line on East 42nd St. to redeem their free coupon for KFC's new grilled chicken.

Why is it that news outlets like, Forbes, the NY Daily News, and other news outlets can cover and shame Kentucky Fried Chicken and find Oprah's KFC Promotion Hypocritical yet also on many occassions fail to address real issues impacting black America?

Why is it that black folks can lead demonstrations to get KFC to mail out rain checks for Oprah chicken freebie, but seem to refuse to address issues of impacting our own community?

It's too bad black folks by and large don't address crime in our communities, poverty, teen pregnancy, tasering while blacks, high unemployment rates among black youth, lower educational attainment, high rates of incarceration among black males, the unwillingness of some businesses to employ ex-offenders, and the loss of between $71 billion and $92 billion in black home ownership assets - the worst loss of wealth for people of color in modern U.S. history. But let's get irate and demonstrate about some free chicken of course. We should be signing a petition to save black folks, instead we are more interested in some silly chicken.

File this under: The Politics of chicken. Or better yet, Chicken Wars

Are Black Americans Stupified by Barack Obama?

Stupified: Confused and stupid at the same time.

AAPP: There seems to be a new sense of racial optimism. Very few newspapers or bloggers are talking about "The black-white divide in Obama's popularity. For many, including Obama, silence is golden regarding color and racial matters. Most newspapers and bloggers are talking about how African-Americans are optimistic about Obama. While some blogs dare to ponder The Obama effect: Have blacks in general suddenly become smarter?



I guess black America is going Post Racial or just stupified by post racial madness - like Jay-Z . Soon Obama like Jay Z will say "There Is No Such Thing As Black Music"

Speaking of Stupified and Post Racial - There is a great article in The Atlantic by Ta-Nehisi Coates. regarding The Essental Americanness of African Americans. Ta-Nehisi Coates notes that a CBS News polling data has some interesting results on race. Matt was surprised that a significant number (44 percent) of African-Americans believe that blacks and whites have the same shot at success in this country:

I'm surprised that as many as forty-four percent of blacks say that both races have equal opportunity. I think the evidence is unambiguously clear that they do not. African-American children have parents with lower levels of income and education. Their families, even when they have above-average incomes, tend to have less wealth than white families. And even controlling for parental income and educational attainment, black kids do worse in schools than white kids. Then beyond all that, there's clear evidence of discrimination against job applicants with "black" names that tends to suggest a broader pattern of employment discrimination. There are inequities in the criminal justice system both in terms of more punishment being meted out to black offenders, and the police and the courts doing less to protect black victims.

I'm not surprised that most white people prefer to ignore this sort of evidence and believe in the existence of equal opportunities, but it's surprising to me how many African-Americans have adopted an unrealistically optimistic view.

Ta-Nehisi Coates says: I obviously agree with Matt's assessment of the socioeconomic plight of black folks. But I don't share his surprise. First there is this--If you're black, a quick way to go insane is to think about how much racism has altered your life. But beyond that, I spent a lot of time in my youth as a left-black nationalist arguing with friends and family about race. One thing that became clear is that while a large number of black people recognize the ugly history of racism in this country, many have a hard time seeing themselves as victims of that racism.

This makes sense if you think about it from a human perspective. Black people have to compete, and their kids have to compete. In order to wake up every morning, work your ass off, and pay taxes, then tell your to do the same, it helps to buy in to the idea that "you can win." Perhaps more important than that, African-Americans are Americans, and "you can win" is a part of our ethos. I suspect that overestimating the extent to which "individual effort" matters is an American trait. Maybe even a human one, I'm not sure. More HERE

AAPP: Let me be very clear, I'm no Obama hater. President Obama is hands down, better than George W Bush any day. There are Obama haters who criticize his every move.

There are also some people that are looking at Barack Obama's policies for urban America. At this point Obama is getting an F from a number of Chicago activists. Candidly, I'm hoping that Black Americans are not becoming stupified by President Barack Obama.

President Obama does not want to be called the "Black American - President," and he shouldn't be. He is the President of all the United States, including Black citizens of America. We should hold him accountable like any President and forget about his blackness.

I'm not stupified by Barack Obama. Are you?