Aunt Jemima is better than naming the syrup Pearl Miller Company
Racism Score: 1.7
The ‘2020 racial reckoning’ placed a plethora of mainstay products on the chopping block. To combat systemic racism, corporations started conjuring up performative actions to do their part in the fight for equality.
Performative actions are the cream of the crop when it comes to eliminating racism enhancing equality.
RIP Aunt Jemima
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Arguably, the most important breakfast condiment is syrup. Whether syrup is added to warm fluffy pancakes, waffles, or French toast, syrup is a necessary component to enhance a breakfast for champions.
For over one-hundred years, Aunt Jemima answered the call! No more. Aunt Jemima has been put to rest to appease the masses racial appetite for change. Do not get us wrong, change is of the utmost importance. Actions like the removal of Aunt Jemima is the low hanging fruit.
The worst part about removing Aunt Jemima’s name is the new name. The new name is Pearl Milling Company. Pearl. Milling. Company. As comedian Kevin Fredericks (KevOnStage) points out, somehow, the new name seems even more racist that Aunt Jemima! Plenty of people offered colorful opinions regarding the name change.
If you currently have a bottle of Aunt Jemima, hold on to it because it has been relegated to a novelty collector’s item. Perhaps by keeping the name, Aunt Jemima could have payed homage to Lillian Richard who originally portrayed Aunt Jemima per wbur.
Richard’s family disagrees with name change, and Richard’s niece, Vera Harris explained the opposition with the following.
“Erasing my Aunt Lillian Richard would erase a part of history. All of the people in my family are happy and proud of Aunt Lillian and what she accomplished.”
Quaker Oats (owner of Aunt Jemima) did not reach out to the Richard family to address the name change.
Satisfaction is in the eye of the beholder.
The name change may prevent people from referring to others as Aunt Jemima, like a Virginia mayor did to describe Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Who’s Next?
Dear Mrs. Butterworth’s, your days appear to be numbered.
