Comments

2
Perhaps you'd get better results if you did a bit of journalisting-- you know, maybe go interview some local hip-hop artists or black political activists about the brunch concept and the menu, and publish what they say, instead of just lobbing a public "Answer Me!" at Donnelly from your position of media privilege.
3
whitepeople.gif

Great work as always, Ms. Garbes. What a douchebag this guy is.
4
Ugh, at times I feel like my prejudice against fancy brunch places/new restaurants run by young people is irrational or unfair, but things like this just continue to reinforce it.
5
Jason Rantz is a hack who never engages in serious debate with people. Not a shocker that he gave the menu dude a bunch of air time.
6
Mr. Donnelly sounds like an ideal recruit for SPD. Rock Creek is off my list.
7
First off, you ARE trying to create a controversy. If you were truly 'just curious about his point of view' you would have sent a private message instead of a fucking public blog post.

"The post was not an attack on chef Eric Donnelly or his right to listen to hiphop. I did not call him racist."

No, but you are implying it just by asking the questions in that way. It's no different than when faux news 'finds things interesting' as in "I'm not saying Obama is a moslem I just find it interesting that he was once in the same time zone as a radical cleric."

And speaking of implications, saying that Brown was trying to kill Wilson in no way implies that he got a trial. And it was quite the reach to infer from his lack of response to your baiting questions that he is "clearly not engaged in the "struggle.""
8
"Bringing the struggle to North Fremont, since 2013."

Um, yeah, fuck this place.
9
...and wrote to him before I published my thoughts so I could include his point of view, but he never wrote back.


Did you try a phone call? Did you go to the restaurant? Did you make any kind of serious effort besides sending an email, not knowing if he every actually saw it?

That's Journalism 101 stuff.
10
So your gonna go for it and double down on this idiotic ginned-up controversy.

Great work!
11
I don't see the big deal. I see no harm. This is PC policing at the worst. The guy should have not gone on the radio, but I can see why he felt harrassed. There are so many excellent areas that deserve outrage, for you focus on some sunny side up's is beyond redunkulous. Stopping this guy only eliminates a fun brunch, don't like it? Go and get your grits on someplace else. Stopping this guy does nothing but belittle and make petty "the struggle".
12
You're not comfortable with it. Good to know! Good thing we can turn to you for some authoritative perspective from the struggles of inner city black experience. It's rough when you send off an email that isn't replied to! It's a tough world out there for reporters, and I'm glad you're keeping us aprised of your offended sensibilities. Please be careful out there! /par
13
Yawn.
15
POSITION OF MEDIA PRIVILEGE
16
co-opting black culture? weird.
http://instagram.com/p/yNgbmCLP9K
17
Industry insiders know him to be a douchebag, looks like outsiders now know it, too. Interesting how so many of his defenders have shown up here so quickly.
18
How long do you think it will take the chef to bring up his "black friends"?

..and for the record, I am black (yes, some of us read --and comment--on SLOG) and I agree with Angela 100%. Chef Donnelly's response is some grade A douchebaggery and I'm happy I saw it. I will be sure to never step foot in RockCreek.
20
...in a styrofoam cup??? o_O

Stay classy, Rock Creek, don't succumb to highly caricatured stereotypes now.

Also, I wonder how Chuck D would respond to all this.
Anybody know him, or can hit him up on Twitter?
21
@10 - Of course you don't see the big deal, Simple, there is so much white douchbaggery and casual racism all around us that this doesn't even move your needle. You're inured to it. Tuned to a higher level than the rest of us. Jaded, even.
Casual racism is sooo passé... yawn
22
@19- who cares how Chuck D would respond to this? Chuck D is a mysogynist, homophobe, anti-Asian and anti-Jewish bigot.

"m not comfortable with what this says about how we view hiphop culture"

You know how I view hip-hop? As a culture, much like black leftist culture in general, which screams anti-black racism at the drop of a hat but is full of unchecked and uncondemned bigotry, ignorance, and insensitivity towards others.

I just found out recently that Huey Newton of the Black Panthers killed a woman for calling him "baby". And he's a black civil rights icon battling against people who killed black males for similar offences towards women 50 years earlier? What a joke. This kind of hypocrasy is rampent and never brought up.
23
@14 Your statement is ambigous. Would you expand?
24
"My job is not to just reprint a restaurant's press release; it's to provide commentary, ask questions, and listen. I stand by what I wrote, and I stand by Donnelly’s right to have whatever kind of brunch he wants, and to play whatever kind of music he wants. Those things are not mutually exclusive."

THIS. Thank you for this, Ms. Garbes. Keep on keepin' on.

To the honkeys on this thread who "don't see what the big deal is" - please try harder. Perhaps you could do some googling or something.
25
@22

I'll expand my 3cents for you. Paul Constant and others have proven that Stranger staffers entering the Slog comment thread results in rather pathetic pronouncements (aside from Savage, he usually adds witticisms somehow). Best they stick with their privileged and safe position of mere posting.
26
@14

Couldn't resist, sry.

But also, please do tell Sydney to pick up the damn phone and at least try to include the voice of someone who's actually been part of political hip-hop.
27
It's an interesting followup, because I didn't think the original brunch idea to be offensive at all, just faintly ridiculous but not really part of my milieu, so who cares?

But his followup statement about Mike Brown IS in my wheelhouse, and it's super-obnoxious bullshit. Good to know, I guess.

The overlap between people who love hip hop and those who think Mike Brown had it coming to him has got be really, really small.
28
@25

Angela. I meant Angela. Whose name is at the top of the post.
29
@26

The majority of hip-hop fans are white, and a sadly predictable percentage of them are shitbirds.

Also, that "follow up" about Mike Brown was from Jason Rantz, not from Eric Donnelly.
30
@ 21, bullshit.
31
"Yeah sure, you tried to reach out to him for comment, but you probably didn't try HARD ENOUGH!"
"Please, I'm not offended, and I have black friends, so fuck you!"

Wow, you people. Wow.
32
I saw recently that Jason Mraz is working with underprivileged youth. He's so hip that I'm sure he's down with Hip-Hop. Maybe he was inspired by all the Strangercrombie charity hubbub. 3 cheers for Mraz!!
33
All this points to the fact that Hip Hop has been a part of mainstream culture for a while now. It has long ceased to be about "struggle." Getting all bent out of shape over it being used for a mainstream purpose seems a bit late and hollow to me.
34
@32

dude, I don't know where you hang out, but the beat-boxers and lyrikal twisters i bump into seem to live a life that could easily be described as 'struggle'. Turn off your headphones and TV screensaver and step onto the streetz.
35
Talking about the review/reviewer was a dick move, particularly when the reviewer tried to contact him prior to publication. The truth was, he "couldn't be bothered" to respond, but was bothered by the resulting attention, and handled it badly.

In light of that, she has every right to be a little defensive here - she has been, essentially, attacked and defamed, whereas he had an opportunity to positively impact the outcome of the review and botched it.
36
I don't doubt A$AP Yams died from some sizzurp-related stupidity too. I'm a white guy who likes a lot of hip-hop and this shit is painfully tone-deaf. Hey guys we're just making dated rap puns!

I'm surprised there weren't any mentions of "bling" or "ice" or "gangsta"
37
If a person truly wants to invest in "the struggle", they do so under the direction of the struggling. The only successful avenue for White people to join in said struggle, and participate in moving us towards a more just and equal society, is to realize that they can never, ever fully understand what being Black in America encompasses. So fight the good fight, but know it is not YOUR fight. When the march is over, white protesters can still walk through Bartell's without being followed, reach for their wallets in a traffic stop and not get shot, dispute a transaction without being pegged as aggressive or dangerous.

Dudes a douche. No Rock Creek for us.
38
@32:

Which is exactly how I take Donelly's pompous, self-contradictory riposte. Because nothing shows ones true sense of solidarity and commitment to "the struggle" quite like offering a "whimsical" and "fun" menu of $14 entrees named after a bunch of gangsta rappers and hip-hop performers.
39
@28, while Chef Donnelly sat and nodded his head, apparently.
40
Hopefully at least some people will idiotically stop going to Rock Creek because of this total non-issue, which means more space in the bar for me!
41
@38

I wanted to correct you too, but that's a really good point. how "down with the struggle" can you be to listen to someone make that broad of an assumption about Brown's intentions, and not say shit?
42
The topic of Rock Creek's brunch came up in a Seattle FB group which has almost 2000 people of color. Lot of people offended (for various reasons but at a minimum because it's inappropriate and trivializes "the struggle); others simply not surprised. Lot of just "wow"s. No one thought it was Ok. The restaurant will likely trot out some of their black friends to defend them but they should know that at a minimum, a lot of people find it distasteful. Maybe the chef doesn't care and if so, I guess he's the douchebag that @16 says he is.
43
@33
Perhaps you are right. Has to be something more interesting and exciting than some of what I hear these days. I'll have to admit, this whole thing did make me cringe. Guess it reminds me of how old I've gotten.

Perhaps next time, disco brunch might be a smarter idea for his restaurant.
44
@42:

Perhaps, but even then I'm not sure a lot of people are going to want to shell out $100 for pancakes, even with a light dusting of Grade-A Peruvian Flake.
45
@38 Fnarf, did you listen to the audio? The commentary by this douchebag of a radio host was cut in with a pre-recorded interview of Eric Donnelly. He wasn't live on the show. I think his mistake was trusting this asshole to represent his position.

46
I know the chef and, while I think he is guilty of being unfortunately tone deaf to not have predicted this response, I know that this brunch idea comes from his sincere love of all things hip hop. We're regulars at the bar there and there is always a fantastic rotation of classic rap playing. At worst, he is guilty of what Larry Mizell, Jr. said on his response to the original post: "Good ol NW cluelessness."
47
@45- anyone who could put that menu concept together and stand back and pat themselves on the back for a job well done is so blinded by privilege that it simply boggles the mind. I find it difficult to believe this person has ever lived in a diverse neighborhood or had anything other than the most superficial contact with people of African heritage. Is he a racist? Maybe not in the traditional, KKK sense. Is he a stupid numbskull? Yes, absolutely.
48
@46 You shouldn't jump to conclusions about who he does or doesn't know. This is the crew at Rock Creek. His number three there is someone of "African heritage." I'm not defending his boneheadnesses ... just saying making assumptions about folks may lead you astray.

http://www.rockcreekseattle.com/wp-conte…
49
@47- your picture kind of proves my assumption. There's one black guy. In the back. I had to look twice to find him.
50
@47 Yeah - there's one black guy in the back. Also, anyone who actually utters anything about "the struggle" should know better than to answer with "I have black friends".

@44 I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt about the original stranger article and even his possible unknowing involvement in the really offensive Ranz article...and then he posted the Ranz article proudly on his FB page. If he gives a crap about "the struggle" and is not just using "the struggle" to sell his damn brunch, he NEEDS to say something about the Ranz commentary. He should at least be embarrassed enough to not repost it over and over. If he is just using a serious social movement that continues to be needed today to sell his brunch, then's he's a douchebag plain and simple. Seriously, we're talking about people being gunned down on the street and he's willing to let someone trivialize that because a Stranger writer challenged his love of hip hop??? Who does that and then has the NERVE to say anything about "the struggle".
51
Erm, 1 black person in a group of 12 is exactly what you would expect to find in a random sample of Seattle's population (7.9% black; 1/12 would be 8.3%).

And it looks like there are a couple other folks in the photo who might not be "white," but we'd have to ask them to be sure.

And that's what is STILL missing from both sides of this: white people doing the simple but apparently onerous job of asking non-white people what they think.
53
@50

does QAer @41's comment not count because it's Facebook, and that's too "something" for you to take seriously? if one black person said they don't give a shit, is that all you need to work off of?
54
The styrofoam cup is really kind of tacky and offensive. And the very busy design of the menu itself is just tacky. But any and all offense I feel starts with that cup.

Had they served their purple drank in a proper glass (I'm thinking a martini glass, something a bit fancier than a highball glass), and kept their plain minimalist style to the menu, and just basked in the ridiculous puns and their own cluelessness it would have been charming and sweet. Like the deli that names its sandwiches after celebrities, but just naming high end brunch items after hip-hop artists.

But the cup... That somehow crosses the line from playful appreciation into mockery. It's mean spirited.
55
What a douchbag is right!!!

Not exactly the climate in Seattle for this theme..I live right in the heart of the "struggle" and witness REAL conflicts between SPD and the people of the streets everyday...

Worst ideas ever...and the menu items names, lame lame lame!!
56
What's most eye opening about this whole thing is the clueless, well-meaning defenders of the chef's unambiguous, tone-deaf, and casual racism and its attendant idiocy.

Please wait...

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