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| "I will," said the Little Red Hen. From The Washington Post, 25 June 2018 |
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this turn of events, asking Professional Liar and Trump Administration Accomplice Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave a restaurant, The Red Hen, where she was having dinner on Friday evening, June 22. It comes on the heels of both Professional Ghoul Stephen Miller and Professional Liar in Charge of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen being driven out, on separate occasions, from Mexican restaurants in Washington, D.C.--in this case, by customers, not the owners.
I know people with "moral convictions" will use these events as excuses to exclude and deny service to all sorts of people, based on perceptions of race, origin, gender, appearance, sexuality, sexual orientation, religion, beliefs, politics, etc. And despite the attempt to parse the recent "gay wedding cake" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, that the problem wasn't what you did but how you did it, the takeaway from this for some is that it's OK to persecute some "minorities" but not others. And some evangelicals see themselves as a persecuted minority. (Hint: Just because people don't like you doesn't mean you're persecuted. Maybe you've made a nuisance of yourself and wrapped yourself in the flag and Jesus's garments one time too many. Maybe you're just unlikable.)
But despite my qualms, I'm impressed with the consultation the
owner of The Red Hen held with her staff and risk the owner was willing to take in
order to take a stand. I don't envy the backlash she's no doubt already receiving, but I admire and applaud her actions and her explanation for why she did so.
These aren't normal times. And acting like bigots, oppressors, liars, accomplices, and oligarchs should be greeted benignly, graciously, or politely, ignoring what they do in order to feed, clothe, or house them--well, that ended the day Mexican immigrants were labeled as rapists, the day white nationalists were deemed just another "side," the day yet another black person got shot just for trying not to get shot, the day another woman was assaulted and no one suffered any consequences, the day a reporter with a disability was mocked, the day someone had the legal right to deny baking a wedding cake for a couple because they saw it as "supportive of their lifestyle," the day that ... well, you get the picture.
Gay people asking for a wedding cake aren't committing or carrying out a "lifestyle choice." Black people, Mexicans, women, the differently abled, immigrants, and all the rest of us are just trying to live our lives. With Sarah Huckabee Sanders holding this job, stonewalling and lying to the press and the American people, using religious beliefs to justify the administration's often illegal, often unethical actions--these are lifestyle choices, choices that do great harm to many people.
Last time I checked, ordering a cake from a baker didn't cause the baker physical or mental harm.
If someone denied people having dinner at a restaurant because they were perceived to be religious or evangelical or simply because they're white, I'd be bothered by that, too. A lot. And I would speak out against it. I don't accept bigotry toward anyone. I may have to remind myself of this from time to time--like all of us, I have my blind spots--but I'm not in a position nor have as my life's mission the desire to hurt or harm others. Unlike the current crowd in Washington.
In this case, simply being isn't the problem. Actively lying to, oppressing, and demonizing others, making their lives less secure, even threatening and dangerous, then expecting to get away with it without consequence, now that's a problem.
And, America, we have a problem.
These aren't normal times. And acting like bigots, oppressors, liars, accomplices, and oligarchs should be greeted benignly, graciously, or politely, ignoring what they do in order to feed, clothe, or house them--well, that ended the day Mexican immigrants were labeled as rapists, the day white nationalists were deemed just another "side," the day yet another black person got shot just for trying not to get shot, the day another woman was assaulted and no one suffered any consequences, the day a reporter with a disability was mocked, the day someone had the legal right to deny baking a wedding cake for a couple because they saw it as "supportive of their lifestyle," the day that ... well, you get the picture.
Gay people asking for a wedding cake aren't committing or carrying out a "lifestyle choice." Black people, Mexicans, women, the differently abled, immigrants, and all the rest of us are just trying to live our lives. With Sarah Huckabee Sanders holding this job, stonewalling and lying to the press and the American people, using religious beliefs to justify the administration's often illegal, often unethical actions--these are lifestyle choices, choices that do great harm to many people.
Last time I checked, ordering a cake from a baker didn't cause the baker physical or mental harm.
If someone denied people having dinner at a restaurant because they were perceived to be religious or evangelical or simply because they're white, I'd be bothered by that, too. A lot. And I would speak out against it. I don't accept bigotry toward anyone. I may have to remind myself of this from time to time--like all of us, I have my blind spots--but I'm not in a position nor have as my life's mission the desire to hurt or harm others. Unlike the current crowd in Washington.
In this case, simply being isn't the problem. Actively lying to, oppressing, and demonizing others, making their lives less secure, even threatening and dangerous, then expecting to get away with it without consequence, now that's a problem.
And, America, we have a problem.
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