Joe Lupo Says, According to Research, Fried Chicken and Collared Greens Were King’s Favorite Meal
The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City is being criticized for adding racist food items to its standard menu over the Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday. The Borgata’s menu included fried chicken and collared greens, which have become racially stereotyped foods among race-baiting white Americans.
Borgata’s management says that the items were added to the menu to honor Dr. King, because they constituted his favorite meal. Dr. King championed equal rights for African-Americans in the 1950s and 1960s by preaching the philosophy of non-violence. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday was made a national holiday when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law in 1983. The holiday was first observed in 1986.
Twitter Exploded with Criticism
After the fried chicken and collared greens were included on the Borgata menu, the Atlantic City casino became the subject of criticism on Twitter. After numerous tweets criticized the decision, Borgata had a spokesman address the issue to the gaming media.
Joe Lupo Speaks
Joe Lupo, Senior Vice President of the Borgata, told the press that the menu items were included to honor Martin Luther King Jr., after a member of the staff researched what the late civil rights leader’s favorite foods.
Lupo said, “Our general manager of the restaurant is an African American female, who wanted to come up with the menu to celebrate and honour Dr King. We allow our managers to run their restaurants. She did research and came up with an authentic recipe. It’s very clear these were his favorite foods.”
GH Williams Cited Confirming King’s Choice
Reverend G.H. Williams, a guide at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, was quoted in a 2008 edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel listing chicken and collared greens as King’s favorite meal.
The newspaper quoted Williams as saying, “A favourite meal was the Sunday feast of fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Special Menu Item
For the day, Borgata featured the Martin Luther King Jr. Special. The meal included fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, and homemade pecan pie. The entire meal cost customers $24.
Joe Lupo told reporters that the Borgata Casino often features ethnic foods on appropriate days and holidays. Each year on the Chinese New Year, Chinese meals are prepared. On Cinco de Mayo, traditional Mexican food is prepared.
No Comment by NAACP
When the Atlantic City branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was contacted, it did not immediately respond to requests for a statement.
Atlantic City Struggles
Atlantic City casinos are not in the business of alienating their customer bases these days. The casino industry on the Boardwalk has suffered a 50% decline in revenues since 2006, when the city generated $5.4 billion in gaming revenues.
The bad economy, market saturation, financial issues with the local gaming companies, and Hurricane Sandy combined to give the city its worst economic downturn in decades. The city had four of its 12 casinos close in 2014, which cost the city 8,000 jobs.
Downturn in City Taxes
With 70% of property taxes coming from the casino industry, Atlantic City’s government faced a shortfall of $70 million in late-2014. The state of New Jersey loaned Atlantic City $40 million to avoid borrowing on the capital markets, which have downgraded Atlantic City’s credit rating.
Borgata Casino is the most successful casino in Atlantic City. At one point last year, Borgata counted for 50% of the revenues generated by the gaming industry. By most standards, it is the leading casino on the Boardwalk.
About Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, despite hostility from the white majority governments in the American South. King became famous for facing down racism in Birmingham, Alabama. His later “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Washington Monument inspired a nation, and he is considered a key contributor to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which gave African-Americans full rights in the United States. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968–the type of death King had long suspected awaited him.
Martin Luther King Jr. advocated non-violent protests and civil disobedience of the kind advocated by Ghandi in the 1920s and 1930s, and by Henry David Thoreau in the 19th century.
