Restaurant Racially Profiled A Celebrity Musician

A simple solution to ending the practice for patrons of color

October 22, 2023 Author’s note: two articles on separate incidents by veteran Medium Writers, Floyd Mori and William Spivey have been added to the sources list.

It says a lot about a nonwhite male who grew up in South Africa under apartheid and later traveled the world yet never experienced the incident that occurred recently in the U.S.

In the case of Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Butler, the incident happened in California wine country.

The Back Story

After performing at a concert and taking a break before the next session, Butler took a group to a restaurant named Goose & Gander in St. Helena, California, on recommendation from a close friend’s rave review.

According to Butler, he paid the hefty bill using his American Express card; and left a generous tip. But after departing to the parking lot, the Asian manager followed Butler’s group outside and approached Butler to ask if he had taken care of the wait staff for his table.

Insulted by the question and the manager’s hostile manner, after the manager left the parking lot, Butler went back inside the restaurant and asked the manager to explain.

“He didn’t know what to say to me. He got tongue-tied in the end,” Butler recalled of the manager.

That makes sense. What was the manager to say? That he was concerned because Johnathan Butler and his group fit a familiar stereotype? That he was concerned about restaurant industry stories about Johnathan Butler’s racial group, so he felt compelled to dash out to the parking lot without even bothering to check first with the server.

Not that checking with the server would have been appropriate. Butler said until the incident in the parking lot, the food and service were first-rate.

There were no prior reports of complaints from staff or Butler that evening.

Now, unless the manager made a point of scurrying after European groups of diners in the parking lot and asking whether they had tipped, then the act is discriminatory. And it is also public humiliation, not a microaggression* (*as referenced in one TV news report).

And why is it internet searches list headlines about the incident with words like “alleges,” and “claims, which arguably challenge the perception of the targeted person?

It would be easy for the media to investigate the facts and write headlines that call a shovel by its proper name.

According to news reports, the restaurant has apologized and said they placed the manager on temporary leave and plan to work with outside advisors to assist with sensitivity training for the manager and staff.

Sigh.

Sensitivity Workshops

Forced sensitivity training does not have a good record of success. For instance, journalist and professor, Juan Gonzales, Democracy.org stated the following in a recent speech.

“Sessions proliferating everywhere, that supposedly aim at rooting out anti-Black bias among individuals, but only result in confusion, mistrust, and division among their participants, sessions run by so-called diversity consultants paid as much as $1,000 per hour by the very forces that perpetuate systemic racial and class oppression.”

A Commonsense Solution

Potential policy for restaurant staff

Implementing and following a strict policy of zero tolerance would be more effective and less costly in an age of social media.

1. Every worker is entitled to their belief system but not entitled to inflict their beliefs and maltreatment on any patron. So, bias and stereotypical assumptions (provide a list) and corresponding behavior or treatment (provide a list) must be left outside the restaurant door during working hours. Resume all your biases and racial assumptions after you leave the property at the end of the shift.

2. Meanwhile, every person who enters the establishment regardless of race, color, or creed status must receive equal treatment. Proven violations of this policy mean the employee or employees responsible, or the restaurant will reimburse the diner for their meal 100 percent…

If an ironclad version of the above policy had been in place, Butler’s no-excuse experience and ensuing PR misery could have been avoided.

Of course, it is not just waitstaff but in recent cases…management.

Thank you for reading.

Sources

Author’s note: the article below includes links to other recent eye-opening incidents of celebrity and non-celebrity profiling by veteran Medium Writers, Floyd Mori and William Spivey.

Juan Gonzalez, January 2, 2023, Democracy.org https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/2/latinos_race_and_empire_juan_gonzalez

TikTok Johnathan Butler describes the incident in a five-minute video https://www.tiktok.com/@jonathankennethbutler/video/7131999733131808005?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7131999733131808005

Concert Venue https://www.bluenotenapa.com/blue-note-charles-krug-summer-sessions-2022/