Lobster Tales

Red Lobster failed because of racism, or something:

MSNBC contributor Robyn Autry claimed on May 19 that the Red Lobster bankruptcy proceedings would “hit Black communities differently,” at least demonstrating an impressive ability in racializing anything. Partially justifying the claim by pointing out a correlation between Black people and their consumption of fish, Autry went on to highlight Bill Darden’s integrationist policy when he opened his first Red Lobster in 1968 (which, of course, was required by law due to passing of the Civil Rights Act four years earlier). Effectively, the article goes on to highlight how Red Lobster is popular among Black and Latino Americans, and pins its success and failures to the economic prospects of Black Americans. According to the author, “Black consumers are among the most loyal. Sure, we like fish and a good deal — Red Lobster represented something like the strip mall version of the beloved fish fry — but we like being treated equally even more.” It’s worth noting that if a white person wrote an identical argument he’d be accused of racism for unfairly stereotyping black people. But once again, the only standards on the left are double standards.

Sometimes a business failure is just a business failure...