Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in the NYTimes and his blog about Forest Whitaker being stopped and frisked coming out of the Milano Market in Morningside Heights
Coates wrote about the corrosive effects on Blacks of ingrained racism, and how, even when an insult is not racially motivated, because of the miasma surrounding race relations in the US, it still has a corrosive effect
I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.
The other day I walked past this particular deli. I believe its owners to be good people. I felt ashamed at withholding business for something far beyond the merchant’s reach. I mentioned this to my wife. My wife is not like me. When she was 6, a little white boy called her cousin a nigger, and it has been war ever since. “What if they did that to your son?” she asked.
And right then I knew that I was tired of good people, that I had had all the good people I could take.
Milano's issued an apology
“The management of Milano Market deeply regrets the wrongful actions of our employee in stopping and frisking Forest Whitaker,” the rep told the entertainment news site. “While we can not delve into the employee’s mindset, we do not believe that he was racially motivated in his actions, simply misguided.”
But you know, maybe Ta-Nehisi was, well, wrong and maybe the Milano representative was telling a porgie
when they said that.
Here are some comment at the Daily News
Nicole Maskiell4 days ago
I'm sorry but the employee who said that he's been there for 14 years and nothing like that has ever happened is lying. During the summer of 2010, I was loudly accused of shoplifting a wheel of brie from Milano market. I'm an African American Harvard alum, who was in New York doing research for my Cornell doctoral dissertation. I've never ever been involved with anything illegal and I am a petite woman, about the most non-threatening person you'd ever meet. This is a PATTERN with this establishment and its one that is absolutely unacceptable!
and here is another one
wjerry31612 days ago
I go to school in the area and have frequented this deli before, I have heard many racist jokes made behind the counter. Also did you notice not one black employee. SAD that they think sending money to charity is a good way to silence racism. That's almost worse than the original act. Did anyone notice owner said they usually call the cops not frisk, Why the frisk this time? Just an FYI for those that didn't notice..
and another
BronxMaven21 days ago
i work in this neighborhood and many black and hispanic academics and professionals have boycotted this deli for that very behavior. it has been allowed to go on on for years as people have turned a blind eye. i am so glad this story has been published. mr. whitaker should have filed a formal complaint so that the management would be put on notice.
and here is
one from the gothamist
according to witness Nicole B., Whitaker was indeed frisked at the deli, only as their Upper West Side location on Broadway between 112th and 113th Streets. She told us what she saw on Friday:
He walked into Milano's right in front of me around 12 noon. I thought he looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I got into the sandwich line. The next thing that happened was my sandwich maker was looking at the door as he was handing me my sandwich. I turned around and saw that another employee was patting the man up and down very aggressively.
He was quiet at first, I think in shock. When they didn't find anything, they told him to leave at which point he said, "No, I want to speak with someone. You can't just touch me like this." Everyone in the store was quiet and in shock. As it was happening, I finally IDed him.
Nicole B., who lives in the area near the Market, added that, "I have seen the guys there do this to a black customer before. I have also heard them say some racist crap about the Obamas too. It is unlikely I will be shopping there again."
Now some might say that all of this is made up, and everyone who works at Milano's Market is a good person but this sure makes Eli think that the story might not be as storybook as it has been written. That is a story waiting to be written.