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TROUBLED TIMES FOR TRADER JOSEPH’S CONSUMER CORRECTNESS AT THE CHECKOUT COUNTER

As I’ve found from writing this column for decades, humor is bound to offend someone who doesn’t find it funny. And now those humor-challenged folks have taken aim at our beloved Trader Joe’s, a company that is famous for not taking itself too seriously.

TJs has recently been petitioned to remove “racist branding and packaging” from its products. The Change.org petition was started by Northern California high school senior Briones Bedell, who is described as a “youth human-rights activist interested in protecting intangible cultural content.”

While I applaud Ms. Bedell’s activism, I’m torn about her aims. The idea of intangible cultural appropriation really bothers me. Why? Because it’s frequently women and girls who bear the brunt of this type of “consumer correctness.” However, before I get into consumer correctness — a term I just made up — I’ll get a bit more into the Trader Joe’s controversy.

Like that Ms. Bedell’s call for Trader Joe’s to remove what she considers offensive packaging has created more awareness of the casual and commercial marketing of groups. That said, I’m wondering … offensive to whom? We had a lively discussion about this on NextDoor. Most poignant to me were the two women who said, “I never thought of my father’s name, José, as a racial slur.” Another woman said, “Ming? That’s my dad’s name!” and went on to ponder whether she was missing something. There’s a certain “more-woke-than-thou” righteousness going on here, and I’m sorry to say that my group — white middle-class CIS females — are often the most visible examples of that.

On one end of the spectrum, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s are obvious cases of brand-based cultural appropriation and stereotyping that should have disappeared long ago. Similarly, if Trader Joe’s was marketing “Wetb**k” Frijoles or “G**k” Goodies, that would also be unquestionably repulsive.

On the other end of the spectrum, so far, no one is calling for the removal of the Quaker man from oatmeal cartons. Apparently, he’s not a part of an “out” group. “Hey, get out of town, you dirty Quaker!” said no one. Ever. (Except when Quakers filed for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War years… but I digress.)

And this is not to say that Latino, Italian, Middle Eastern or Chinese people are not derided; they most certainly are. Speaking of “out” groups, I do not see women or girls of any stripe within TJs marketing schemes. Yes, I get it: the ethnic names are all plays on the word “Joe’s” … would it kill TJs to have something with Trader Josefina’s on it?

If you know any teens, you’ll recognize that Ms. Bedell is in that phase of teen righteousness that is practically impenetrable. Predictably, she went after TJs packaging, not their management. I find the “packaging” of their executive suite typical. Five out of the seven executives listed at TJs are white men, the other two are women. From her photo, I can tell that Tracy Anderson is also white; there are no pictures of the other female executive, Kathy Cipolla.

Race is a serious issue, one that our country seems finally willing to grapple with to some degree. As we as a nation focus on entrenched systemic racism in a way we’ve never done before, quite frankly, packaging is the least of our worries. It’s low-hanging fruit that makes us feel like we’ve gotten something done … by doing as little as possible.

And for those of you who decry “political correctness,” I’m not on that bandwagon either. Political correctness, as with any social progress, has its extremes. I’m sorry to say that term has squelched meaningful conversations between fundamentally good people. I know white people who are so fearful of being non-PC that they don’t broach subjects that could reveal their own racist brainwashing.

As a result of this column, I expect to be scolded or even “canceled” by some readers. Everyone is so darned ready to fight! Meanwhile, I believe that many of us are unwittingly engaging in what one of our greatest American public intellectuals, the late great, very Black, and humorous Florynce Kennedy, pegged as “horizontal hostility.” Many of us know people who are lurking on Facebook, ready to school, scold, and shame people who are allies. Horizontal hostility is like that: you attack and correct people who are on your team. It makes one feel like they’re doing “something” while meanwhile, the “man behind the curtain” keeps pulling the social, emotional, and economic strings that keep people down and powerless.

Back to consumer correctness: As a person who has been active with the United Nations system for Non-Governmental Organizations since 1995, I’ve seen the damage that our zeal to protect intangible cultural artifacts has on women and girls. I have been given lovely gifts or purchased items to wear from women I’ve met in developing countries. They want me to wear their crafts; they make their living from these garments or accessories. I wear some of my so-called ethnic pieces to global conferences as “bait,” and it often works.

Example: When I wear something from Oaxaca, people who care about or are from Oaxaca come up to me to talk about the status of women in Oaxaca. When white activists see me wearing such items, I often get lectured on how I’m stealing Oaxacan culture! Because of these attitudes, well-meaning but clueless activists in the United States have impacted the financial health of artisans in developing countries. And speaking of unintended consequences, our exports of cast-off clothing has people wearing American brand t-shirts all over the world, thus again, undermining women’s traditional ways of putting food on their tables through sewing.

Please, I don’t care to be relegated to colorless, plain, white middle-class branding on my purchases. Ruth’s Rice? Billy’s Buttermilk Pancakes? Tommy’s Tortillas? No thanks.

And voilá! As of this writing, the topic is moot over at TJs. In response to the petition, which had almost 5000 signatures, TJs corporate stated they had already started re-branding their products back in 2017. (eye-roll) Sure they were. Now that’s funny! n Ellen has been writing “Consider This” for a long time! She also is a writing coach. Contact her at beautybitesbeast.com

CARTOON

IT’S TIME AGAIN TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY

The death of Congressman John Lewis brings to mind the vital impor- tance of the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, which was passed by the house in December 2019 and sat before Mitch- ell McConnell and the Senate for more than 200 days.

This law is “to restore protections of voting rights by setting new criteria for determining which states and political divisions must obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices in these areas may take effect.” McCon- nell’s refusal to bring this bill forward is part of multiple efforts to suppress voter participation in the upcoming election. When combined with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the threats to the economy posed by the Trump administration’s mishandling of the pandemic, we face real threats to our democracy.

Thousands have found their names removed from the voter rolls for miss- ing an election. Others were denied voting rights for a felony crime for which they served time and have returned to society. Still others had the same name as someone convicted of crime. All Sam Smiths had their names removed from the rolls because a Sam Smith was in jail. Some were simply told they had not registered. Voting centers have been closed. Early voting options have been eliminated. Voting by mail has been challenged. And the list of efforts to eliminate voting rights goes on.

The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 would eliminate at least some efforts to rob us of voting rights.

But we have a long history of fighting for voting rights. In the early 19th century working men demanded the removal of the property requirements which the founders of our country had set. Those men thought voting rights should be limited to adult, white men, 21 years of age or older who owned property. Slowly, summer after summer, working men who could never afford to buy land, succeeded in removing the property requirement and gained vot- ing rights.

Free Black men were also in the choir demanding voices in the democracy. Free black men in Baltimore, including William Watkins, James Deaver, James McCune Smith, Charles Hackett and others, worked around the slave codes to purchase property, open their own businesses, and even testify in court. They also called for voting rights. While they did not succeed in the 1830s, ’40s and ’50s, the language of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, passed July 9, 1868, which defined citizenship for those born in the United States (exclud- ing Native Americans) is strikingly similar to the language these early 19th century free Black men used in seeking the franchise and an end to slavery. Likewise, the 15th Amendment, which was to have granted African American men the franchise, was modeled on language they used in demands for voting rights

The Jim Crow laws in the south robbed these citizens of the franchise, but their battles continued. In the summer of 1962, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the revocation of voting rights for the failure to pay a poll tax. Then in August of 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed providing voting rights to African American citizens, including women who should have been included under the 19th Amendment.

White women also demanded voting rights. As early as 1838, Sarah Grimke wrote about the rights women should have. Using the story of creation as recorded in the first book of Genesis, she argued that women and men were created equal in the eyes of God. While the battle for female suffrage did not take off for another two decades, it would eventually be won 70 years later, in the summer (August) 1920.

Voting rights for Native Americans was also a long struggle. Not until June of 1924 did the Snyder Law establish that our indigenous people were citizens. However voting rights are established by states and it took decades the fran- chise to be established, state by state. The Supreme Court decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma, July 9, 2020, which ruled tribes in Oklahoma had rights to land granted them in 1832, represents another important summer action protecting rights.

Some of us take voting rights for granted, but we need to pressure the Senate to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019! Then be sure to register to vote. Get your friends, neighbors, and others are registered. Sup- port the “Vote by Mail” an option for all citizens. And vote in November. Our democracy is at stake. n