The famous furniture and home accessories store in Atlanta, IKEA, is currently under fire for devising a racially insensitive menu for its customers, just ahead of the Juneteenth Federal holiday.
Local media outlets confirmed how the jaw-dropping menu featured an array of foods such as watermelon as well as a fried chicken that are renowned to be offensively linked to a number of Black Americans for nearly a century. In the same way, authorities called out the store’s administration for failing to take into consideration the opinions of any Black employees who may have been best to consult with, as far as decisions like these are concerned.
Now, reports claim that so many workers became so furious and enraged with their decision regarding the menu that they went about calling it sick for Juneteenth.
However, after the widespread backlash faced by the store, the managers tried to send out apology letters, claiming how they never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings or carry out any form of offense regarding the matter. But so far, that has failed to provide any form of effect on the opinions of countless individuals.
According to research studies by the NPR, food choices such as watermelon and fried chicken were both a part of the common food items available that were fed to slaves located in the southern region.
Hence, they were always looked at as one of the mainstays in terms of racist display of Blacks ever since they were first featured in the famous 1915 film titled, ‘Birth of a Nation.’
On the other hand, a professor from the University of Missouri explained how foods like these which are commonly eaten with your hands were usually termed as dirty, as she went on to reveal further insight on the matter and why it was causing such a stir with Blacks across the country.
“Table manners were seen as a method to judge who was truly worthy of respect and who was not,” she went on to explain.
After the shocking incident, dozens of furious employees at the store were reportedly called out from their work on the federal holiday, as they expressed their great dismay on the incident.
“It has reportedly caused so many to be angered. Similarly, people really wanted to quit, others were simply not returning back to work,” explained one anonymous employee on Monday via an interview with CBS46.