Black Brunch in America
Posted on Ben Crystal
On Palm Sunday, a restaurant worker confronts shouting protesters who entered an Atlanta-area restaurant and shouted at diners as part of #BlackBrunchATL.[/I]
I don't live in Atlanta. It's not that I bear the "City too busy to hate" any personal animus. I even lived there for a stretch, in a tiny place in Midtown. Its limited benefits included a rooftop deck from which one could reach Piedmont Park with a 5-iron, presuming one was so inclined.
But Atlanta has become one of those cities with a subpopulation of self-important, "socially conscious" types. They all have the same three-step M.O.:They gentrify the hell out of an urban area surrounded by gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods.Then they talk with their eyes closed about the plight of the people in the gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods.And they desperately hope none of the people from the gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods actually come to visit.
Essentially, Atlanta has become the East Coast's answer to San Francisco, or, more accurately, the Southeast's answer to Brooklyn.
Perhaps that's why I couldn't resist the urge to smile just a bit Sunday afternoon as I watched news footage of the latest left-wing temper tantrum disguised as "activism" streaming in from the Peach State capital. Since their first engagement was such a rousing success, the "Black Brunch Atlanta" mobs swarmed the cafes of the Greater Atlanta area again Sunday. Following in the footsteps of those great social ground shakers as the self-proclaimed "Occupiers" and the original disrupters-of-midday-meals, "Black Brunch NYC," the Black Brunch Atlanta mobs took to the streets to vent their frustrations over mistreatment at the hands of evil white racists by forcing those evil white racists to closely examine their own inherent white racism while listening to righteously indignant recitations of crimes against black people, such as the murder of angelic, innocent Michael Brown by evil white racist Darren Wilson of the evil white racist Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department.
Well, that's sort[/I] of[/I] what happened. To be sure, there were swarms of angry mobs. But they didn't exactly take to the streets. Once again, they invaded private property with the sole intent of harassing guests therein. Unless I missed a memo, that's not "protesting." That's "criminal trespass." And throw in a couple of the unsubtle remarks I picked up from some of the voices in the din - my favorite being, "Why is #BlackBrunchATL so disturbing to white people? They're lucky blacks are just interrupting their brunch and not killing them" - and Black Brunch Atlanta graduates to "terroristic threats."
They were easy to spot, too. All I had to do was look for the people not[/I]wearing heavy-framed glasses, ironic T-shirts and jeans cut for 9-year-olds. I noticed many of the pro-Black Brunch Atlanta types on Twitter gloating about intimidating the diners. I also noticed no one seemed to have the heart to tell them that the urban hipster subspecies can be intimidated by my Labrador retriever. For that matter, screaming at the top of your lungs about perceived bigotry in a place that takes pride in free-range, farm-to-table, organically grown anything[/I] is as worthwhile an endeavor as passing out Black Panther flyers in Nancy Pelosi's ritzy San Francisco neighborhood. Sure, most of them are "down for the struggle," right up until the moment "the struggle" crosses the bridge from Oakland and interrupts their soy lattes.
Frustrations were indeed vented. Only, the frustrations that were being vented were largely imaginary. One of the uncomfortable realities from which our Black Brunch pals seem intent on hiding is this: From a statistical standpoint, the greatest physical threat to black people is other black people. To put it another - and probably equally uncomfortable, but no less true - way: From a statistical standpoint, a black male between the ages of 16 and 49 is safer in the whitest neighborhood in America than in virtually any majority-minority neighborhood from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Compton.
To further belabor the uncomfortable truth, the worst examples of gut-wrenching poverty, whether they be the Atlanta neighborhoods that don't have a Williams-Sonoma or the spots in Oakland from which Pelosi's house isn't even visible, all share things for which even the most socially conscious hipster in the whole coffee house can't be blamed:Stunning rates of black-on-black crime,Stunning rates of fatherless households,And deeply entrenched Democratic Party political control.
And to stick a pin in their other "frustrations," even President Barack Obama's own Igor, Eric Holder, has acknowledged that Brown was a thug who committed suicide-by-cop by forcing Wilson to fight for his life. "Hands up; don't shoot" is as legitimate a narrative as "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
And white people were forced to examine stuff. Video from one of the eateries invaded by the Black Brunch Atlanta folks showed white people, along with black people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Indian people and probably a few Muslim people, examining their menus, their cellphones, their bills, the exits and their decision to start eating Sunday brunch at home. Other white people, along with black people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Indian people and probably a few Muslim people who work themselves to the bone keeping up with packed houses full of demanding yuppie customers, get to wonder if they'll soon be examining pink slips while other people of all colors examine whether they can stave off bankruptcy if the Black Brunch Atlanta mob targets their restaurant again.
I noticed Black Brunch Atlanta and their fellow racist "slacktivists" never show up at truck stops or the roadside diners, only in the mid-to-upscale eateries with parking lots filled with Priuses. The left is fond of claiming that white conservative men are the cause of so many of their perceived troubles. If they were serious about confronting their tormentors, they wouldn't storm upscale Atlanta eateries; they'd storm the Cracker Barrel. They're not only blaming the wrong people; they're doing it in the wrong place. It's the rhetorical equivalent of looking for your car keys a block away from where you lost them because the light is better there.
I'm sure Black Brunch Atlanta, just like its ideological siblings in the "Occupy" movement, will return. More "racism" will need decrying. More "oppression" will need exposing. And more meals will need ruining. In the meantime, I'll just be over here, enjoying the "white privilege" of dining in relative peace and quiet. The Black Brunchers should try it. I'd invite them to join me, but they would refuse. I'm white and conservative, and they are the ones with their eyes and ears shut to the world. They are blind to any other view or opinion. Better they stick with the hipsters.
Posted on Ben Crystal
On Palm Sunday, a restaurant worker confronts shouting protesters who entered an Atlanta-area restaurant and shouted at diners as part of #BlackBrunchATL.[/I]
I don't live in Atlanta. It's not that I bear the "City too busy to hate" any personal animus. I even lived there for a stretch, in a tiny place in Midtown. Its limited benefits included a rooftop deck from which one could reach Piedmont Park with a 5-iron, presuming one was so inclined.
But Atlanta has become one of those cities with a subpopulation of self-important, "socially conscious" types. They all have the same three-step M.O.:They gentrify the hell out of an urban area surrounded by gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods.Then they talk with their eyes closed about the plight of the people in the gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods.And they desperately hope none of the people from the gut-wrenchingly poor, minority-dominated neighborhoods actually come to visit.
Essentially, Atlanta has become the East Coast's answer to San Francisco, or, more accurately, the Southeast's answer to Brooklyn.
Perhaps that's why I couldn't resist the urge to smile just a bit Sunday afternoon as I watched news footage of the latest left-wing temper tantrum disguised as "activism" streaming in from the Peach State capital. Since their first engagement was such a rousing success, the "Black Brunch Atlanta" mobs swarmed the cafes of the Greater Atlanta area again Sunday. Following in the footsteps of those great social ground shakers as the self-proclaimed "Occupiers" and the original disrupters-of-midday-meals, "Black Brunch NYC," the Black Brunch Atlanta mobs took to the streets to vent their frustrations over mistreatment at the hands of evil white racists by forcing those evil white racists to closely examine their own inherent white racism while listening to righteously indignant recitations of crimes against black people, such as the murder of angelic, innocent Michael Brown by evil white racist Darren Wilson of the evil white racist Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department.
Well, that's sort[/I] of[/I] what happened. To be sure, there were swarms of angry mobs. But they didn't exactly take to the streets. Once again, they invaded private property with the sole intent of harassing guests therein. Unless I missed a memo, that's not "protesting." That's "criminal trespass." And throw in a couple of the unsubtle remarks I picked up from some of the voices in the din - my favorite being, "Why is #BlackBrunchATL so disturbing to white people? They're lucky blacks are just interrupting their brunch and not killing them" - and Black Brunch Atlanta graduates to "terroristic threats."
They were easy to spot, too. All I had to do was look for the people not[/I]wearing heavy-framed glasses, ironic T-shirts and jeans cut for 9-year-olds. I noticed many of the pro-Black Brunch Atlanta types on Twitter gloating about intimidating the diners. I also noticed no one seemed to have the heart to tell them that the urban hipster subspecies can be intimidated by my Labrador retriever. For that matter, screaming at the top of your lungs about perceived bigotry in a place that takes pride in free-range, farm-to-table, organically grown anything[/I] is as worthwhile an endeavor as passing out Black Panther flyers in Nancy Pelosi's ritzy San Francisco neighborhood. Sure, most of them are "down for the struggle," right up until the moment "the struggle" crosses the bridge from Oakland and interrupts their soy lattes.
Frustrations were indeed vented. Only, the frustrations that were being vented were largely imaginary. One of the uncomfortable realities from which our Black Brunch pals seem intent on hiding is this: From a statistical standpoint, the greatest physical threat to black people is other black people. To put it another - and probably equally uncomfortable, but no less true - way: From a statistical standpoint, a black male between the ages of 16 and 49 is safer in the whitest neighborhood in America than in virtually any majority-minority neighborhood from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Compton.
To further belabor the uncomfortable truth, the worst examples of gut-wrenching poverty, whether they be the Atlanta neighborhoods that don't have a Williams-Sonoma or the spots in Oakland from which Pelosi's house isn't even visible, all share things for which even the most socially conscious hipster in the whole coffee house can't be blamed:Stunning rates of black-on-black crime,Stunning rates of fatherless households,And deeply entrenched Democratic Party political control.
And to stick a pin in their other "frustrations," even President Barack Obama's own Igor, Eric Holder, has acknowledged that Brown was a thug who committed suicide-by-cop by forcing Wilson to fight for his life. "Hands up; don't shoot" is as legitimate a narrative as "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
And white people were forced to examine stuff. Video from one of the eateries invaded by the Black Brunch Atlanta folks showed white people, along with black people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Indian people and probably a few Muslim people, examining their menus, their cellphones, their bills, the exits and their decision to start eating Sunday brunch at home. Other white people, along with black people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Indian people and probably a few Muslim people who work themselves to the bone keeping up with packed houses full of demanding yuppie customers, get to wonder if they'll soon be examining pink slips while other people of all colors examine whether they can stave off bankruptcy if the Black Brunch Atlanta mob targets their restaurant again.
I noticed Black Brunch Atlanta and their fellow racist "slacktivists" never show up at truck stops or the roadside diners, only in the mid-to-upscale eateries with parking lots filled with Priuses. The left is fond of claiming that white conservative men are the cause of so many of their perceived troubles. If they were serious about confronting their tormentors, they wouldn't storm upscale Atlanta eateries; they'd storm the Cracker Barrel. They're not only blaming the wrong people; they're doing it in the wrong place. It's the rhetorical equivalent of looking for your car keys a block away from where you lost them because the light is better there.
I'm sure Black Brunch Atlanta, just like its ideological siblings in the "Occupy" movement, will return. More "racism" will need decrying. More "oppression" will need exposing. And more meals will need ruining. In the meantime, I'll just be over here, enjoying the "white privilege" of dining in relative peace and quiet. The Black Brunchers should try it. I'd invite them to join me, but they would refuse. I'm white and conservative, and they are the ones with their eyes and ears shut to the world. They are blind to any other view or opinion. Better they stick with the hipsters.
