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Leger says he did not intend for the sign to offend anyone.
Oh yes. Who knew that a "Whites Only" sign in front of a southern business establishment would be so controversial? Asshat.
Side note: I spent a few years working in a salon and several of the stylists there were afraid to work on African American customers. They didn't have any experience with the styling and care and were afraid they wouldn't be able to properly serve the customer. It was very odd. They weren't racist, just terrified of harming black customers hair. Not that this is an equivalent situation. It just reminded me of it.
And he's not within his rights--isn't it illegal since the civil rights act to openly discriminate like that?
Is it? I recall stores with signs that say "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." If they reserve the right to refuse service to women (as has happened at a barbershop in my neighborhood), is that discrimination?
I agree, he's still an idjit. And probably an asshat as well. Is it so hard to say "I don't have the experience, but I'm willing to learn if you'll pay for a bad haircut"?
I'm not a lawyer -- maybe one will weigh in -- but I don't think the ignorant barber's refusal of service is actionable (although the discriminatory sign may be).
As I understand it, the civil rights act prohibits businesses (including private businesses) from denying access to services, based on race or some other stupid thing, if there's no legitimate business rationale for the denial of service. The barber could argue that not knowing how to perform the service is a legitimate excuse for denying access to it.
He says his worry was the same as LeeJay's colleagues' -- he doesn't know how to cut black folks hair, and refers them to the barber shop across the street.
And one more thing. Forget "within his rights" for a second.
The better way to deal with this would have been to honestly tell the off-the-street patrons with african-type hair that you are concerned that you might not do a very good job, and perhaps their money would be better spent on someone who know's what he's doing.
And having grown up in a one-barber town that was pretty much entirely white, I can believe that the barber lacked the requisite experience.
That said, if his motivation was really the fear that he wouldn't have done a good job, he could have taken a class and expanded his client list.
The fact that he felt the need to post a sign really just points the the fact that he's an asshole.
He says his worry was the same as LeeJay's colleagues' -- he doesn't know how to cut black folks hair, and refers them to the barber shop across the street.
Yes, but this isn't a case of a hesitant stylist saying, "I'll be happy to serve you if you like but I don't think I have the experience to do so in a proper manner."
This is a man who put a sign saying "Whites Only" on the marquee advertising his business. That says to me, "I don't care whether you want a haircut, a shave, change for a quarter, or directions. If you aren't white, you aren't welcome."
Honest admission of one's limitations are one thing. Saying that if you aren't white you aren't allowed in my business is something different.
There's a black hair salon down the street from me. A white friend of mine used to go there to get his haircut and one day they flat out told him to please stop coming back. They insisted that they didn't know how to cut a white person's hair and that they found serving him to be nervewracking. He hasn't been back since but insists it was the best haircuts he ever had.
I just wish Rosa Parks' corpse would rise from her coffin for a few hours and go sit down at this prick's shop, and refuse to leave until he cuts her goddamn fucking hair. you know, Zombie Rosa Parks or something
Matteo: And then what? He gives he a shitty haircut. The guy was stupid, not malignant. Cutting black people's hair, for me, is hard. I remember in high school trying to edge up some of my friends, and ended up making them look like they'd been beaten with bats to make their heads lumpy.
A White Guy in a Black Hair Salon
J. Lee Grady (Oct 28, 2005)
Op/Ed by J. Lee Grady
Sometimes, just getting a haircut can say more than a lengthy sermon.
Last week I decided to get a haircut while I was waiting for my daughter's car to be repaired. I looked across the street and saw a sign that read "HAIR" and figured I could try a new place for a change-even though I was unfamiliar with the neighborhood. When I walked into the place I realized it was a shop that catered to African-Americans.
Everyone in the place was black, and they all gave me slightly puzzled stares when I came through the door. They probably weren't used to seeing middle-aged white guys in this place for haircuts.
I immediately smelled chemicals I'd never smelled before. About eight women were seated in chairs on the left side of the salon, and many of them I learned had been there for two hours getting relaxer treatments or elaborate weaves. Several men were in the cramped lobby waiting in line for the one male stylist who specialized in men's hair.
I had an awkward choice to make. I could turn and walk out, and risk sending the message that I didn't want to be in a black hair salon. Or I could do what Jesus would do. I quickly decided that He had led me to this place.
I gave my name to the receptionist-a kind-faced, middle-aged woman who was carrying on a spirited conversation about her unexpected pregnancy with one of the female customers. I was told that "Devon" would be cutting my hair when he finished with the four men in front of me.
I could feel the stares more intensely as I thumbed through copies of Ebony and Black Enterprise. The receptionist looked at me every minute or so with a nervous smile. I asked her about her large family and told her about my four teenage girls. We suddenly had a lot in common.
While a wall-mounted television blared a rerun of The Proud Family, the whirring of hair clippers blended with a dozen conversations to make the room buzz. There was a sense of community in this place that I've never felt in the sterile suburban salon I visit once a month. These people knew one another, shared their family news and even swapped prayer requests.
I was starting to feel quite at home, but lots of questions were going through my mind. Do some of these folks want me to leave? Will they laugh when I walk out of here? Does Devon know how to cut a white guy's hair? All the men in front of me were getting their heads shaved except for one, who was having his short hair platted in tiny patches and adorned with beads. I did not want beads, a shaved cut or a "low, low fade" (shorter than a buzz cut).
When I got in Devon's chair I immediately pushed past the awkwardness. "So is there really any difference when it comes to cutting black or white hair?" I asked.
Devon laughed. "No, man. It's all just hair." He laughed again when I admitted that I used Afro Sheen on my curls when I was a teenager in the 1970s.
Devon did a great job on my hair, and I told him I'd be back again. Then I told the receptionist I hoped she would have no complications with her pregnancy. A lot of eyes followed me as I walked to the door. Some of them looked dumbfounded, as if I had broken an unwritten social rule.
I just smiled and waved. It felt good to break some stereotypes-and make new friends in the process.
Jesus went out of His way to break social barriers. He even went to Samaria-a place no other kosher Jewish rabbi would dare visit. After He ministered to the divorced woman at the well, He stayed there two days-eating Samaritan food, living in a Samaritan house and soaking in Samaritan culture (see John 4: 40). Who knows-maybe He even got a Samaritan-style haircut.
Satan has used lies and racial stereotypes to divide and isolate us. But when we spend time with one another, we discover how flimsy the devil's barriers really are. I hope you will venture outside your safety zone and start crashing through the cultural blockades that separate people in your community.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma and an award-winning journalist. He writes a column for Charisma Online twice a week.(Article reprinted with permission from Charisma.)
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
