Whoever put up this sign on the front door of the Harry Reed Insurance Agency in Millinocket, Maine last Monday, June 20, either wasn’t happy about the new Juneteenth federal holiday or they didn’t care. Regardless, the agency is now trying to backtrack after word of the sign hit the media and went viral. To my non-American friends, fried chicken and collard greens are often stereotypically associated with African-Americans, so the verbiage on the sign boasts a racist bent. And, as often happens when people don’t think before they speak, act or write, the Reed agency has lost its contracts with at least three major insurance conglomerates. As the negative fallout grew, the associate who posted the sign has publicly apologized by declaring, in part: “I am so sorry for any pain I have caused and the negative attention it has brought to our beautiful community.”
Beautiful or not, I’d hate to see what they’d say if Hispanics get a national holiday!
Chief Writing Wolf 