Aramark apologizes for serving chicken & watermelon to students for Black History Month

You're going to have to buckle in for this one. Food service vendor, Aira Mark, who's right here in Houston, you can find them all over the country, is apologizing for Black History Month menu that was created in horrible taste. And we don't even have to tell you. Here we go. To celebrate the first day of Black History Month, students were served chicken, I'm sure it was fried, waffles with watermelon. And this isn't the first time Aira Mark has made this kind of blunder. Back in 2011, the vendors served chicken and waffles on MLK Day at the University of California, Irvine.

Let's talk about it. We have with us Bridget Holden and Rishanda Tate, who are here on the factor. Rishanda, we've talked about this over and over and over again. Your thoughts about it happening again. And this is not like this is their first rodeo. They've been bucked off the horse time and time again. You know, this is actually, in addition to Black History Month, this is, let's do some racist offensive stuff and say I'm sorry, Mon.

Because that's what they're doing. It is so offensive to me because I guess, you know, they normally serve cheese steak and broccoli. I guess Black people don't eat cheese steak and broccoli. Right. But to continue to do this and then just say, oh, well, we're sorry. We apologize. We didn't know it was offensive.

You knew it was offensive the last time you did it and the time you did it before. The problem here is they also broke contract. So they didn't bother asking. The contract states they have to get permission to change it. They didn't bother asking for permission because they know what they're doing. It has been so reckless. Do you even think it could be intentional by someone who said, let's just screw them over? Because how else are we talking about our air mat? I mean, you know, it's they may subscribe to the whole bad publicity.

No, but no publicity is bad publicity because you don't continue making the same mistake. They lost contracts last time they did this. So they know the penalty that comes with it, but they choose to do it anyway. And is it in part for both of you because this is such a large company, almost a monopoly in this country. We know we have them here in Houston at HISD. They are one of the vendors there for lunch program. Do you think they've become too big and almost arrogant where individuals go too far? I don't know if you can weigh it.

I mean, absolutely because you said 2011, well, most recent was 2018. New York University cut ties with them because they served ribs collared greens on the first day of Black History Month in 2010. And then I went on their Instagram page and now they have like two black people. So it's one, they're celebrating heart health. Black lady doing this and then they have a podcast of another black lady doing this. So it's like, what are you trying to do? You still haven't apologized and they've been getting a slap on the hand. So of course they feel like they're arrogant because like you said, they're a big, you know, company.

And I say, I have a bigger problem also with the number of people that are coming on all of the discussion sites where they're talking about this and saying you black people are being too sensitive. You are so sensitive about this. I eat fried chicken, I eat watermelon. I've seen so many of those comments from people of other races, but they don't understand the longevity that we've been dealing with this, how long we've been dealing with this, this stereotype and this whole grow of hair. You guys are too sensitive over every little thing. Well, if this, if this is what you're using to define us on a consistent basis, right, and we've told you this is a problem and you continue to do it, then it's a problem. It's problematic.

Absolutely. It's like we're not being heard over and over again. This has been offensive to us and they're using it to satire. When does it end and who's being held accountable? And for you to hear people say you're being too sensitive in an era of me too. And if you damn near say anything about the LGBTQ community, you're dead in the war. Absolutely. But again, it's because as Bridget said, they're not getting any kind of penalty.

They're getting slapped on the wrist. And yeah, you know, we're there. People are talking about them. They're getting some negative publicity, but they're not losing any dollars. They have a monopoly. Somebody needs to come along, start a competitive competitive business so that they won't make these mistakes. They will have a responsibility to say, I'm not going to continue to make these mistakes because I might lose my contract to, you know, the new company down the road.

And you've always said, Bridget, what is the problem is never having anyone in the room. That's what I was about to say. Who's sitting at the table that looks like us? Obviously no one. Now they may have people who serve that look like us, but then what are they going to say? So at the end of the day, they need to be held accountable. All right.

isiah-factor-uncensored, kriv, Isiah Carey