Black Lives Matter: Shifting the economic inequality dial back
These are anything but normal times. And recent events in the US have only served as a painful reminder of the inequality that exists in the US today for black Americans. Unequal policing is part of it, but only part of a much wider picture of systemic racism against black Americans. Black Americans not only have to worry about police violence, but they also spend a lifetime dealing with unequal schooling quality, unequal access to health care, unequal access to jobs and/or venture capital...and the list goes on.
The problem is so big, and so pervasive, that it's easy to think we as individuals can't do much about it. I don't think that's true though. Even speaking out to say we are for equality and that black lives matter is an important step. Voting for politicians and officials that support equality is the second step. The third step is taking individual action to start to dismantle the systemic racism that creates barriers for black Americans.
One step I am pledging to take to help dismantle barriers is to use my food obsession and this food blog to review black-owned restaurants and restaurants run by black head chefs. The mission was inspired by a podcast about black-owned restaurants titled "Can a Restaurant be for Everyone?" I was shocked when the host interviewed white restaurant owners who talked about the 60-40 rule of restaurant guests. They shared that in their experiences, when black guests make up more than 40% of the total, white guests stop going to that restaurant. How can it be that in the 21st century, we STILL have this level of implicit segregation? And why does anyone think this is ok??
Today I went to the first black-owned restaurant on my growing list for the Washington DC area as part of this mission. Look out for that review in my next post!
The problem is so big, and so pervasive, that it's easy to think we as individuals can't do much about it. I don't think that's true though. Even speaking out to say we are for equality and that black lives matter is an important step. Voting for politicians and officials that support equality is the second step. The third step is taking individual action to start to dismantle the systemic racism that creates barriers for black Americans.
One step I am pledging to take to help dismantle barriers is to use my food obsession and this food blog to review black-owned restaurants and restaurants run by black head chefs. The mission was inspired by a podcast about black-owned restaurants titled "Can a Restaurant be for Everyone?" I was shocked when the host interviewed white restaurant owners who talked about the 60-40 rule of restaurant guests. They shared that in their experiences, when black guests make up more than 40% of the total, white guests stop going to that restaurant. How can it be that in the 21st century, we STILL have this level of implicit segregation? And why does anyone think this is ok??
Today I went to the first black-owned restaurant on my growing list for the Washington DC area as part of this mission. Look out for that review in my next post!
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