Off to a great start for Black History Month

A private school for girls in Concord, CA decided it would be a good idea to serve fried chicken and watermelon, and outrage ensued. Or something...

Maybe it is because I am a sea monster of the Caucasian variety, but that incident doesn't get to me the way seeing tea baggers with pictures of nooses around the president's neck. One of my tank commanders in the Army, a black guy from Mississippi, asked me once if I liked fried chicken and watermelons and I just said "uh, yeah." I still puzzle over that incident in my mind but really cannot speculate on what he was trying to do or prove. This was a smart guy, not like Bubba in Forrest Gump.Was he somehow testing me for racism? But that was the only time I had heard that expression in a racial setting.

Personally, I think we can retire that particular phrase as some kind of racial epithet. After all, who doesn't like fried chicken? So why does this particular meal earn a tag of "controversial" when say, pasties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or fish tacos in San Diego do not?

So what do fried chicken, cornbread, and watermelon have in common? Answer: it is a pragmatic, practical bag lunch for field workers. African American men often worked as field hands even after emancipation. First, fried chicken is fairly easy to prepare in predawn days before electric lights. You do not need utensils to eat it, and when wrapped in a kitchen towel it stays hot until lunchtime. Cornbread has similar attributes. Watermelon, well juice boxes or the thermos had not been invented yet so a slice of melon was a cool, refreshing, and tasty alternative to water.

Anyway, the history of African American cuisine is full of resourceful adaptation to scarcity or harsh conditions. Take barbeque, while not invented by slaves, it was a method of rendering 'Massa's' leftovers edible; voila, ribs. But racism is stupid, it should have died a long time ago. We will probably find a cure for cancer sooner than one for stupid though.

PS. A lot of Yoopers are descended from Cornish immigrants who were miners in the old country. Pasties are likewise descended from the traditional hand pies of that region. And, just like chicken you can bring pasties down into the mine with you for lunch.