About That Spork Pit Boycott

A Whyman looked upon our great city of Pittsburgh, and said in an article, here, “The barbecue scene up here is not so good.”

When informed that there were a variety of most excellent BBQ joints, mostly Black owned and in Black locations, and that what he said was racist and damaging, he experienced a defensive frustration. He blamed semantics. He blamed his work. He trotted out his bi-racial child. Below, you will find documentation of my attempt to offer education and seek amends.

He was called out for engaging in language which elevated his product at the expense of Black business owners. Semantics yes. And let’s look at the language of the phrase. He said, “It’s something I thought was really lacking in Pittsburgh. The barbecue scene up here is not so good.” The word “scene” implies all current existing providers of a similar product. The word “lacking” carries a particular weight. It is derogatory and demeaning. So, yes, he said there was no good BBQ in Pittsburgh.

Let’s look at the next troublesome phrases. The article speaks about a very special smoker, he has leveraged capital to obtain. Now, please remember, as a White man, he have had access to:

1. knowledge about entrepreneurial skills,

2. capital to enact your business vision;

3. connections to leverage and enact a marketing plan resulting in free publicity.

This is White privilege. I am not complaining about that. White privilege is a fact of life in America. I can’t be bothered with whining about that all the time. What I can bothered with is how White privilege does damage to Black people. What I am complaining about is the language used.

He said, “The rub isn’t important. The mop isn’t important. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. If you don’t have a pit that burns clean smoke, you’re not going to have good barbecue.” In essence what he said is no other BBQ in Pittsburgh can have good BBQ unless they have access to the same resources to which he had access. We’ve already addressed access above.

What he said is that the way Black and Brown people have been delivering BBQ for a couple hundred years now is inadequate to your new and improved White technology. Let’s dissect that, because when it comes to systemic White Supremacy, this is the message given to Black people all the time. “It doesn’t matter how talented you are, you’ll never achieve what White people can achieve.” Wow. I’m betting that feels really uncomfortable. That’s good. Imagine that Black children receive this message subliminally everyday.

Let’s focus on solutions. How could he could have said it so that it does not read like racism? He could have said. “The rub, the mop and your talent as a chef matters. But, this kind of clean smoke adds to the flavor. It makes my product different.” See how cool that sounds? It’s inclusive. It celebrates difference. But, he didn’t. He chose the outmoded, domineering language of supremacy.

My heart is heavy today.

I am a dedicated optimist. Yesterday, I acted on my optimism by giving time (that I did not really have) to attempt dialog with the owners of Spork Pit and also the owner of Penn Aiken Dairy who actually publicly attacked me, then tried to apologize-not-really.

You will notice that first I called them out. When they responded, I tried to call them in. there is a difference. To remain willfully tone deaf when being called in on your racism is sometimes a worse act of racism than the easy to identify kind.

I believe we can have a unified Pittsburgh which celebrates diversity. I believe we can learn from each other. And I am willing to take action on those beliefs. What should have been a celebration of a new business opening in Pittsburgh, is now boycott.

For this reason, I am disappointed. Good White people don’t let anyone eat at Spork Pitt.

The boycott will not be lifted until such time as:
1. Both owners register for and complete workshops in Unlearning Racism through The Good People’s Group which specializes in and focuses on the service industry.
2. Dedicate 1% of sales from every First Friday to a Black lead and run organization. Suggestions include: Garden of Peace Project, Startable Pittsburgh or the food ministry at St. james AME Church which is run by the Elder of Pittsburgh BBQ, the owner of King James Restaurant.
3. A full apology is extended to Black BBQ business owners accepting responsibility for their disparaging comments.
4. A request from Spork Pit for clarification of their remarks in the form of an equitable action to be demonstrated as Pittsburgh Magazine doing a full feature on each of the Black owned BBQ Restaurants — individually.
5. A request, from Spork Pit that Pittsburgh Magazine offer free ad space for one year to the Black owned BBQ restaurants.