Fried Chicken & Oprah

I am writing today from the window of the Barber Shop wondering about the future of the civil rights movement in the twenty-first century. So here is my question folks:

Have we overused the charge of racial discrimination to the point where it is watered down, and can be ignored entirely?

Here is why I am asking , I was reading “The Field Negro Blog” about the KFC Chicken incident. Field was in rare form with his commentary on the incident and I thoroughly enjoyed the post. However, when Field said that some reporters had labeled the refusal of people to leave until they got their chicken as “civil rights-era protest”, I was more than bothered. Field, ever the political satirist, went on to say; “CIVIL RIGHTS ERA PROTEST OVER SOME DAMN CHICKEN? So this is how a revolution starts: Promise a bunch of chicken loving A-murder-cans freebies and not deliver. Black folks are crying “fried chicken racism.” Come on field, it is racism. I bet if they had freebies at Starbucks they wouldn’t run out. Can’t you see it field, it’s the man trying to keep us chicken lovers down.”

Wow, I am truly speechless is this the what its come down to Chicken and Civil Rights?

Its scary to imagine that MLK and all the members of SNCC, CORE, etc got their heads beat in, dogs sicked on them, or were killed for us to misuse their struggles for the right to vote, desegregate lunch counters, hotels, etc and be seen as a human being--for "chicken".

Here the question, if African-Americans are ready to make accusations of racism over a piece of “Chicken,” grilled or fried, have we become the kids who cried wolf? Have we overused the charge of racial discrimination to the point where it is watered down, and can be ignored entirely? I wonder about this because if we have reached that point what happens to those who are facing real racial discrimination, like the Jenna 6?

Edit this entry.