Cajun Kitchen

This was the worst restaurant I've been to in a long time. Besides the food being mediocre, the waitress/owner was rude, didn’t seat us, didn’t refill our drinks, didn’t bring us our food or didn’t bring us the check. My husband had to get up 3 times during the course of our dinner to get service. And we had to go search for someone to pay our tab. At first I thought it was generally bad service. Then I noticed she was being delightful and extra attentive to other customers. The only difference between us and them was our skin tone. I usually hate jumping to the conclusion that we were discriminated against due to our race. But when other customers and waitresses notice the same problem, then I know it’s not just me. As Americans we love to think that we have grown past this issue and have higher ideals. Then something happens that reminds me that we haven’t grown past it. It is still an issue. While I know it’s not everyone, but these archaic neanderthals hurt me to my core. It causes a pain that is indescribable and it makes me angry. This is why people of color are angry. We want to live our lives as everyone else. We want to raise our kids, enjoy life and be treated with respect. But people like those at the Cajun Restaurant strip us of the basic respect every human is entitled to have. The most dis-empowering thing is that I can’t do anything about it except never go there again. I could put on a one woman protest. But like so many others of her kind, she’ll just hide behind her self-righteousness. She’ll excuse her actions and blame my over-sensitivity. So I’m writing this to those who incorrectly state that racism is dead. You’re just blind to its existence and part of the reason it will never be irradiated. Your silence only reinforces their behavior by saying it’s okay to behave that way. Just like the other customers and waitresses that were there that day. I challenge you to not be like them but to be better. Think about it.